I just wrapped up Marisa Murgatroyd’s course on experience design, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With GenAI speeding up how we work and learn, it’s clear that change is no longer something we can plan for - it’s something we have to design for.
After years of helping innovation teams navigate the journey from idea to implementation, I thought I had a solid grasp on experience design. But this course made me realize there’s a big difference between understanding the concept and intentionally designing every moment of someone’s experience.
What I Learned About Experience Design
One of the biggest experience design lessons I took away was how deeply emotions shape learning. Real experience design isn’t about building content or creating steps - it’s about understanding how people feel at every stage of their journey.
From the moment someone realizes they need help getting from where they are to where they want to be, every interaction matters. During onboarding, when they’re taking those first uncertain steps, and as they start building skills and confidence, each touchpoint either builds trust or creates friction.
I also realized how much detail goes into designing those moments. The order of activities, the pacing, and even the way feedback appears — every choice can support or derail the experience. I thought I was already doing this, but the course made me see how much more intentional I could be.
Since then, I’ve been applying these experience design lessons to my own programs. I’m noticing things I used to miss - subtle moments where learners hesitate, lose confidence, or feel overwhelmed. Fixing those friction points early makes the entire experience flow more smoothly and helps people stay engaged.
Then Came Yesterday’s Wake-Up Call
Just a day after finishing the course, I found myself in the exact opposite of good experience design - a mandatory Conflict of Interest (COI) training for one of my clients.
It was painful.
Fifteen modules. Each between three and seven minutes long. No way to fast-forward or skip ahead. And every video spent its entire runtime explaining how “easy” and “self-explanatory” the system was.
By the third video, I’d completely tuned out.
When I later tried to use the actual system, I couldn’t find the form I’d supposedly updated. So I went back to the videos for help - only to discover I could no longer access the ones I’d already completed.
That’s when it hit me: this wasn’t just poor instructional design. It was a complete failure of experience design. The creators were so focused on compliance and covering every detail that they forgot about the person on the other side of the screen - someone just trying to get through the task without frustration.
The Lesson
That COI training reminded me of something fundamental: bad experience design doesn’t just waste time - it annoys and frustrates.
Every unnecessary click, every locked screen, every moment of cognitive overload sends the same message: “We don’t care about your experience.”
Good experience design does the opposite. It gives people control, respects their time, and builds confidence through clarity. It’s about removing barriers - not adding them.
So here’s my commitment going forward:
- Respect people’s time.
- Give them control over their learning pace.
- Avoid overwhelming them with information they don’t need.
- Make it easy to find what they need, when they need it.
- And always ask: How will this feel to experience?
Sometimes the best lessons come from the worst experiences. That painful COI training reminded me exactly why I invested in learning experience design - and why it matters now more than ever.
If you’ve ever suffered through a bad course or training, you probably know what I mean. What’s the worst learning experience you’ve had - and what did it teach you? I’d love to hear your story.