How I Created a UI-less Storyline Experience That Felt Like Art, Not eLearning
Overview
Designing Stillness is a poetic Earth Day meditation, built in Articulate Storyline without any traditional UI. With sound, timing, and motion at its core, it guides users through a calming experience that feels more like digital poetry than online training. This project explores how emotional design can create learning impact, even without a single learning objective.
Try it for yourself!
This UI-less Storyline experience was built with nothing but visuals, sound, and timing.
The Challenge
How do you engage learners without UI, instructions, or gamification? In a world of noisy, click-heavy training, my challenge was to build a digital wellness experience that actually reduces stress instead of adding to it.
The Build
I used Articulate Storyline and:
- Removed all UI (no menus, prompts, or indicators)
- Layered spatial sound with ambient tracks
- Animated visual metaphors and micro-interactions
- Timed the experience for reflective pacing, not task progression
- Structured everything around a poem, no voiceover needed
Other Tools Used
Articulate Storyline
ChatGPT
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Audition
Advanced Javascript
Kling
What Made It Different
Passive pacing, not learner-controlled flow
Minimalism-first UX: only what adds emotion stays
Multi-layered soundscape triggers emotion and memory
Felt like meditation, not navigation
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
What Happened
Who Is This For?
Wellness eLearning
Mindfulness onboarding
DEI & soft-skill training
Perfect for mindset-based training, wellness programs, or DEI modules where calm is the goal.
UI-less eLearning Experience FAQ
Can an eLearning module be engaging without interaction?
Yes. Designing Stillness proves that motion, audio, and minimalism can hold attention without clicks or goals.
What was this built with?
Articulate Storyline, fully customized to remove UI and prioritize ambient user flow. Additionally, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Audition, ChatGPT and Kling.
Can this style be adapted for corporate training or onboarding?
Absolutely. While it’s not for teaching software clicks, this immersive style is highly effective for soft-skill training where the goal is mindset shift, reflection, or emotional resonance. It’s ideal for onboarding, wellness, DEI, and awareness campaigns.
What devices does it support?
It’s responsive and tested across desktop, tablet, and mobile—though desktop offers the most immersive experience.
What devices does it support?
It’s responsive and tested across desktop, tablet, and mobile—though desktop offers the most immersive experience.