What instructional designers can borrow from UX
Research the learner, prototype the experience, and test both usability and learning.
Shared methods, different questions
User experience design asks how an experience works for the people using it. Instructional design also asks whether people develop the intended knowledge or skill and can apply it. An easy-to-use course can teach very little. A demanding practice task can be valuable when its difficulty comes from the skill being learned, rather than confusing navigation.
Research behavior instead of inventing personas
Borrow contextual interviews and task observation. Ask learners to walk through the last time they performed the target task. What information did they need? Where did they look? What errors had consequences? Capture access needs, language, devices and work constraints.
Create evidence-based audience summaries. AI-generated personas can suggest questions to investigate, but they are not findings about real people. Keep hypothetical assumptions visibly separate from interview evidence.
Map the experience around the course
A learner journey includes finding the resource, gaining access, practicing, returning to work and getting support later. Map moments of friction and the people or systems involved. The most useful intervention might be a searchable job aid at the point of work.
Use FigJam to organize observations and sketch the journey. Use Figma to prototype a decision flow or interface. Test the riskiest part first, rather than creating a high-fidelity version of everything.
Use two kinds of evaluation
Usability test: can a learner find the activity, understand the instructions, complete the interaction and recover from errors? Learning check: can they perform the target task correctly without the scaffolding? Delayed transfer check: do they apply the skill at work when the situation changes?
A completion rate or satisfaction score does not establish learning. Observe performance, inspect the quality of decisions and compare against a defined rubric. If you report business outcomes, acknowledge other changes that may have influenced them.
These guides combine original editorial recommendations with the resources below. Tools and features can change.
Figma: Design processes with FigJamGV: The design sprintMaze: Prototype testing