I'm Beck, an instructional designer with a science education and illustration background.
Teaching, drawing, and designing learning all start with the same question: what does this person need to understand, and what’s the clearest way to get it to them?
I specialize in translating complex scientific, technical, and rarefied concepts into clear, engaging learning experiences for adult learners.
I’ve built courses on topics from visa retrogression to Salesforce CMS training.
My day job is in a regulated environment, so these samples use topics that I love and can share about freely.
photo by Tonal Simmons (2026)
Projects
Mordants Aren’t Scary!
Audience: Hobbyist natural dyers, such as textile artists and sewists, who are curious about plant-based color, have little formal dye training, and are teaching themselves online.
Problem: Mordanting makes natural dye color brighter and longer-lasting, yet it’s the step beginners most often skip or avoid. In natural dye forums, it’s common to see beginners asking whether it’s necessary, looking for workarounds, and getting conflicting answers. Learners need a clear, low-stakes way to understand what mordants do and use one with confidence, so their first projects succeed and give them the boost they need to keep pursuing the craft.
Solution: Mordants Aren’t Scary! is a scenario-based simulation built in Storyline 360 that shows natural dyers what a mordant is, why it matters, and how to make and use one.
Learners choose to use a mordant or not, pick a cochineal or logwood dye pot, drag their fabric in, and wait out a simulated 30-minute dye bath. They see the difference side by side, and leave able to mix and apply their own alum acetate mordant.
Designed, written, illustrated, and built by me in 2026.
Getting to Know the Kombucha SCOBY is a microlearning course built in Rise for beginner home fermenters who are curious, and sometimes confused, about how their culture works.
Learners move from understanding how a SCOBY functions, to growing their own, to knowing what to do when it looks wrong.
By the end, the learner can tell a healthy SCOBY from kahm yeast or mold.
Designed, written, illustrated, and built by me in 2026.
Testimonials
“Direct and forthright without being blunt... their work is some of the strongest I’ve seen as both a learner and a designer.”
“Beck is a force of nature in instructional design, both as an individual and as a team leader.
Beck is direct and forthright without being blunt, allowing them to establish expectations, gather information, and prepare materials in an efficient and accessible manner.
Their ability to design clear and comprehensive training is complemented by their commitment to soliciting feedback and supporting individual learners, creating a learning environment that prioritizes learner success above all...Their work is some of the strongest I've seen as both a learner and a designer, and I cannot recommend working with them enough.”
Their ability to design clear and comprehensive training is complemented by their commitment to soliciting feedback and supporting individual learners, creating a learning environment that prioritizes learner success above all...Their work is some of the strongest I've seen as both a learner and a designer, and I cannot recommend working with them enough.”
- Jackson Sims
Knowledge Management & Enablement
@ Ellis Porter PLC
Knowledge Management & Enablement
@ Ellis Porter PLC
“A talent for understanding how information is not only apprehended and learned, but retained through the right visual, the just-so color, the perfect arrangement of data, word, and image.”
“Becker is one of those rare people who is both a skilled artist and has a talent for understanding how to present information, educational material, and abstract content in beautiful, useful, striking, and easy-to-approach designs and formats.
They developed, created, and delivered all of the branding materials for my newsletter, including logo, email headers, and icon graphics. In the few months since they delivered this branding package, my subscriber count has gone up by ten percent.
Becker also has developed, created, and delivered all of the learning handouts and materials for the six-week courses I teach throughout the year... these handouts include charts, graphs, correspondence systems, icons, and glyphs that help to render highly abstract information into an approachable educational format.
[...]
I offer my highest gratitude to and commendation for Becker as a lead artist and designer, someone who is able to spearhead projects that assist larger educational goals through vivid imagery, a deft understanding of the human mind and psyche, and a talent for understanding how information is not only apprehended and learned, but retained through the right visual, the just-so color, the perfect arrangement of data, word, and image.”
-Cameron Steele, PhD
Writer, Author, Teacher, Tarot Reader
@ Interruptions
They developed, created, and delivered all of the branding materials for my newsletter, including logo, email headers, and icon graphics. In the few months since they delivered this branding package, my subscriber count has gone up by ten percent.
Becker also has developed, created, and delivered all of the learning handouts and materials for the six-week courses I teach throughout the year... these handouts include charts, graphs, correspondence systems, icons, and glyphs that help to render highly abstract information into an approachable educational format.
[...]
I offer my highest gratitude to and commendation for Becker as a lead artist and designer, someone who is able to spearhead projects that assist larger educational goals through vivid imagery, a deft understanding of the human mind and psyche, and a talent for understanding how information is not only apprehended and learned, but retained through the right visual, the just-so color, the perfect arrangement of data, word, and image.”
-Cameron Steele, PhD
Writer, Author, Teacher, Tarot Reader
@ Interruptions
This is me thinking about how to make you a good course