State of Minnesota -
Enterprise, Learning & Development Agency

Charged with training and educating State of Minnesota employees, the Enterprise, Learning & Development (ELD) agency needed a new website, brand identity and Marcom strategy that included a new education center to host in-person workshops, cohorts and seminars to help employees learn, grow and lead.

Role

  • Creative direction, web design, UX design and multimedia marketing communications for agency

  • Product designer tasked with building a design system for a small agile team to connect with employees that was equitable and easy to use and maintain

  • Marketing strategist responsible for creating planned communications that were cohesive and consistent to increase enrollments for agency sustainability.

  • Connector with multiple state agencies to increase knowledge sharing and prepare for the adoption of a state enterprise branded design system

  • UX & UI designer tasked with creating a new accessible website focused on the employee experience for every level of their career that was useful, usable, equitable and easy to navigate

Tools

  • Adobe Illustrator, Indesign & Photoshop for design assets, branding, wireframes, hi-fidelity mockups

  • Tridion WCM to create and maintain new web site

  • WebAim & WCAG 2.0 guidelines to improve accessibility of all web content and comply with federal ADA standards

Prompt

As one of the leading educational agencies for the Minnesota state employees, ELD only had a single linked page on the Minnesota Management & Budget website. In order to become the full service agency it was intended to be, a new website and education center was needed. Meeting with key stakeholders, executive leadership, SME’s, web developers and agency project managers, I determined communication project timelines, necessary marketing tools and determined graphic assets that would be needed to build the first ELD website and rebranded identity.

Analysis of existing teaching models and other state agencies provided a roadmap for employee needs. To meet state policies, WCAG mandates and agency business needs, a list of web requirements were developed with state IT developers. Review of course satisfaction surveys revealed employees wanted advanced notices for upcoming courses so they could receive pre-approvals from supervisors who could then include training in their fiscal budgets to receive funding. Employees wanted online courses that were asynchronous and the ability to search by topic to find what they were looking for quicker.

Considerations & Implementing Better Experiences:

  • Five key areas of learning were identified to align with each career stage of state employees that could be tagged and searchable on the website

  • Courses to improve and strengthen skills in communication, teamwork, personal development, project management and customer service were highlighted throughout website

  • Employees digital experience finding courses, registering for programs & applying for cohorts needed to be easier to navigate

  • Finding upcoming courses to fulfill training requirements and fill voids in professional development needed to be highlighted throughout website

  • Create a way for graduating cohorts and alumni from the leadership programs to stay connected after graduation

  • Increase course offerings and enrollments to remain self-sufficient since the agency did not receive legislative funding from the state

Site Architectures, Journey Maps & Design System Building

Mapping out a new website architecture with employee journey maps provided the needed roadmap to create assets and build a new scaleable UX design library.

Working with IT developers, we customized a new course finder that allowed employees to search for courses by discipline, skill level, availability and delivery method. Content was written and edited to provide consistent delivery across all channels. Course descriptions were tagged with key words and navigation was designed to be easy for employees to find courses they wanted and the training they needed.

A new identity drew inspiration from the Fibonacci spiral and state icon to create the new logo and roll out a new education system in print, digital and web. Assets included a customized photo library, iconography and graphics. The new assets were shared internally and used for town hall meetings, cohort and leadership workshops, webinars, education center signage, marketing campaigns and graduation collateral.

To manage multiple audiences, campaigns, connect alumni and keep senior leaders informed, I coordinated business requirements and training to purchase the Gov Delivery email program as an agile tool to digitally engage with employees.

  • Before & After Website

  • ELD Course Finder Topic Tool

  • ELD Skills Landing Page

  • ELD Customized Services Web & Marcom

  • Business Cards

Educational Opportunities

The leadership cohorts for emerging and senior leaders were garnering more applications. Graduating cohorts were invited to join the a new ELD sponsored Leadership Network for learning opportunities, workshops, networking and collaboration. The programs were sub-branded and a new identity was developed for the Leadership Network.

Delivering Solutions

A new website highlighted the three key areas of learning specialized skills, professional development and senior leadership. A custom built course finder allowed people to search by discipline, skill level, availability and delivery method.

In alliance with the new identity system and printed materials, the e-mail subscription management system was garnering more visits to the new website. Course enrollments in the new virtual classroom and at the dedicated learning center were also increasing. And more leadership cohorts were graduating and joining the Leadership Network. The scaleable design system was used for multiple channels to successfully deliver a cohesively developed education experience tailored for public employees. Positive feedback on course surveys, high click-rates for digital marketing campaigns, increased enrollments and waitlisted programs provided key metrics to measure the departments achievements from a small program to a respected educator.