3 lessons from Vincent van Gogh for learning experience designers
I saw this quote of Vincent van Gogh in Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands. I had to take a train and an hour bicycle ride to see his “Bridge of Langlois” there. It made me think what kind of poetry he speaks so that so many people around the world want to see his art, not mentioning the obsession to reproduce his painting on posters, shower curtains, bags and phone cases.
“Just by arranging colours” Van Gogh discovered a universal language that we amazingly seem to understand. I suppose this language is so powerful because it skips the brain and comes directly to the heart. If you are not skilled at interpreting art, you would probably find no words to describe the Starry Night, for instance, but you would feel something like sadness, anxiety and hope at the same time.
Yes, that’s the answer! Art creates experiences. Some artists are more successful in reaching our hearts and creating valuable experiences than others. The more successful take their place on artistic Mount Olympus. And the experiences might not be even pleasant! Think about contemporary artists — their goal is quite often to provoke and confuse. But it works as well.
Thinking about art as experience is especially interesting in case of Van Gogh. During 10 years of his artistic career, he was experimenting with different techniques, mixing schools and styles, until he finally developed his own unique way of expressing his deeply personal vision of the world, influenced by solitude and mental illness. Vincent’s interpretations of real objects were emotional, colorful, intense, even radical. Having found the technique to express himself in paintings, he makes it possible for the viewers to have their own unique experiences. These experiences can be totally different, but they have one thing in common — they stand out.
Probably, speaking about art nobody would be surprised that the personality, the style and the vision are essential for a good artist. Yet it is not so clear when we speak about good learning experience designers. In the community of learning professionals, it is still more common to look at learning from scientific point of view — as something that can be designed in a predictable and measurable way. Following this logic, a designer should act as a scientist, relying on existing theories and tools, not on intuition or personal interpretations of the world.
Which approach should a learning experience designer follow — of an artist or of a scientist? The story of Van Gogh’s development as a painter tells me that designing any experiences cannot be based solely on science. There was no science to tell Van Gogh how to paint feelings. And there is no science that explains why we feel them when we look at his works.
Don’t get me wrong here. Compared to pure art, LXD is a goal-oriented process. In the end we design a learning experience so that the learner could achieve his or her desired learning outcomes. But which kind of experience it will be is influenced by the designer just like the experience from the painting is influenced by the painter. I believe that a really good learning experience design is unique, creative and experimental. And we can learn from Van Gogh how to achieve this level of mastery.
1. Learn the underlying theory, existing techniques and tools, also outside of formal education.
Vincent van Gogh was mostly self-taught. Even though he attended the Brussels Academy and the Antwerp Academy, he criticized the methods of teaching and quickly understood that being different was not encouraged there. So, he moved to different places to meet and work with other painters, visited museums and looked for guidance of more experienced artists.
2. Find your sources of inspiration, develop your vision and identity.
Van Gogh chose to paint peasant life and countryside landscapes. He even signed his work as just “Vincent” to show that he was also one of them — a simple guy. His other two great sources of influence were Japanese prints and Impressionist painting.
3. Experiment to express your vision and identity.
Having learned that combination of colours can express the mood, he then applied this principle in his own way. Unable to express himself with old means, he was experimenting and diverging more and more from the traditional and even from the impressionist techniques to become the Vincent van Gogh we know today.
Just like being able to put the colors on a canvas is not enough to be a painter, so using the tools of LXD is not enough to be a learning experience designer. Learn to “arrange colours well” to make the learning experiences more impactful, memorable and meaningful.
