Devlin Peck
So you’ve heard the terms user experience design (UX), learning experience design (LXD), and instructional design (ID). Now you want to understand the difference between them.
You’re in the right place!
In this guide, you’ll learn what the difference is between UX design vs instructional design and learning development design vs instructional design.
Want to learn more? Read on!
To summarize the differences between UX, LXD, and ID as simply as possible:
The primary focus of UX design is ensuring any materials or product is created with a focus on usability. The easiest way to think of UX is as both artistic and scientific in its approach to solving issues.
As UX researcher Jonathan Kyle Hobson describes:
“It requires a balance of empathy and rigor, creativity and analytics. UX Research is not about proving yourself right; it's about getting it right for the user.”
The primary concern of instructional design (ID), on the other hand, is creating high-quality, effective, instructional learning materials. It uses learning theory and models like ADDIE to consider the entire process from learner analysis to testing the efficacy of the finished product.
Read our guide on what instructional design is to understand the basics.
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The meaning of learning experience design (LXD) is less fixed. Some view it as a fusion of UX, others as a separate field, and others as a fancy new term for high-quality instructional design (ID).
As creating engaging learner experiences is the sole focus, LXD often involves creating visually striking learning materials.
As such, it incorporates theories from ID but distances itself from the old-school slideshows.
Though effective instructional design will incorporate elements of UX design, the two are not the same. UX focuses on improving user experiences with different types of products and systems, rather than just optimizing learning experiences.
In this section, we explore UX design vs instructional design in more detail.
The key differences between UX design and instructional design can be understood by looking at the history of instructional design and UX.
Instructional design was developed during WWII because there was a need to train huge amounts of people as quickly as possible. As such, it focuses on scientific and organized frameworks for effective learning.
For example, the popular ADDIE model was developed in 1975 for military training materials and remains a popular model today.
User experience design, on the other hand, traces its roots back to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). HCI first rose to prominence when the first personal computers were introduced in the 70s and 80s and UX evolved as a way to create and improve interactions with humans.
Because UX developed out of a need to improve people’s experience with computers, it is very focused on the experience itself. It looks at how people interact with software and how changes in the design can foster positive results and higher engagement. UX also encompasses a broad range of disciplines, including psychology, design, and human-computer interaction.
Instructional design, on the other hand, is more focused on the outcome of effective learning. Good instructional designers consider things like usability and design of materials, but they also look at factors like:
UX is a huge industry and spans areas completely removed from learning and development. UX professionals can work on a variety of products including everything from apps to wearable devices.
ID professionals, on the other hand, are experts at creating effective learning experiences. They can work with all kinds of organizations and on different types of development materials including job aides, handbooks, training courses, and eLearning content. But the work is always related to improving learning outcomes.
Both ID and UX will involve some testing.
However, in line with their differing goals, assessment methods vary between the two.
UX testing typically focuses on testing, where users interact with prototypes or live products to assess their ease of use, navigation, and overall user experience.
Meanwhile, ID focuses more on formative and summative assessments to evaluate learning outcomes and instructional effectiveness.
UX job titles include UX Designer, Visual Designer, UI Designer, and Product Designer. Research shows that entry-level positions tend to be paid around $76,000.
IDs can be called Instructional Designers, eLearning Developers, or Instructional Technologists. The average salary for IDs is $85,452. For a closer look at ID salaries, check out our Instructional Designer Salary Report.
Now, let’s move on to learning experience design vs instructional design.
LXD is a relatively new term. Neil Floor, one of the pioneers of the title, describes it as:
“The process of creating learning experiences that enable the learner to achieve the desired learning outcome in a human-centered and goal-oriented way.”
Hearing that description, you would be forgiven for thinking this sounds like good instructional design… So let's take a look at learning development design vs instructional design in more depth.
LXD is most easily thought of as a combination of UX and instructional design. It seeks to create content with the users’ overall learning experience at the center.
Old-school instructional design has sometimes fallen into the trap of relying on slideshows and other uninspired visual design materials. And LXD aims to change this.
Of course, the truth is that modern instructional designers often also use innovative tools to create engaging learning experiences.
By taking a design-first and user-first approach, LXD seeks to create learning materials that are not just effective, but visually appealing and striking in design. This is done by taking inspiration from UX and blending these theories with traditional educational models.
High-quality instructional design has more of a focus on the outcomes of the materials. However, as the field and technology evolve, ID professionals are increasingly able to incorporate artistic design and visual engagement principles. This makes the focus of the two disciplines very similar.
One difference between ID and LXD in some instances is that, because ID is more focused on learning outcomes, instructional designers might include solutions that don’t involve learning content at all. For example, instructional designers might create job aids to help learners apply knowledge and skills in real-world contexts.
The work done in both areas is also likely to be extremely similar. One look at job postings for LXD professionals will show job descriptions full of traditional ID attributes like knowledge of ADDIE.
Conversely, instructional design professionals are increasingly expected to have an understanding of design principles and UX.
For a deeper dive into what differentiates the terms, check out our article on the differences between learning experience design vs instructional design.
LXD professionals are often called Learning Experience Designers, with some LXD roles also being called Instructional Designers. ID professionals can also be called eLearning Specialists, Curriculum Developers, and of course, Instructional Designers. Salaries are comparable between the two.
So there you have it, a complete exploration of the differences between user experience design, learning experience design, and instructional design.
There’s plenty of crossover between UX, LXD, and ID.
If you want to build a career where you help people learn, LXD and ID are fields that help you do just that.
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