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First some background information on myself.
I’m a big adobe creative suite user. I use the adobe suite for all aspects of creating designs for user interface, web, illustrations and print. I was finding that for rapid UI creation and creating screens for projects, illustrator was getting a little bloated. Illustrator is great for general creation but, with specific UI creation (rapid screen design) it’s a little slow. I did a couple of small projects for comparison purposes.
My Approach
My workflow for UI design is typically as follows: Requirements Documents, Balsmaiq, Illustrator and Silverlight (for high fidelity interactive prototypes). Using Sketch I found it simplified the process of by combing aspects of my workflow and being more of a lightweight product. The process for Sketch would be requirements docs, sketch and InVision.
Sketch is the ultimate tool for iOS, Android and Web design. It barely weights 41MB in disk space, compared to Illustrator’s 1.6GB. As soon as you open it, you are greeted with an infinite canvas. No window will ask you about what units to use or what size your canvas should be. Just like native OS X apps, you have a familiar user interface with a Toolbar, Navigator and Inspector. As a result, new users will find Sketch far more approachable because it doesn’t get in the way of producing simple designs.
Designing for Screens
You’re not overwhelmed by a Toolbar where half of the options were intended for photo editing, digital painting and 3D all screens are in pixels only.
There’s nothing wrong with them, but focusing on just user interface design will allow you to be more efficient and less distracted.
UI Templates
Sketch comes preloaded with a number of user interface templates for iOS, Material Design and Responsive Web. To access them for example you simply have to go File >New From Template > iOS UI Design.
A great place to download a unique templates for a specific requirements is:
https://www.sketchappsources.com/
Working With Text
If you’re new to typography, I suggest heading to the Typography section and start downloading a few modern fonts. The good ones that comes with OS X or free on Google Fonts are San Francisco, Avenir Next, Open Sans and Roboto. If you have a subscription to Typekit, download Museo and Proxima Nova.
Working With Icons
Last but not least, you’ll need in your arsenal a nice library of vector icons. The ones by PixelLove and Streamline will work well for iOS. Sketch is entirely vector-based so you can easily import SVG icons (a universal vector format), and edit them as you see fit. If you’re uncomfortable working with vector paths, you can at least change the color and size to fit your project. To get an introduction to vectors in Sketch, I suggest heading to the section
Working with Pages
Each Page represents a platform or a completely different resolution. For most projects, you’ll have twenty something Artboards for a platform like iOS. Then, you’d create another Page for Android, Web, Apple Watch, tvOS, etc. That way, you can have an entire project within a single Sketch file, saving you a ton of time switching between screens and platforms.
Working Symbols
I found this to be very powerful if not the most powerful feature. When I downloaded a bootstrap template it had all the buttons and states already in a library, before I would have to recreate this and now they are already available. This reminds me of coding the same feature is HTML CSS e.g. calling a particular class. Symbols work much the same way, I could call in the design with the appropriate state already based on the design requirement. Symbols makes it easy to share the same elements across multiple Artboards. This is especially useful when you re-use the same elements multiple times like for Status Bar, Navigation bar or Tab Bar. You won’t need to go back and edit those elements one by one. As you update one, it’ll synchronize to all the other ones that share the same Symbol.
Quick Export to Multiple Resolutions
Perhaps my favorite new feature is the ability to easily export at multiple screen resolutions. By using Make Exportable in the bottom right of the screen, you can export at any scale (1x, 2x, 3x) and 6 file formats (JPG, PNG, SVG, PDF, TIFF and EPS). PDF in particular is useful for iOS assets, and SVG is a fantastic format for the Web. For many users, this is what makes Sketch shine from the other apps.
Click Make Exportable to set up your slices. By default, it’ll set the scale at 1x, but click again and you’ll quickly get 2x, then 3x. You can also set the scale to a width (w) or height (h). For instance, if you wish your asset to export at maximum 800 px wide, set 800w.
Using Sketch and InVision
Sketch feels more like an open source product than illustrator. When combined with Invision a user can easily add interactive designs that come to life. Previously, a designer would have to design the screens before in illustrator than re-create them in another fashion like HTML, silverlight, PDFs etc to simulate some sort of interactivity. With Invision using the Craft plugin a designer can combine a couple of these steps and as a bonus can create interactive prototypes on a variety of platforms iOS, Android and iPad. The bonus of using InVision is the collaboration aspect, clients are able to draw on the prototype and individual screens which is much faster than sending emails back and fourth.
https://www.invisionapp.com/sketch-prototyping
https://www.invisionapp.com/craft
We are excited to have Andrea join the Euphoria team. Her skills in graphic and instructional design are fantastic.
Some top predictions on what will be web and app design trends for 2017. It’s hard to predict. So let’s see what top industry experts are saying.
Adham Dannaway, UX/UI Designer & Front-end Developer
Adham is half UX/UI Designer, half Front-end Developer, 100% interface jedi. His work has been featured on Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Magazine and Awwwards
Style Guides and UI Patterns:
Adham believes in more of a focus on UI pattern libraries and style guides. Making user experiences more consistent, practical and usable. Designers will become more involved in strategy rather than visuals.
Prototyping Tools:
More demand for prototyping and interaction design tools.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (AR) Opportunites:
We are at the start of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality industry. This will create new opportunities for UI and Product designers.
Nir Eyal, Author of “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products“
Conversational UIs:
Nor believes that computer software will become more natural like in the way it interacts with a user. Currently, There are a wave of startups that promises to radically simplify our lives by making it harder to determine whether we’re communicating with a person or computer code.
Adi Mazor Kario, UX Architect and Founder of Wizard UI Consulting
Natural User Interfaces and Bot Interfaces:
She believes the industry will see more social collaboration & shared economy applications. Users trust strangers more and this will lead to new services and applications (mainly mobile apps that could add location-based options)
Mobile features added to web interfaces:
Adi believe that the trend for web interfaces with more mobile features, and look-n-feel, will grow.
James Archer, VP of Sales & Marketing at Crowd Favorite & UX Expert
James is an expert and design, content and marketing in the digital space, frequent conference speaker and part-time fiction writer
Death of the hamburger menu!:
By now it’s been pretty well established that the hamburger menu doesn’t work, but we’re still waiting for app and responsive web designs to catch up. As the year goes on, we’ll start to see the hamburgers being methodically replaced with tab bars, Priority+ menus, and other alternative forms of navigation.
Device-appropriate design:
Designers seem to keep getting mobile-first wrong by leaving desktop experiences feeling weak and incomplete, and users are feeling the pain. Next year will see a renewed interest in designing not primarily for mobile at the expense of desktop, but rather in creating experiences appropriate to whatever device they’re used on.
Tighter design/developer relationships:
As interface technology continues to advance, the static mockups of yesteryear become increasingly obsolete, requiring a renewed focus on tight collaboration between designers and developers. Neither one can get very far without the other, but together they can change the world.
Joanna Ngai, UX Designer at Microsoft
Joanna released her first book, ‘UX for Beginners: A practical handbook on the space of user experience design and strategy‘, on Kindle this year
Mobile first / Mobile only markets:
Millions of consumers have leapfrogged the PC era altogether, joining the connected world in earnest through their mobile phones. Product designs should be reimagined for a mobile environment, not just adapted to fit a small screen.
Special thanks to
I love being in my office building. They just rebuilt the rooftop garden. Click Continue Reading link to see a picture!
Our office building at 401 Richmond Street West has always been focused on the Toronto Green Roof initiative. They just rebuilt the rooftop garden. I love it!
While e-Learning has many advantages in corporate training, it is important to implement the following key points when developing courses. This helps to ensure a smooth delivery with successful outcomes.
Are the learning objectives and goals measurable?
Ensure that the objectives and outcomes for the course are well planned and clearly outlined. Having well developed expectations set from the outset provides a clear path for the learner. This also serves as a roadmap for the delivery of the content. In other words, the objectives should read; “At the end of this course you will be able to…” as opposed to “This course will teach you…”
At the end of each section, refer back to the objectives to reinforce the relevance of the content. In doing so, this roadmap emphasizes the key components of the course. This, in turn, provides the learner with a clear path so they feel the learning is a valuable use of their time.
According to Adobe Articulate’s e-Learning community, one of the world’s leading e-learning software provider, understanding why the course is being built and what the learner will take away from it, helps to create learning objectives that meet the course’s goals.
Who are the learners?
When it comes to learning, one size does not fit all. It is important to incorporate various e-Learning tools in order to ensure the content is effective for all learning styles and approaches. A major selling feature of e-Learning is the ability to learn anything, anywhere. This can be accomplished by integrating interactive content to engage the learner. At the same time, these tools test the knowledge gained. Clients can then customize the e-Learning programs by picking and choosing the tools they feel are best suited for the learners. Clients can empower their employees to learn more effectively and at their own pace by taking advantage of this flexibility.
Is the content accessible?
Not only must the content be relevant and presented in an engaging and effective manner, it must also be accessible. Learners may miss content or give up entirely if it is not easy to navigate through the content. Keep in mind the technology level of the users when developing the layout and delivery of the content. What is the point of developing a flashy e-Learning program with all the bells and whistles if the learners are not able to navigate it?
At the other end of the spectrum, if the graphics are outdated, for example images of professionals with flip phones, or of poor quality, this could be translated to the content being obsolete.
E-Learning programs hit the mark when they are user friendly and the content is presented in a clear and professional manner.
What are the end goals?
Be sure to review the content from their perspective, in order to increase the buy-in from the learner. Here are some questions to consider:
• What will I get out of this? / What’s in it for me?
• How is the content related to my day-to-day activities?
• Why do I have to take this course? I don’t have time.
• Will this course lead to advancement in the company?
• Will this course help me to do my job more effectively/efficiently?
• How will I be recognized / rewarded for completing this course?
It is important that the learner sees the advantages and relevance of what they are learning. As employers, it is essential to provide employees with the tools and resources they need to succeed in their role. Therefore, the employee must be able to take the outcomes of the course and directly relate them to their role within the organization. It also demonstrates that the company is investing in them by expanding their skill sets and knowledge.
Are you tracking the results of the training?
Another key factor is to do a check once the training is complete. The Kirkpatrick Four-Level Training Evaluation Model can be employed to gauge the outcome of the training. This model considers the following levels of post-training:
• Reaction: The degree to which participants react favourably to the training. (Did the participants like the training?)
• Learning: The degree to which the participants acquired the intended knowledge and skills. (Are the participants getting the knowledge they require to fulfill their current role).
• Behaviour: The degree to which the knowledge gained through the training is applied to their daily activities on the job. (Will the participants use the training in their daily performance on the job?)
• Results: The degree to which the desired outcomes were met as a direct result of the training. (Did the training succeed at achieving the initial goals?)
Many learning systems focus on the delivery of the training. This includes incorporating interactivity to gauge the participants’ motivation and assessments to measure retention. However, it is essential to include tools to track the results and to provide on the job resources or job aids as a form of on-going support.
With these key points in mind, e-Learning can become an effective complement to more traditional corporate training approaches.
Financial Institutions are required to ensure all employees receive Compliance Training. Working with our client’s Subject Matter Experts, Euphoria just launched the transformed annual refresher courses to e-learning. We have now begun to revitalize the Compliance training for all new hires. Theses courses are due to be launch in early 2016.
Financial Institutions are required to ensure all employees receive Compliance Training. Working with our client’s Subject Matter Experts, Euphoria just launched the transformed annual refresher courses to e-learning. We have now begun to revitalize the Compliance training for all new hires. Theses courses are due to be launch in early 2016.
We are so pleased to have successfully completed the “Retail Fundamentals” program with our banking client.
By using a combination of e-learning and instructor-led training, banking staff are able to maximize their learning within the first few weeks of employment. The program re-design includes the creation of a branch mentor guide to drive a consistent on-the-job learning experience.
Do you have experience designing learning solutions for large IT implementations? If so, please send us your C.V. to .
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Euphoria Workforce helps clients to link strategic goals to successful business outcomes. A leader in workforce solutions, Euphoria builds technology and communication solutions that produce results in sales strategy, education delivery, and business processes. Euphoria particular talent is in technology driven instructional design and training delivery for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations. Euphoria has a proprietary learning management system that is used by companies to deliver courseware and testing to its employees.
POSITION: Instructional Designer, Contract 6 months
Location: Toronto and Mississauga, CA
Travel: 15 %
There is the potential for full time employment for the ideal candidate. This position incorporates many aspects of education development and delivery:
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Working with subject matter experts, develop new and existing courses for our clients, particularly for large IT ERP implementations
• Lead the needs analysis, design, development and evaluation of training initiatives in all media
• Using ADDIE framework, create facilitator and participant guides, training data and supporting materials for instructor-led training IT training sessions
• Transform learning content into storyboard format for web and video development
• Manage day-to-day project activities
• Lead project meetings and ensuring key milestones are met
• Maintain the necessary project documentation and records
• Proactively resolve project issues
• Participate in other education projects, as required
REQUIRED SKILLS:
• 5+ years experience leading needs assessments, designing, developing and evaluating learning initiatives based on key adult learning principles
• Experience designing learning initiatives for large IT ERP project using both traditional classroom and distance learning approaches
• An aptitude for mastering new software applications
• Bachelors degree in Education, with a specialization or experience in adult learning
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines
• Personal effectiveness: work independently with minimal guidance/instruction, remaining flexible and open to change, and professional
• Strong knowledge of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications
• Ability to effectively organize time and meet aggressive timelines
• Candidates with a CTP considered a strong asset
The ideal candidate will also have strong interpersonal skills and excellent communication skills, along with a proven ability to work cooperatively as part of a team and able to work with minimal supervision in a fast paced, goal-driven environment.
Please email all applications to with the subject line ‘Instructional Designer’
We thank all candidates for their applications; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Flight Safety International has selected Euphoria to assist them in the development of e-learning programs for several of their flight simulations products.
Euphoria’s experience developing highly complex e-learning solutions was the basis for our success.
Centennial College has selected Euphoria Workforce Solutions to assist them to translate their award winning Entrepreneurship program into an online solution.
For the last ten years, Centennial has delivered its Entrepreneurship program in a classroom environment. It has now launched its program in an online format. As part of this program, Euphoria was consulted on how to make their online version more dynamic.
