Brain-Friendly Training Design
A Straightforward Guide for Busy Practitioners
Help people understand, remember and use what they learn.
You put time and effort into designing training. You choose relevant content, build in activities and give people opportunities to practise. But could a few changes make that learning more effective?
Brain-Friendly Training Design connects the science of how people learn with the practical decisions you make as a designer.
- Motivation
- Attention
- Metacognition
- Memory
- Retrieval
- Spacing
- Transfer
- Emotional safety
- Collaboration
- Reflection
Understand why good training design works
Evidence informed design is not about being academic, it is about being effective.
You probably already recognise some of the signs of effective learning.
- A discussion helps an idea click.
- A well-chosen challenge gets people thinking.
- Someone tries a new approach and starts to see how it could work in their role.
Understanding what sits behind those moments helps you create them more deliberately.
This guide brings together findings from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and behavioural science, explaining what they mean for everyday training design. It will help you sense-check your approach, improve existing materials and explain your design decisions to colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
Does this sound familiar?
- You want to keep your design practice current, but don’t have time to work through academic papers.
- You’re asked to squeeze more content into a session when you know people need time to process and practise.
- You need to explain why you’ve included reflection, retrieval or follow-up activities.
- You want to improve an existing programme without starting again.
- You’re looking for practical ways to help learning transfer into everyday work.
This guide gives you clear explanations and specific design ideas you can use on your next project.
Get the guideFrom capturing attention to supporting behaviour change
With more than 90 practical tips and eight printable design checklists, it will help you make purposeful choices at every stage.
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A modern approach to learning design
Review familiar assumptions about learning styles, enjoyment, content coverage and evaluation. Consider what the evidence means for your practice, including how brain-friendly design can support neurodivergent learners.
Start here -
Motivation and needs analysis
Look beyond knowledge gaps to understand what makes learning worthwhile for your audience. Explore ways to spark curiosity, identify friction and help people see the value of taking part.
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Attention and focus
Make it easier for learners to focus on what matters. Use clear signals, manageable tasks and purposeful resets to guide attention through your learning journey.
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Metacognition
Help learners notice what they understand, where they’re uncertain and how their thinking is changing. Build in prediction, reflection and opportunities to make thinking visible.
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Memory and retention
Give learning a better chance of sticking. Explore ways to manage working memory demands, connect new ideas to existing knowledge and build in spacing and retrieval.
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Transfer and application
Design beyond the learning event. Help people take a realistic first step, practise in their working environment and build new behaviours into existing routines.
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Emotional safety and challenge
Create conditions where people feel able to contribute, ask questions and stretch themselves. Balance support and challenge, and use stories and humour with purpose.
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Collaboration and social learning
Make group work worth doing. Design opportunities for dialogue, constructive disagreement and peer feedback that help people deepen their understanding.
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Plus: the appendix
A quick summary and checklist for each chapter, ready to print or copy for personal use, plus a full reference list and an index of key terms.
Guidance you can keep coming back to
- A plain-language explanation of why the topic matters.
- Numbered design tips, each with a short explanation of why it works.
- A design checklist to help you review your own approach.
- References and further reading if you want to explore the evidence.
Read it cover to cover, or dip into one chapter.
Read it from beginning to end, or go straight to the chapter that will help with the project in front of you.
Every chapter has its own printable checklist in the appendix.
Connect the research with the decisions you make
- SDTSelf-Determination TheoryEdward Deci and Richard Ryan
- ARCSARCS modelJohn Keller
- COM-BCOM-B modelSusan Michie, Maartje van Stralen and Robert West
- MMASTER frameworkColin Rose — bringing the key principles together when you plan a learning experience
The emphasis throughout is on what these ideas mean in practice, so you can use familiar models thoughtfully and recognise when your design needs something more.
I’m Sheridan Webb, founder of The Training Designers’ Club.
This guide began with patterns I kept noticing in live programmes: moments when energy lifted, when ideas clicked, and when learning did, or didn’t, make it back into the workplace.
Looking into the research helped me understand why those things happened and how to design for them more deliberately.
I’ve written this as an experienced practitioner. My aim is to make the evidence accessible and useful, so you can bring it into your work without getting buried in jargon.
Learning designers, trainers, facilitators and L&D practitioners who want to make more informed design decisions.
Whatever you design, you’ll find principles to help you review and strengthen your approach.
- Face-to-face workshops
- Virtual sessions
- E-learning
- Blended programmes
Make your next design decision with greater confidence
- More than 90 practical tips
- Eight printable design checklists
- Clear explanations you can use in your own work and in conversations with stakeholders
