This article also appears on LinkedIn as part of our Instructional Design, Reinvented series.
The landscape of learning has changed and learning design is changing with it.
Over this four-part series, we’ve explored how the field has evolved from traditional content delivery to a discipline grounded in mindset, method, strategy and real-world application. We’ve unpacked how modern designers can create meaningful digital learning using tools like Articulate Storyline and Rise.
Throughout this series, we’ve used the term ‘instructional design’ but by now, you’ll notice we’ve made a subtle shift. We’re calling it learning design. Because that’s the future: beyond instruction and into experience, capability and growth.
The B Model – A Modern Framework for Learning Design
What does it take to thrive as a modern learning designer?
The answer is more than just tools or technical skill. It’s a mindset that’s strategic, creative, and deeply human. That’s why we’re introducing a new way of thinking:
Crafted by B Online Learning, the B Model reflects everything we’ve learned over two decades of building impactful digital learning. It’s a new lens for designers to approach every project from first ideas to final delivery.
Here’s the model:
Boldness
Challenge assumptions. Ask bigger questions. Great design starts with the courage to explore what learning could be and not just what it’s always been.
In Part 1: The Great Shift, we explored how learning design has evolved from content delivery to experience design. Boldness is about flipping the script. It’s choosing to stop thinking like a teacher and start thinking like a designer. It’s being brave enough to leave behind legacy formats and embrace new ways of thinking, even when they feel unfamiliar.
Boldness means asking: “What if learning looked different?”
Brilliance
Stay outcome-focused. Cut through the noise. Brilliance means designing for clarity such as what learners need to do, know, and apply, not just what they need to “cover.”
In Part 2: Agile, Creative and Learner-Led, we shared how modern design isn’t about volume like the past, it’s about value. Brilliance shows up when designers create flow, not just structure. When learning journeys are built around actions and behaviours, not policies and bullet points.
It’s what turns a content dump into a capability-builder.
Brilliance isn’t loud. It’s laser-focused.
Breakthrough
Creativity isn’t decoration, it’s transformation. Find new ways to connect, visualise, and engage. Surprise in design sparks attention and drives engagement.
Part 3: Design for Impact was all about the learning strategies that drive meaning like microlearning, gamification and concept-driven design. These techniques only work when they’re used to unlock breakthrough moments.
This is where creativity meets intent. A great animation. A perfectly-timed reflection question. A metaphor that turns a complex policy into an “aha!” moment.
Breakthrough means not just keeping attention, but earning it.
Balance
Good learning design adapts. Balance creativity with structure, speed with quality, ambition with practicality.
In Part 4: Creating in the Real World, we got honest about constraints. Deadlines. Budgets. Feedback loops. Balance is the art of delivering high-quality learning without burning out or over-engineering.
It’s understanding how to harness the strengths of each Articulate app – using Rise to craft clean, responsive, experience-led content, and Storyline for complex, layered interactivity or simulation – and knowing when to blend the two to create seamless, scalable learning journeys.
Balance is also about designing layered experiences. Giving learners control. Building in optionality. Making learning scalable without making it soulless.
Bridging
Learning design is never a solo act. Bridge the gap between experts and learners, teams and tools, goals and experiences.
Across every part of the series, collaboration has been a core theme. Bridging is about the relationships that power great design:
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Between learning designers and SMEs
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Between learning designers and developers
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Between business goals and learner needs
It’s about turning content whether it’s policy, people skills, or processes into learning that’s meaningful, accessible and actionable.
And most of all, it’s about human connection because real learning is a shared experience.
Download the Full eBook
Want to take the series with you or share it with your team?
Download our complete Learning Design, Reinvented PDF, a detailed guide that brings together all four parts of the series in one place with more detail plus an exclusive extended look at the B Model.
Perfect for:
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Teams building capability in modern digital learning
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Anyone new to Articulate 360 or learning design principles
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Experienced designers looking for a fresh, strategic framework
Final Thoughts
This series set out to reinvent how we think about learning design. What we’ve discovered is that the real reinvention is already underway in workplaces, teams, businesses and organisations across Australia and around the world.
Learning design is not locked in a theory textbook or a fixed model. It’s alive. Evolving. Learner-led. And now, it’s got a new compass: the B Model.
At B Online Learning, we’re proud to lead this movement, not just through what we teach, but how we design, partner and deliver. Because we believe learning design isn’t just a skillset. It’s a superpower, that’s just getting started.
What Next?
Need support on your own learning design journey?
Whether you’re learning to use Articulate tools, building your first project, or levelling up your team’s capability we’re here to help.
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