What NOT to Feed Your Dog

Overview

Project Type: Microlearning

Audience: Dog owners

Responsibilities: Instructional Design, Visual Design, Storyboarding, Prototyping, eLearning Development

Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Google Docs

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Problem + Solution

Problem

At a local veterinary office, the staff noticed an influx of sick dogs coming in after consuming deadly foods. The large majority of the dog owners had no intention of harming their animal and were ignorant about which foods are safe for humans but harmful to dogs. Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge can lead to serious injury and sometimes death. In order to prevent their canine patients from injury or death, the veterinary staff decided to prioritize educating their dog owners on which human foods to avoid feeding their beloved pets.

Solution

After analyzing the issue presented by the veterinary staff, I proposed a short eLearning experience that would allow dog owners to familiarize themselves with some common foods that are harmful to dogs. This eLearning experience would involve dog owners identifying these foods and learning about the possible side effects consuming these foods could have for their dog. The primary goals of this project were to increase dog owners' knowledge of which foods are safe to feed their dogs and decrease the number of dogs becoming injured or dying after consuming harmful food. Once the client accepted my proposal, I proceeded with designing and developing the project.

Process

Research

Because I did not have a subject matter expert to refer to for this project, I conducted some research in order to create this concept project. I found detailed webpages from both the ASPCA and Battersea (an organization from the UK that cares for dogs and cats) that proved to be very helpful in my research.

Text-Based Storyboard

Once I had gathered the information I needed, I began writing my text-based storyboard in Google Docs. I organized the foods I planned to include into nine categories, with the plan of organizing them into a 3x3 interactive grid.

Designing Mockups

After completing my text-based storyboard, I searched for vector images on freepik.com and edited them in Adobe Illustrator. I chose a living room as the background for my course because it would be a familiar setting for my learners and relevant to the subject matter of this eLearning experience. In regards to the color scheme, I knew that I wanted the dog to be a dark orangey-red, so I made blue a primary color throughout my designs to compliment it. Once I finished editing my images, I brought them into Adobe XD and created mockup slides. Designing these slides before moving into Storyline was very helpful and gave me the opportunity to refine my designs before developing the project.

Development

Because I had taken the time to design my slides in Adobe XD, the development process in Storyline was very simple. As I developed my project, I made sure to QA test all of the triggers I was adding as I went. Once I had finished, I previewed the entire project to ensure there were no issues, and I also had a colleague look through the project as well.

Experience It!

Takeaways

Completing this project was a wonderful opportunity for me to get more comfortable with all of the processes necessary to design and development an eLearning experience. If I were to go back and make any improvements based on the feedback I have received and my own thoughts, I would:

Include more accessibility features: With more time, I would definitely include more accessibility features for those who are visually impaired or have visual processing issues. Some features I could add include a voiceover option and providing alternative text for any images and buttons included in the project.
Add more foods: This eLearning experience did not feature all foods that can be toxic to dogs (ex: foods high in sodium). I believe expanding the information included in this project would make it even more effective.
Provide opportunities for practice: While I believe showing the raw ingredients that can harm dogs is helpful to dog owners, I believe it would be even more helpful to provide scenarios where those foods may be mixed with other non-harmful foods and the learner has to practice deciding whether or not that meal would be safe to feed their dog.
Add audio elements: With this eLearning experience, I did not add any audio elements. I believe adding at least some background music would have made this project even more engaging for the learner.

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Attributions

<a href='https://www.freepik.com/psd/internet-marketing'>Internet marketing psd created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/background'>Background vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/correct-sign'>Correct sign vector created by starline - www.freepik.com</a>

<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/dog-character'>Dog character vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/flat'>Flat vector created by pikisuperstar - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/fruit-design'>Fruit design vector created by freepik - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/phone-icon'>Phone icon vector created by macrovector_official - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/supermarket-food-selection-icons'>Phone icon vector created by macrovector_official - www.freepik.com</a>
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/vegetable-illustration'>Vegetable illustration vector created by vector4stock - www.freepik.com</a>

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