Philosophy
Keep it simple!
As a manager and instructional designer, producing effective training for adults, when they may not support it fully, or at all, can be challenging. If you create content that does not account for varied learning styles and target the correct audience, or is too complex or too long, your chances for failure will increase significantly. "Keep it simple" does not make my job any easier. Content must still be well written, multimedia rich, graphically appealing, interesting and fun. Beethoven's 9th ("Ode to Joy") is an hour-long, beautiful work of art, worthy of the accolades it has received throughout its history and certainly brings a smile to my face. Hoyt Axton's "Joy to the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog") has the same effect in just over three minutes.
The Architect
Instructional designers are the architects of effective instruction. Others may execute their design, and contribute to its success–or lack of success–but the design is the foundation for learning. The instructional designer must know his or her audience and understand their needs and preferences. Architects may inject creativity and non-traditional design into their work, but they still must conform to the standards and codes of their industry to ensure a successful project. Likewise, the instructional designer may implement new methods of learning or may enhance learning with new technologies, but the instructional designer should not overlook the accepted learning processes and learning styles that provide the best opportunity for learning to flourish.