Learning built around: work people do, decisions they make, and skills they need.
I help organizations close the gap between training and doing, turning complex information into learning people can use.
See the workPerformance-Focused Learning Design
I bring together instructional strategy, visual design,
technology, and a love of storytelling.
The clients I work with often have the content, but not a clear way to teach it.
I start by asking what the real problem is and what kind of practice will get
people there, then design a clear path from information to application.
Featured Project
See the work before you read about it.
Explore the project, then go behind the scenes to see how it was built.
CAPABILITIES
What I can build for you
Three ways I bring instructional design, visual thinking, and technology together to support learning and performance.
Scenario Design
Scenarios built around decisions people face at work, with storyboards that show what learners will see before anyone builds a screen.
Learn More →Interactive Learning Design
Storyline and Rise experiences where every choice leads somewhere - using interaction, feedback, and branching to teach something, not just keep busy.
Learn More →Visual & Performance Design
Job aids, presentations, and visual systems that make complex information clear enough to use when someone needs it.
Learn More →PROCESS
How I build
A practical process that starts with the problem, not the content, and keeps the learner and the outcome connected throughout.
Start with performance needs
I find out what people need to do differently, and whether training is the right answer. Sometimes it isn't, and that's worth knowing before anyone writes a word.
Design the whole experience
Content, decisions, visuals, feedback, and technology are built as one experience. A course is a system, not a stack of separate screens.
Build, test, and refine
Prototypes make the idea visible. Testing shows what's clear, what's not, and what still needs work before it can be called finished.
Curious what that looks like in practice?
Selected projects show how it comes together.
SELECTED WORK
My Projects
Selected projects, each built around a different kind of performance problem.
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive by Design
Checks what a learner already knows, then sends them down a path built for what they need next.
View Project Details →Scenario Training
Ask What Matters
A clinical scenario where each question shifts visible meters as learners work toward the pattern.
View Project Details →Accessible Design
Welcome to Our Town
A Rise 360 visitor module rebuilt to WCAG AA, with accessibility built into the design.
View Project Details →Measuring Impact
Project Elevate
An evaluation plan built to answer one question: after training, did anything change?
View Project Details →AI in Learning Design
Balanced by Design
A stakeholder briefing that separates what AI can do for learning from what gets claimed for it.
View Project Details →AI Learning Simulation
Think Beyond the Screen
A UX designer works through a real design problem with an AI that responds to whatever they say.
View Project Details →Hi, I’m Dave
My path to instructional design wasn't exactly direct, but it makes sense looking back. My career has moved
through visual design, technology, architecture, UX/UI, and 3D work. Along the way, I spent years using complex
tools and teaching other people to use them with confidence.
Somewhere in there, I realized what interested me most wasn't the software or the final product. It was how
people learn, where they get stuck, and how good design can make the complex clear.
A little about how I got here
Visual design came first
Architecture, 3D, and interface work - deciding what goes where and why.
Teaching changed the question
Teaching software shifted my attention from what was made to the person making it.
Technology expanded the possibilities
Every new tool raises a question: does it help someone learn, or just help us build?
I still think in systems
A screen is never just a screen. I'm always looking at how the parts fit together.
Curiosity keeps the work moving
The interesting answers often come from somewhere next door to the problem.
A few things that shape my point of view
Skills & Expertise
What I bring to the work
Learning strategy and visual thinking, plus the design skills that carry an idea from draft to final.
Learning Design
Design
Tools & Technologies
Tools I use across eLearning, multimedia, visual design, AI, and 2D / 3D work.
Experience
Professional Experience
My career spans design, technology, and teaching - now brought together in instructional design.
Work
Instructional Design & Development
Storyboards, scenarios, Storyline and Rise builds, adaptive paths, and AI-driven learning prototypes. This is where all of that experience comes together.
Faculty & Software Instruction
Twenty years teaching design and software, in classrooms and online. Much of that work was helping people get past the point where an unfamiliar tool stopped them.
Visual Design & Technology
Architecture, CAD, 2D and 3D graphics, modelmaking, and tradeshow design. Years spent seeing how spatial and visual decisions add up to something that works as a whole.
LMS Administration & Faculty Support
Canvas implementation, faculty adoption, and change management. Course development, quality review, and helping instructors shift classroom habits into digital ones.
Education
eLearning Instructional Design Certificate
Instructional design, eLearning development, evaluation, interactive learning, and applied design projects.
UX / UI Design
User-centered design, interface thinking, interaction, usability, and digital experience design.
Architecture
A foundation in visual organization, systems thinking, spatial relationships, structure, and design problem-solving.
Computer Animation & Digital Graphics
Digital graphics, animation, visual communication, and the technical foundations behind 2D and 3D design work.
Start Here
Tell me about your project
I'd like to hear what you're working on, especially if it's complicated. No one should be handed an unfamiliar tool or system and left to sort it out alone.
Let's connect
I take on freelance, contract, and collaborative work, from early strategy through finished builds.
LinkedIn Profile