Calm Focus Storyboard

Calm Focus: Storyboard

Structure, flow, and key design decisions

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Course Overview

Tool: Articulate Storyline 360 Narration: AI voiceover via ElevenLabs (voice: Hannah) Approach: Scenario-based learning centered on Maya, a remote worker two years into working from home. Learners experience the course through Maya’s perspective, making decisions alongside her and living with the consequences.

Core design principle: Every screen presents a situation or choice, not a concept. Learners encounter stress management as a lived experience rather than a topic to study.

Variable Architecture

Before the screens, the variables — because every branching decision and personalized outcome in this course traces back to them.

Variable Type Purpose
TriedBreathing True/False Tracks whether learner explored box breathing
Tried2020 True/False Tracks whether learner explored the 20-20-20 rule
TriedMovement True/False Tracks whether learner explored movement break
TechniqueCount Number Running total of techniques explored (0–3)
BoundaryChoice Text Records learner’s response to the Slack scenario
RitualComplete True/False Tracks completion of the drag-and-drop ritual builder

Safeguard logic: TechniqueCount increments only when a technique variable changes from False to True — not on every visit. This prevents double-counting when learners revisit a technique screen.

Section 1 — Recognizing Remote Stress

Learning goal: Help learners recognize what remote stress looks and feels like in a realistic moment before naming it clinically.

Screen Flow

  1. Title card — Section title and brief orienting narration introducing Maya
  2. Maya’s situation — Scene-setting text: it’s 2pm, three tabs open, a Slack notification unread for 20 minutes, a deadline in an hour. Shoulders near her ears. Narration asks: What might help right now?
  3. Click-to-reveal interaction — Three cards, each with a + button: Try box breathing, Try the 20-20-20 rule, Take a movement break. Learner clicks each to expand and read a brief description. All three must be visited before the Continue button unlocks.
  4. Transition narration — Acknowledges that Maya tried something. Sets up Section 2.

Key Decisions

  • Unordered exploration: Cards have no required sequence. The goal is discovery, not instruction. Learners can read in any order.
  • No right answer yet: Section 1 introduces the techniques without evaluating them. Judgment comes in Section 2.
  • Continue gate: The button unlocks only after all three cards are visited — ensuring learners have seen every option before moving on.

Section 2 — In-the-Moment Techniques

Learning goal: Let learners explore each technique in more depth and track which ones they engage with, without penalizing exploration or revisiting.

Screen Flow

  1. Section intro — Brief narration framing the three techniques as tools in a toolkit, not a ranked list
  2. Technique hub — Navigation screen with three paths, each leading to a dedicated technique screen
  3. Box Breathing screen — Step-by-step guide to the technique, applied to Maya’s situation. Sets TriedBreathing = True, increments TechniqueCount if not already counted.
  4. 20-20-20 Rule screen — Explanation of the technique (every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away, for 20 seconds). Sets Tried2020 = True, increments TechniqueCount if not already counted.
  5. Movement Break screen — Short movement options suited to a home office. Sets TriedMovement = True, increments TechniqueCount if not already counted.
  6. Return to hub — After each technique screen, learner returns to the hub. Visited states visually mark which techniques have been explored.
  7. Continue trigger — Hub Continue button is available after at least one technique is visited. Learners are not required to try all three.

Key Decisions

  • Non-linear, non-penalizing: Learners choose their own path. Someone who tries all three is not rewarded over someone who tries one — both move forward. The tracking exists for personalization in Section 4, not for scoring.
  • Visited states: Button or card states change visually after a technique is visited, giving learners a clear sense of what they’ve seen without a progress bar or checklist.
  • Minimum one, maximum three: The course tracks what was explored but does not lock the learner into completing all three. This mirrors how real stress management works — people use what works for them.

Section 3 — Boundary Rituals

Learning goal: Present a realistic boundary dilemma with meaningful consequences, then give learners a tool to build their own end-of-day ritual.

Screen Flow

Beat 1 — The Slack notification

  1. Scene setup — It’s 6:45pm. Maya’s day is supposed to be over.
  2. Notification screen — A Slack message appears from a colleague asking Maya to review a proposal tonight before it goes out tomorrow. The message is friendly and low-pressure in tone. Narration prompt: What does Maya do?
  3. Three-choice branch:
    • She reviews it now → consequence screen showing Maya working late, skipping her walk, feeling resentful
    • She sets a boundary and declines → consequence screen showing Maya logging off with a brief, professional response
    • She says yes but feels guilty about it → consequence screen exploring the cost of an unclear boundary
  4. Consequence screens — Each branch plays out briefly, then converges. Narration reframes the moment: how Maya ends her day shapes how tomorrow starts. Sets BoundaryChoice to the selected response.
  5. Convergence — All three branches return to the same screen before Beat 2.

Beat 2 — The ritual builder

  1. Intro screen — Narration introduces the idea of an end-of-day ritual as a deliberate signal to the brain that work is over
  2. Drag-and-drop interaction — Six ritual elements on the left: Close the laptop with intention, Write tomorrow’s top three tasks, Change out of work clothes, Take a short walk, Turn off Slack notifications, Make a cup of tea. A drop zone on the right labeled Maya’s Evening Ritual. Learners drag at least three elements into the zone.
  3. Completion trigger — Custom variable triggers (layered on top of Storyline’s freeform interaction) track when at least three items are in the drop zone. Sets RitualComplete = True. Continue button unlocks.

Key Decisions

  • Three-choice branch, not two: A simple yes/no boundary scenario is too easy to read. Three options — comply, decline, comply-but-resent — capture the way real boundary decisions actually feel.
  • Consequences, not judgment: Each branch shows what happens without a score or a “wrong answer” label. Learners experience the outcome and draw their own conclusion.
  • Custom drag-and-drop tracking: Storyline’s built-in freeform drag-and-drop uses a correct/incorrect system that doesn’t fit here — all combinations are valid. Custom triggers bypass that system entirely, tracking drop-zone count without evaluating which items were chosen.
  • Minimum three items: Enough to require intentional selection, not so many that it feels prescriptive.

Section 4 — Your Action Plan

Learning goal: Surface a personalized closing summary that reflects each learner’s specific choices throughout the course.

Screen Flow

  1. Intro screen — Narration acknowledges that Maya (and the learner) has been through a full week. Time to build something to take forward.
  2. Personalized technique summary — Conditional text blocks display based on TriedBreathing, Tried2020, and TriedMovement. Only the techniques the learner explored appear. Each is shown as a concrete action item, not a reminder of content.
  3. Boundary reflection — A brief conditional screen references BoundaryChoice, acknowledging the decision made in Section 3 without re-evaluating it.
  4. Commitment screen — Learner selects one technique they plan to try this week. A simple single-choice interaction, no branching — the action is the point.
  5. Closing slide — Personalized sign-off. If TechniqueCount is 3, narration acknowledges they explored everything. If 1 or 2, it acknowledges the focused approach. No score, no certificate — just a specific, personal close.

Key Decisions

  • Personalization through variables, not branching: The outcome isn’t a different version of the course — it’s a different arrangement of the same closing content based on what was tracked. This keeps the Storyline file manageable while still feeling individualized.
  • No wrong path to arrive here: Whether the learner tried one technique or three, declined the Slack message or accepted it, the closing screen feels like it was written for them specifically.
  • No score: Stress management isn’t pass/fail. A score would undermine the tone of the entire course.

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