Instructional Design
🛠 The Design Process
The 90s Couch Crash Course is a gamified, video-based learning experience designed to engage adult learners through interactive nostalgia. Anchored in pop culture from the late '80s and '90s, this project merges scenario-based learning, decision-making, and knowledge recall in a sitcom-themed board game format.
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Click here to experience the course!
Learning Objectives and Strategy
My goal was to design a lightweight yet effective microlearning experience that cultivates engagement, promotes memory retention, and models interactive media use for learning. The project targets higher-level cognitive skills through embedded trivia, branching interactions, and timed decision-making. Drawing from constructivist learning theory, I designed the experience to let learners build context and meaning through playful immersion.
Design and Development Methodology: Rapid Release
I applied a Rapid Release approach, breaking the project into tightly scoped development sprints. This allowed me to produce functional slices of the experience early—such as the dice-roll mechanic and Ad-Blockerz mini-game—and gather feedback before scaling. Each release focused on testing a single interaction, evaluating UX flow, and refining visuals in real-time. This iterative cadence ensured I could layer complexity gradually without compromising usability or pacing. Thank you to my parents and husband who served as my main source of feedback and review.
Visual and UX Design
To enhance cognitive connection, I employed 90s-inspired visual metaphors: a clunky TV remote as the navigation hub, retro fonts, VHS effects, and halftone textures. UI elements were tested for accessibility, color contrast, and visual hierarchy. Audio cues (theme song snippets, canned laughter, channel-change zaps) reinforced user actions and supported the nostalgic tone.