Learning Experience Design Case Study: 
The L.E.A.D. Program

The Long Version:

What We Did

The project began with research to learn what successful hotels were doing right. To do this, we met with subject matter experts and a task force of 12 high-performing employees. The key factor was that successful teams responded to requests for proposals within the same business day. Their proposals were competitive to the client, but profitable for the business. So, how could we help other hotels do that, too?

Our solution was a 4-step program that focused on speed, responsiveness, and communication. The L.E.A.D. Program was born. This framework allowed hotels to respond 85% faster with competitive yet valuable bids. Regardless of the hotel's market or who their customers were, the L.E.A.D. Program meant less time for higher revenue.

For the training series, we created over 2 hours of interactive e-Learning modules. I broke these down into job-specific training curricula to ensure that no one had to sit through irrelevant information. We also created written guides, department-specific intranet pages, webinars, and hosted weekly office hours.

These concepts were technical, complex, and mathematical in nature. We knew that showing associates where to find the data would not be enough. Instead, I designed innovative interactions that helped learners get hands-on in solving problems. This helped provide actionable solutions that could be seamlessly implemented across the hotel.

I led all phases of the project, starting with writing 10 video scripts. I also created a design system for the series that would provide an identity for each module while being consistent across all materials. Throughout the project, I also trained and mentored our junior designers on what I did and how. This helped the team ensure that they could iterate in the future as the market changed.

The final product was a series made up of 10 educational videos: two introductory modules, and two modules for each of the four steps of the program. Each video included formative and summative assessments and engaging interactions.

We also created surveys for the end of each section so associates could provide feedback and flag areas that needed further training or clarity in the future. By the end of the series, 85% of associates reported understanding the program's expectations better, and 79% felt more capable of leading their property to success in the current market conditions.

Unfortunately, the majority of the materials I created for this series are under NDA and cannot be shared here. Instead, here's a brief explanation of how I created those assets with examples that ensure HEI's intellectual property standards are not violated.

Creating a Design System

While designing all of the resources for the program, my goal was to create consistency across all materials while still giving each subject its own unique look and personality.

Color Story

The company's brand colors are black, white, and a bright sky blue. Since we knew the logo would need to be featured in the background templates for the project, I used the bright blue to inform the program's color story. Utilizing coolors.co and mycolor.space, I created a four-color palette with vibrant, energetic colors that coordinated with the company's overall branding.

Style Guides

Creating the design system meant developing five different style guides - one for each segment of the training series. The style guides each included unique color stories for the relevant training materials, guidance on font sizing and usage, and graphics for illustrating the core concepts of each training.

Because all trainings included role play demonstrations of the concepts, I also selected characters for each role that would remain consistent across all 10 trainings from Storyline 360's Characters database. When selecting characters, my emphasis was on diversity to ensure that we were representing the incredibly diverse Hospitality industry. A highly simplified version of these style guides can be found below.

Training Templates

Written Guides

To cater to a variety of learning styles and make the information easier to access on a daily basis, I created a number of written strategy guides. These were created in Microsoft Word, again to ensure longevity of the materials and to make it easier for the less design-savvy analysts on the team to update them in the future.

Our plan for these documents was that associates could save them on their computer or print them for their files for easy reference when developing proposals. Therefore, my main focus was laying the information out in an easily-navigable, dynamic layout, so associates could find the most relevant information quickly and on the fly.

Intranet Reference Pages

All of the materials were attached to the training videos as downloadable resources, and were also uploaded to our Learning Management System so we could track completion and total views. However, because the LMS lacked single sign on and was hosted outside of our intranet system, we also wanted to create a few areas where everyone on a network computer could be able to find reference materials like the guides mentioned above. Therefore, I also designed a number of portals within our intranet system to house these resources.

The layout of the intranet system created only a small container near the center of the page: primary and secondary navigation could not be controlled at the page level, and sidebars on both the left and right of the page that could not be updated or hidden. This meant that the top 20% and about 40% of the horizontal space were not editable. Therefore, I focused on clarity of information, and a dynamic layout that would be easy to scan for the relevant information. Each page contained a brief introduction to the program, links to download written materials, and a table of downloadable call and office hour recordings that supported the program.

I started the process by building low-fidelity mockups in PowerPoint (which meant the files could easily be edited by anyone on the team who needed to, and made it easier to solicit feedback from senior leaders). Once my manager approved of the outlines, I build out a high-fidelity mockup that was approved by the SVP of Operations and number department heads. When the design was finalized, I built it out using very basic HTML editing and the page's Rich Text editor.
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While I was not able to save final designs due to NDA concerns, I have recreated a basic wireframe of the layout I used for each of the different sites.