Launchers ID SIG: Analog Prototyping: Build Your Brand By Hand (In-Person)

Meet Our Speaker:

Dave Kolmer

Speaker Bio: 

David Kolmer is a learning experience designer, game-learning strategist, writer, and podcast host who helps organizations turn training into engaging, behavior-changing experiences. With over a decade of experience spanning corporate learning, leadership development, and teaching in international settings, he designs practical, human-centered programs that blend play, technology, and business outcomes to drive real performance. Kolmer holds a B.A. in Theater Arts from Millikin University and an M.S. in Instructional Design and Educational Technology from Fontbonne University.

Session Description: 

L&D professionals are not running out of ideas.

They are running into the gap between idea and execution.

A concept may sound clear in a meeting, but it often becomes harder to explain once it needs to become a storyboard, activity, prototype, brand concept, or AI prompt. This hands-on session helps participants cross that gap by using analog prototyping to make ideas visible, testable, and ready for iteration.

AI can accelerate design, but it cannot replace the human work of making meaning. Before L&D professionals prompt a tool, generate visuals, or polish a prototype, they need a clear idea worth developing. This hands-on session builds that first step through analog prototyping: quick sketching, tactile modeling, visual comparison, and structured iteration.

Using simple materials, pencils, paper, sticky notes, colored clay, and play dough—participants will turn an early learning, brand, or learning content idea into a physical prototype. Along the way, they will practice core instructional design principles: clarity, alignment, chunking, simplicity, feedback, and refinement. The session shows how shape, color, space, hierarchy, and texture can communicate purpose before words or technology take over.

Attendees will leave with a first-iteration prototype, a clearer design direction, and a practical analog workflow they can use before working with AI, stakeholders, or digital tools.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify basic design elements used in branding an L&D project, including color, shape, balance, repetition, contrast, and typography.
• Apply color theory and design principles to make a brand more readable, memorable, and visually appealing.
• Analyze examples of logos and brand designs to explain how different choices communicate identity, tone, and purpose.
• Create a physical Learning and Development brand concept prototype, including a name, catchphrase, logo, font style, and color palette.

Need help sharing the why with leadership or documenting this development on your performance review?

This session Builds the following Capabilities and skills from the ATD Capability Model:

This session has been approved for recertification credits by the Association for Talent Development.