If you’ve spent any time creating in Rise, you already know its power: it’s fast, responsive, accessible, possible in Rise. That’s exactly why we launched Really Good Rise Courses, a curated gallery inside Maestro Community (our free home for learning creators). Think of it as Pinterest or Dribbble, but and incredibly user-friendly. But Rise’s simplicity sometimes leads people to believe that all Rise courses have to look the same—clean, structured, and predictable.

But we know from experience that Articulate Rise is capable of so much more than cookie-cutter layouts. Combine a bit of Rise know-how with intentional design decisions—beautiful typography, thoughtful spacing, good hierarchy, and creatively repurposed blocks—and you can transform Rise into a visually rich, modern, custom-feeling experience. And there are so many tools out there to make your Rise courses everything you want them to be. You can use design tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to add custom images, and tools like Mighty—a lightweight Chrome extension for Rise—to unlock new blocks, build custom interactions, and gain more control over styling and layout. 

The bottom line: When learning creators push Rise beyond its defaults, the results can be visually stunning and produce incredible learning outcomes.

The best way to get inspired and grow your skills is to see how other creators are stretching what’s exclusively for Articulate 360 examples. Each course includes annotated snapshots that break down the design decisions and show you how to apply similar ideas to your own projects.

Below, we’ll explore four Articulate Rise course examples from our gallery—each one built by our team at Maestro—that showcase what’s possible when creativity meets thoughtful learning design. Whether you’re building onboarding, leadership, compliance, or mobile-first experiences, these examples will help you spark new ideas for your next project.

Want to explore all of our Really Good Rise courses?! There are even more waiting for you inside Maestro Community (MC), full of tips and inspiration. Check them out now, for free!

Articulate Rise course example #1: Aura’s elevated new-hire experience

The challenge 

This creative design agency wanted an attention-grabbing onboarding experience—something modern, energetic, and polished enough to motivate their newest team members from the start. Their goal: build a Rise course that felt nothing like a template and everything like its brand.

What makes it really good

This Rise course is an intentionally curated visual playground. The brand voice and personality shine through thoughtful design choices—from custom lesson headers to signature iconography. We achieved this look by focusing on tiny, subtle design decisions that dramatically elevate the aesthetic without overwhelming the learner. This course proves how much is possible when you blend Rise’s core strengths with an eye for detail.

What’s inside:

• Ordinary Rise blocks used in unexpected ways to create “lean in” moments for learners
• Framed image and text blocks that push beyond the standard grid
• A curated selection of icons for visual clarity and style (Have you tried FontAwesome yet?!)
• Custom Continue buttons to reinforce brand identity
• And much more!

Mighty touches

• A completely custom cover page (Tip: Turning off lesson headers is a quick way to break from the mold!)
• A wide variety of custom transitions (waves, gradients, offsets) that add flow and movement
• Image + text blocks framed and cropped in stylized, editorial ways
• Several examples of “thinking singularly” with Rise blocks to create fresh interactions (The Note block is one of our go-tos for this hack!)

Want to explore the full course and get tips and how-tos? Head to Really Good Rise Courses in Maestro Community to check it out now.

Articulate Rise example #2: A calm, elegant collaboration course

The challenge

Collaboration is a deeply human, deeply emotional element of the workplace. To encourage learners to feel grounded and supported as they navigate the content, this Rise course needed to set a calming, reflective tone. Everything—from the typography to the imagery style to the interactions—had to feel warm, intentional, and inviting.

What makes it really good

This course leans into minimalism and depth. You’ll see clean lines, moody backgrounds, elegant accents, and a visual hierarchy that instantly tells learners where to look. The entire experience feels refined and elevated—perfect inspiration for using simplicity to your advantage inside Rise.

What’s inside:

• High-contrast layouts that feel dynamic and sophisticated
• Eyebrow headings paired with oversized type for strong section hierarchy (New to eyebrow headings? Check out the post comments for tips on how to make them!)
• Autoplay videos used to set an emotional tone and context right away
• Interactions designed to encourage true reflection (We love the use of Mighty’s Reverse Hotspot here!)

Mighty touches

• Custom typography to set tone and establish a strong brand identity
• Autoplay video headers that instantly grab attention and set the mood
• Subtle divider lines to help section content without changing the background color
• A surprisingly elegant numbered list layout you’ve probably never seen in Rise before

Ready to check out the full course? Head to Really Good Rise Courses in Maestro Community to access the entire experience for free!

Articulate Rise 360 example #3: Personality, polish, and fresh-cut blooms

The challenge 

If we weren’t designers, we’d probably open a charming little flower shop—quiet, colorful, and beautifully designed (of course). As a way to stretch our skills and have some fun in Rise, we built the next best thing: an interactive course that teaches learners everything they need to know about prepping flowers in our (imaginary) floral studio.

What makes it really good

A cheerful color palette pairs with sophisticated typography and inviting illustrations to create a warm, welcoming learning environment. Unexpected choices greet you at every scroll, capturing intention, setting the tone, and conveying information with clarity. No matter your subject matter, this course offers innovative and inspiring design choices you can put to work right away.

What’s inside:

• Clean layouts that feel modern but still full of personality
• An attention-grabbing hero image created using the labeled graphic block
• Smart layering of photos and illustrations to create unique transitions 
• Intentional chunking that makes content fun and intuitive to explore
• Simple, on-brand illustrations to reinforce learning and engagement

Mighty touches

• Eyebrow headings add extra detail to section titles and strengthen visual hierarchy
• A two-column text layout breaks the typical one-column flow for a more dynamic page
• Bold transitions blend photography with illustrations to create playful visual movement
• Cropped and framed photography elevates the three-column grid and draws learners in

There’s more to explore in the Wallflower course! Head to Really Good Rise Courses in Maestro Community to check out the entire course (design notes included)!

Articulate Rise example #4: Caballero County’s mobile-first hiking guide

The challenge 

Created for our July 2025 eLearning challenge with Tim Slade, this scenario imagined you as an instructional designer partnering with park rangers to create a course for hikers on local trails. We were tasked with building a mobile-optimized Rise course that informs, guides, and empowers trail users of all skill levels (while using Mighty to level up the entire experience).

What makes it really good

This course is energetic, practical, and thoughtfully reflects the environment of its users. Bright desert-themed visuals, strong brand anchoring, and mobile-first layouts make it easy for learners to explore trails, assess readiness, and get real-time information. It’s a perfect example of how Rise can support in-the-field learning—and how Mighty can help you make customizations to meet learners’ exact needs.

What’s inside:

• A cohesive color palette that mirrors the subject matter
• Textures and typography that add playfulness while preserving clarity
• Smart chunking and card-style layouts optimized for phones
• A variety of real-world learning moments (Interactive maps, weather, and gear lists)

Mighty touches

• A real-time weather widget pulling in local conditions (Psst! Builds like this are easy with Mighty’s Interactive HTML block—the code for this one is in the Code Catalog in Maestro Community!)
• An interactive trail map with length/elevation details
• A fitness quiz to help learners choose the right trail (Kudos to Mighty’s flexible Multiple Choice block for this one!)
• A Reverse Hotspot activity to help hikers pack the supplies they’ll need most
• Textured transitions + modern typography to resonate with and engage the modern hiker

Want to explore the course (and put your trail knowledge to the test)? The full course is available in Really Good Rise Courses within Maestro Community—check it out here!

Great learning design drives better learning outcomes

The best Articulate Rise examples aren’t just visually impressive—they work because they’re intentionally designed to meet learners where they are. When you combine strong hierarchy, thoughtful organization, custom interactions, and clean visual storytelling, you create learning experiences that make a lasting impact.

Rise’s simplicity gives learning designers like us a powerful foundation. But it’s a learning designer’s strategy, creativity, attention to detail, and toolbox that transform a basic Rise course into an experience that truly sticks.

Whether you’re experimenting with custom interactions and styling, bold transitions, refining typography, or repurposing Rise blocks, intentional design is an important step toward clearer communication, deeper engagement, and more confident learners.

If you want more examples like this—plus practical design tutorials, copy-and-customize code snippets, and conversations with other creators—come join us in Maestro Community (MC)! It’s completely free and built for learning designers like you who want to level up their craft.