Top 12 Instructional Designer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's crowded job market, standing out as an instructional designer takes a nimble mix of creativity, technical craft, and learning science. Showcasing the right skills on your resume signals depth, adaptability, and a focus on building meaningful learning that actually sticks.

Instructional Designer Skills

1. Storyline (Articulate Storyline)
2. Captivate (Adobe Captivate)
3. Lectora
4. Camtasia
5. Moodle
6. SCORM
7. xAPI
8. InDesign (Adobe InDesign)
9. Illustrator (Adobe Illustrator)
10. Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop)
11. HTML5
12. CSS3

1. Storyline (Articulate Storyline)

Storyline is a robust authoring tool for crafting interactive eLearning—branching scenarios, simulations, quizzes, the whole kit. A friendly timeline-based interface hides serious power under the hood with variables, triggers, and states.

Why It's Important

It lets instructional designers build custom, responsive, and accessible experiences quickly, aligning interaction design with learning objectives and assessment strategy. Fast to prototype, flexible to iterate, solid for deployment.

How to Improve Storyline (Articulate Storyline) Skills

Push beyond drag‑and‑drop simplicity and make the engine purr:

1. Master variables, triggers, and states to personalize paths, track decisions, and show conditional content.

2. Build reusable templates for layouts, feedback styles, and interaction patterns to speed consistent production.

3. Design meaningful interactions—decision points, consequences, reflection prompts—over gratuitous clicks.

4. Apply core visual principles like hierarchy, contrast, and alignment to sharpen clarity and flow.

5. Prototype early with low‑fidelity mockups; validate navigation and logic before you polish.

6. Test accessibility (tab order, alt text, focus states, captions) and iterate with real users.

7. Practice weekly by recreating interactions you admire; reverse‑engineer how they’re built.

Skill piles up through deliberate practice. Small builds, tight feedback loops.

How to Display Storyline (Articulate Storyline) Skills on Your Resume

2. Captivate (Adobe Captivate)

Adobe Captivate builds interactive courses, software simulations, and responsive projects without heavy coding. Great for step-by-step demos and assessment-rich modules.

Why It's Important

It excels at screen simulations, device-responsive output, and scenario‑based flows, letting you craft practice that mirrors the real task environment.

How to Improve Captivate (Adobe Captivate) Skills

1. Start with responsive projects and fluid boxes; design mobile‑first, then scale up.

2. Create software sims in demo, training, and assessment modes to cover show‑me, guide‑me, test‑me.

3. Use advanced actions and variables to branch content and gate progress meaningfully.

4. Polish audio with clean narration, noise reduction, and consistent levels.

5. Standardize themes for typography, color, and spacing to reduce cognitive clutter.

6. Caption and describe for accessibility; verify keyboard navigation throughout.

7. Iterate via pilot groups; watch where learners hesitate and tighten the flow.

How to Display Captivate (Adobe Captivate) Skills on Your Resume

3. Lectora

Lectora (now part of ELB Learning) is a full-featured authoring environment known for strong accessibility controls, HTML output, and deep customization—ideal for large programs and regulated spaces.

Why It's Important

It handles complex logic, multi‑device delivery, and compliance needs with precision, all while giving designers fine control over structure and styling.

How to Improve Lectora Skills

1. Adopt design systems with shared templates, styles, and components to keep teams moving in sync.

2. Lean into interactivity—drag‑and‑drops, decision trees, timed challenges—that tie to outcomes.

3. Build responsive layouts and preview on real devices; avoid text overload on small screens.

4. Embed rich media thoughtfully; compress assets and stream where possible for performance.

5. Use JavaScript sparingly for bespoke logic and data needs; document it for maintainability.

6. Audit accessibility early (headings, labels, focus order, contrast) rather than retrofitting later.

7. Test, measure, refine—A/B microinteractions and track completion, errors, and time‑on‑task.

How to Display Lectora Skills on Your Resume

4. Camtasia

Camtasia records screens, edits video, and layers effects—handy for crisp tutorials, walkthroughs, and explainer videos without a full studio setup.

Why It's Important

Video can simplify complex tasks fast. With Camtasia, you trim fluff, spotlight the click path, and scaffold learning with visuals, callouts, and pacing.

How to Improve Camtasia Skills

1. Storyboard first; lock the narrative before you record a single frame.

2. Use branded themes for fonts, colors, lower thirds, and intros to keep output consistent.

3. Add interactivity with hotspots, quizzes, and table-of-contents markers to guide viewing.

4. Upgrade audio—clean mic, quiet room, pop filter, and post‑processing for warmth and clarity.

5. Edit tightly; cut hesitations, speed dead space, and layer annotations sparingly.

6. Caption everything and verify contrast and readable type sizes.

7. Gather feedback through lightweight review tools; iterate on confusing moments.

8. Batch produce with templates, presets, and libraries to shave hours off every project.

How to Display Camtasia Skills on Your Resume

5. Moodle

Moodle is an open‑source LMS for building courses, assessments, and collaborative spaces. Flexible, extensible, and widely adopted.

Why It's Important

It lets designers deliver at scale: structured modules, robust quizzes, discussion, analytics, and a plugin ecosystem that can match most learning needs.

How to Improve Moodle Skills

1. Standardize course shells with clear navigation, consistent blocks, and predictable layouts.

2. Blend multimedia—short video, audio, and interactive elements like H5P—to diversify practice.

3. Curate plugins intentionally; keep only what adds value and monitor performance.

4. Gamify with purpose using badges, completion rules, and conditional release tied to mastery.

5. Optimize assessment with robust question banks, item analysis, and feedback loops.

6. Design for accessibility and test with assistive tech; set alt text and headings correctly.

7. Leverage analytics to spot bottlenecks, disengagement, and content that needs a rethink.

How to Display Moodle Skills on Your Resume

6. SCORM

SCORM is a set of standards for packaging, launching, and tracking eLearning content across LMSs. It ensures your course plays nicely across platforms and reports core data reliably.

Why It's Important

Compatibility matters. SCORM makes content portable and trackable, which keeps deployment sane and data flowing.

How to Improve SCORM Skills

1. Structure content as tidy SCOs with logical sequencing and clear completion rules.

2. Map learning objectives to tracking so completion and success criteria reflect real competency.

3. Design responsive experiences and test on phones, tablets, and desktops.

4. Elevate interactivity with scenarios, simulations, and micro‑assessments that capture meaningful data.

5. Validate accessibility—keyboard navigation, transcripts, captions, focus management.

6. Test packages in multiple LMSs and run them through conformance tools before launch.

7. Use analytics from the LMS to iterate; shorten, clarify, or branch where learners stall.

8. Know when to switch—for richer data or offline learning, consider xAPI or cmi5 instead of SCORM.

How to Display SCORM Skills on Your Resume

7. xAPI

xAPI (Experience API) captures learning experiences across systems—apps, VR, simulations, performance support—sending statements to a Learning Record Store for analysis.

Why It's Important

Richer data fuels better design. You see not just scores, but behaviors, context, and sequences, enabling adaptive paths and sharper insights.

How to Improve xAPI Skills

1. Define the verbs and patterns you care about; align statements to objectives.

2. Craft clean statements with consistent actor‑verb‑object structures and meaningful context.

3. Pick an LRS that supports dashboards, filtering, and exports your team can act on.

4. Start with a pilot; instrument a single journey, verify data quality, then scale.

5. Visualize results and share findings with stakeholders to drive design changes.

6. Mind privacy and governance; set retention, consent, and anonymization rules early.

7. Blend with LMS when needed; hybrid approaches can keep compliance and insights together.

How to Display xAPI Skills on Your Resume

8. InDesign (Adobe InDesign)

InDesign is the go‑to for long‑form layout: workbooks, facilitator guides, job aids, interactive PDFs, and print deliverables with razor‑sharp typography.

Why It's Important

Clarity of layout influences learning. With master pages, paragraph styles, and grids, you can turn dense content into elegant, readable materials.

How to Improve InDesign (Adobe InDesign) Skills

1. Build a style architecture (paragraph, character, object styles) for consistency and speed.

2. Use master pages and libraries to standardize headers, footers, callouts, and componentry.

3. Level up typography—hierarchy, spacing, hyphenation, and open‑type features.

4. Add interactivity in PDFs with buttons, hyperlinks, and embedded media when appropriate.

5. Design for accessibility with tagged PDFs, reading order, alt text, and sufficient contrast.

6. Preflight and package to catch missing fonts, overset text, and color profile issues before handoff.

How to Display InDesign (Adobe InDesign) Skills on Your Resume

9. Illustrator (Adobe Illustrator)

Illustrator creates crisp, scalable vector art—icons, diagrams, infographics, and illustrations that stay sharp on any screen.

Why It's Important

Strong visuals accelerate comprehension. Custom graphics let you teach concepts cleanly without drowning learners in text.

How to Improve Illustrator (Adobe Illustrator) Skills

1. Practice the Pen tool until paths feel second nature; precision pays off.

2. Organize with layers and groups so edits are painless later.

3. Build icon systems with consistent strokes, corner radii, and grid alignment.

4. Explore brushes, appearances, and symbols to speed complex looks.

5. Tune color and contrast for accessibility; test at small sizes.

6. Export smart—SVG for web courses, PDF/X for print, PNGs for transparency.

7. Set constraints (limited palette, type scale, grid) to keep visuals cohesive.

How to Display Illustrator (Adobe Illustrator) Skills on Your Resume

10. Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop)

Photoshop edits and composites images, cleans screenshots, and prepares visuals for web or print. A solid companion to your authoring stack.

Why It's Important

Good imagery builds trust and focus. You fix distractions, guide attention, and set tone with deliberate visual choices.

How to Improve Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop) Skills

1. Work nondestructively—smart objects, adjustment layers, masks—so iterations stay quick.

2. Retouch with restraint; clarity and legibility beat heavy effects.

3. Sharpen typography with proper anti‑aliasing, tracking, and contrast.

4. Build export presets for course thumbnails, hero images, and UI assets.

5. Use color intentionally; test dark mode variants where relevant.

6. Document specs (sizes, margins, safe areas) so downstream tools behave.

7. Create reusable libraries of buttons, frames, shadows, and mock devices.

How to Display Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop) Skills on Your Resume

11. HTML5

HTML5 structures and delivers content for the web—semantics, media, form enhancements—forming the backbone of interactive learning experiences.

Why It's Important

It ensures courses render consistently across modern browsers, support multimedia, and respect accessibility from the start.

How to Improve HTML5 Skills

1. Master semantic tags and document structure for meaning and screen reader clarity.

2. Embed media responsibly with captions, transcripts, and fallback content.

3. Use ARIA judiciously to enhance, not replace, semantics.

4. Prototype with components (accordions, tabs, modals) that are fully keyboard‑friendly.

5. Think performance—optimize images, defer noncritical scripts, and lazy‑load assets.

6. Validate and test across browsers and devices; fix quirks early.

How to Display HTML5 Skills on Your Resume

12. CSS3

CSS3 (and modern CSS) styles layouts, motion, and responsiveness. From Grid and Flexbox to variables and prefers‑reduced‑motion, it turns structure into experience.

Why It's Important

Strong CSS makes learning surfaces clean, responsive, and accessible—no wrestling with layout while trying to learn the content.

How to Improve CSS3 Skills

1. Get fluent with Flexbox and Grid for resilient, responsive layouts.

2. Adopt design tokens with CSS variables for color, spacing, and type scale.

3. Use transitions and animations sparingly to guide attention; respect motion preferences.

4. Craft responsive typography with clamp() and fluid scales.

5. Build an accessible color system and test contrast for all states.

6. Leverage utility classes or frameworks where they accelerate consistent output.

7. Ship performant CSS—minify, purge unused styles, and avoid heavy selectors.

How to Display CSS3 Skills on Your Resume