Instructional design consulting
It starts with a conversation and a hard look at the problem. We partner with you to figure out what is actually getting in your people's way and what will genuinely move it. Sometimes the answer is training. Often it is something else: a process fix, a better tool, a hire, or a change in how the organization works, anywhere from a small adjustment to a real cultural shift.
What we do
Start with discovery, not a deliverable
Instructional design consulting is the partnership and analysis that comes before any build: we diagnose what is actually getting in people's way, weigh whether training is even the right tool, and help you decide what to do about it. Often the best answer is not a course at all, and we would rather tell you that than sell you one.
Advisory & strategy
A second brain on the problem: needs analysis, content and tool audits, vendor second opinions, and strategy for a team that builds in house.
How advisory worksHiring & team-building
Hiring your own instructional designer? We help you define the role, vet portfolios and résumés, run interviews, and pick the right person.
How hiring help worksCoaching & mentoring
Already have designers? We coach in-house teams with the same mentorship model we use to grow our own, so your people get better and keep the work.
How coaching worksAdvisory & strategy
A second brain on the problem
Before anything gets built, the highest-leverage work is deciding what to build at all, or whether to build. We run the diagnosis, audit what you already have, and give you a straight read from someone who does this work and has no stake in selling you more of it.
- Needs analysis & diagnosis
- We dig into what is actually breaking, the gap behind the training request, so the budget goes to the fix that moves the metric instead of the one that was easiest to ask for.
- Content & tool audits
- A clear-eyed review of the courses, platforms, and processes you already have, returned as a prioritized list of what to keep, fix, replace, or retire.
- Second opinions & vendor vetting
- An outside read on a proposal, an authoring tool, or another vendor’s bid, from people who build this work and are not bidding on yours.
Hiring & team-building
Hire the right instructional designer
Hiring an instructional designer is hard when you have never done the role yourself. Portfolios look polished, résumés blur together, and a bad hire is expensive. We have written the job posts, vetted the portfolios, and sat on the hiring committees, so we help you run the whole process and choose with confidence, part-time or full-time.
- Role definition & job posts
- We translate what your business actually needs into a clear role and a posting that attracts the right people instead of a flood of mismatches.
- Portfolio & résumé vetting
- We screen candidates the way a senior designer would, reading past a slick demo reel to judge whether the work shows real instructional thinking.
- Interviews & final selection
- We help structure the interviews, sit in for a second read if you want one, and weigh in on the final pick so the person’s strengths line up with the work in front of them.
Coaching & mentoring
Make the team you have better
When you already have designers, the best investment is often leveling them up rather than outsourcing the work. We coach in-house teams with the same mentorship model we use to grow our own, so your people get stronger and the work stays yours.
- Design reviews & feedback
- Senior eyes on work in progress, with specific, candid feedback your team can act on, not vague praise or a rubber stamp.
- One-on-one coaching
- Targeted coaching for a designer working through a hard redesign, a new authoring tool, or the jump from order-taker to problem-solver.
- Train-the-team sessions
- Practical workshops that build a shared standard across your team, from accessibility to scenario design, so quality does not depend on who picked up the project.
Why we work this way
We start with the honest read
Good consulting starts with telling you the truth, even when the truth means less work for us. If the right move is to hire your own designer, we will help you hire a good one. If it is to coach the team you already have, we will make them better.
That honesty is the whole point. Good advice should help you spend on the right thing, not more things, and we would rather be the people you call for a straight answer for years than win one project by telling you what you wanted to hear.
Common questions
Before you reach out
What is instructional design consulting?
Instructional design consulting is help making the decisions around training before anyone builds anything: diagnosing the real problem, deciding whether training is even the right fix, choosing who should do the work if it is, and strengthening your own team. At ID Atlas that covers needs analysis and strategy, content and tool audits, second opinions on vendors, hiring help when you want your own designer, and coaching for teams that build in house.
How much does instructional design consulting cost?
Advisory and consulting are $70 an hour with no minimum, and the first 30-minute discovery call is free. Independent instructional design advisory usually runs $100 to $150 an hour. We keep ours at $70 because most of the teams we work with are nonprofits and lean shops, and we would rather the budget go to the work. You can bring us a single decision, a proposal to review, or a hiring question and pay only for the time it takes, with no project or retainer to sign. When a piece of work is better handled as a fixed scope, we say so and quote it up front.
When should you bring in an instructional design consultant?
Usually at a decision point, and ideally before the budget is committed. The common ones: you are about to invest in training and want a second opinion, a vendor proposal landed and you cannot tell if it is any good, a program is not working and no one knows why, or you are weighing whether to hire your own designer. A consultant is most useful while a straight diagnosis can still change what you build, or whether you build at all.
How is consulting different from a full design-and-build project?
Consulting is the thinking that comes before the building: diagnosing the real problem, auditing what you already have, deciding whether training is even the right fix, and choosing who should do the work. A design-and-build project is when we actually make the thing, the course, the game, the microlearning. Plenty of engagements start as consulting and never become a build, because the right answer turned out to be a process change, a hire, or coaching the team you already have. We are glad when that happens.
Will you help us hire even if it means we do not build anything with you?
Yes, and we mean it. We have written job posts, vetted portfolios, and sat on hiring committees for teams that decided an in-house designer was the right move. We would rather help you make a good hire than watch a good budget go to the wrong person.
Do you offer instructional design consulting remotely?
Yes, almost all of it is remote. We work with nonprofits, universities, and lean teams wherever they are, over calls and shared docs, the same way we run our build projects. For coaching or train-the-team work we can do live virtual sessions, and we are open to on-site when a project genuinely calls for it.