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Building the Innovation Academy
Client: Sage L&D • 2022 • 12 weeks • My role: Project lead, UX research & design, information architecture, facilitator
Challenge
Sage embarked on a groundbreaking initiative to establish specialized academies, a novel concept within the organization. Tasked with building the first of these academies from scratch, the Innovation Academy would serve as the blueprint for future academies. Our challenge was dual: creating a central repository for innovation tools and training while pioneering a new model for learning within Sage. 🧩🏗️
Team
Our team included me, project lead and service designer, another UX designer, one developer.
The process
Competitive analysis & inspiration gathering
For one week, our team delved into existing learning platforms, analyzing industry best practices in engagement and user experience. Subsequently, we engaged with colleagues within the company to gain insights into their perceptions and sentiments regarding learning.
Content mapping
Our team also had to spend a lot of time thinking about different content types which could be embedded into the site; I mapped out a diagram of our content types. This helped us start to plan and account for interface requirements.
Prototype and testing
We embraced a human-centered approach, engaging potential users in co-creation. Through iterative prototyping and usability testing, we crafted a platform that addressed key insights and needs. Leveraging Miro and Figma, we developed 8 prototypes, refining them through 3 rounds of user testing and one focus group session. We got important feedback that helped us make revisions along the way.
Building Personas
To ensure the platform catered to diverse user needs, we developed three innovation learner personas. Each persona represented a distinct set of behaviors, goals, and pain points, guiding our design decisions and enhancing user empathy. 👥
Our personas played a pivotal role in this project, serving as a cornerstone in keeping us aligned with our users' needs.
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User journey maps
For each persona we developed a customer journey map to look at their experience from a holistic perspective. This process allowed us to spot new opportunities to improve learning experiences offered by the Academy. We designed the following customer journeys:
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Life-long Liam receives a recommendation from his manager to visit the Innovation Academy
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Social Simon is a member of the Continuous Innovation Community and searches for new tools to innovate
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Bespoke Belinda has just joined Sage
