May 2010 - Illumen Group

Good Learning is Great Marketing

You saw this paradigm shift coming – now it’s here! 6 steps to catching up.

In my hands is a tube of Crest and a tube of Colgate toothpaste. Chances are better than 50/50 (Colgate 32 share; Crest 27 share) that you’re using one or the other, but do you know why?

Toothpaste is a relatively low-involvement decision and you probably made your choice years ago based on criteria like brand recognition, price, taste, efficacy, the fact that your significant other likes the smell of your breath in the morning… it’s a growing reality of the marketplace however, that as products become increasingly similar to one another in features, quality and price (commoditization), the more important it becomes for marketers to differentiate through education. The speed, impact and efficiency with which product knowledge can be delivered to a target audience will increasingly identify leaders and followers.

Here are six suggestions that should help move the process in the right direction:
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Good Learning is Great MarketingDavid Denz2018-06-07T13:45:29+00:00

Games-That-Teach – Simple Works!

We’re well beyond the debate as to whether games-that-teach enhance the delivery of learning content (they do), so why aren’t we seeing more of them? The two biggest challenges we encounter are:

The perception that they take a long time to design and build and are, subsequently, very expensive.
A perceived need to be the next incarnation of World of Warcraft in order to capture the learner’s attention.

We were at an educational gaming conference a couple years back, where a grant was awarded for the design and production of a game prototype in support of a specific curriculum. Twenty-seven months and tens of thousands of dollars later the project is still in development. The developers are the only beneficiaries of learning in that scenario.
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Games-That-Teach – Simple Works!David Denz2018-06-07T13:45:29+00:00

Technology Innovation Center makes Forbes Top 10

tic Illumen is very happy to hear that the Technology Innovation Center has been selected by Forbes to be on their list of Top 10 Technology Incubators That Are Changing The World.

Illumen has worked with the Technology Innovation Center for many years on brand, marketing, and the full development of their website.

Technology Innovation Center makes Forbes Top 10Illumen Group2018-06-07T13:45:29+00:00

Part 4 – Illumen’s Guide to eLearning – Types of Learners

There are libraries of books defining the many types of learners. We can usually drill down to three categories which are: Auditory, Visual, Tactile.

Listening, Verbal or Auditory Learners connect more dots through listening. Audio descriptions, storytelling, sound effects, and audio cues are better comprehended. If you want to connect better with this type of learner, try using voice over or record a podcast. When using a spacial based learning environment, sound effects and environmental noises that relate to your topic can often help your user focus as it will immerse them in the content.

If you want to teach someone how to change a bicycle tire, record audio that gives a very detailed description of what they are in store for. Make sure you pace the audio appropriately and be specific between one step and the next. Using just audio to explain to someone how to change a bike tire may not sound like the best approach, but what if you created a phone number for people to call into if they are stranded on the road and can’t recall the steps. They might not have a device that can show images and in an emergency situation it might be the best option.

Seeing or Visual Learners learn through imagery. They make better connections between information and themselves through seeing. Examples include videos, animations, infographics, photos, charts, graphs, and even visually laid out text. There are many ways to better connect with your user such as making a video that shows a process or shows motion graphics that represent the information being presented. Draw out what […]

Part 4 – Illumen’s Guide to eLearning – Types of LearnersDave2018-06-07T13:45:29+00:00

Illumen Brings Products to Augmented Reality

ar1 Illumen recently completed three augmented reality (AR) projects for a leading orthopaedic company. These augmented reality projects were a marketing and education tool focused on giving a virtual hands-on showcase of their medical implants at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2010 conference. Augmented reality creates a live real-time view of a virtual object overlaid upon a real environment. By simply holding a card with a specific pattern, a product can be placed on top of it. Product animations and video can add to the experience by providing additional detailed information. This gives anyone a feeling of having a product placed in their hands, without it actually being there. They can move it around and explore it.

To use augmented reality, all you need is a web cam and a card that can be printed on any paper from any printer. Hold the printed card up to the cam and wherever the small pattern on the card is seen, a 3D product can be placed. Rotate the pattern or move closer the cam and you will see your product rotate and zoom in real-time 3D.

Based on the angle of the card, for example, the product could animate into an exploded view or video can be played. Move the card towards your cam and see product details.

We will have samples available soon.

Illumen Brings Products to Augmented RealityDave2018-06-07T13:45:30+00:00

Part 3 – Illumen’s Guide to eLearning – The Audience

personas1 If we want to find the best direction for our eLearning course we must first know who is going to use it. We will call these people, or users, our audience. A single subject may be presented very differently depending on the audience that will use it. Once we know who the audience is, we can develop a course that relates information to their general interests and learning styles. By relating information, we can make a course more engaging, present content based on likely past experiences an audience has, and can look, feel, navigate, and deliver to a platform an audience enjoys using.

Your audiences may:

be in Kindergarten, be in college, or be elderly
have never used a computer, have computer experience using a PC or a Mac, be the definition of a geek
Be surgeons, plumbers, presidents, mothers, fathers, or all of the above
Have vision or hearing impairment
Be in an environment without a keyboard, a mouse, a noisy environment, or a stressful environment
Enjoy humor, reading, comic books, watching TV, or getting hands-on

So who needs to know how to change a bike tire? Let’s see… we have people who have a flat tire and we have people who may have just bought a bike and want to be prepared for a future flat tire. We can break the people with a flat tire into two groups: those who have an emergency situation (a flat tire on the road) and those that don’t (a flat tire in, say the garage). We may have managers of bike stores who want new employees to use this course for training. Finally let’s not forget that we are an audience. We could be site […]

Part 3 – Illumen’s Guide to eLearning – The AudienceDave2018-06-07T13:45:30+00:00