Making onboarding feel like a conversation in the office
A gamified employee training app that cut onboarding time in half and boosted first-week completion by 32 percentage points.
Remote onboarding leaves people behind
I designed St for the Google UX Design certificate program, which started as a simple UX brief and quietly turned into one of the most comprehensive design projects I've built — not because of the products, but because of what it taught me about what design actually is in contemporary discussions in design, edutech, corporate training, and beyond.
Yes, a wayfinding system. More on that in a minute.
The solution architecture I designed around these insights was built on one core principle: in-office conversation-style tiny-task loops—five-minute micro-lessons. Casual conversation-style learning, immediate feedback, and achievable daily wins.
The Brief That Wasn't Really the Brief
The HMW problem was familiar: New employees log in on day one, get dumped into a boring LMS with many modules…
How might we make remote employee onboarding feel less like a corporate checklist and more like a real conversation in the office?
But the deeper design question — the one that really drove every decision — was something more human. How do we help people feel capable, not just compliant?
02 - App Logo Design & Animation
St (Skilled Team) — bold, minimal, memorable. The logo uses a vibrant gradient to signal energy and growth, with a floating animation that brings warmth to the digital training experience.
The motion design was equally intentional. The logo animation, micro-lesson intro sequences — these weren't decorative. Motion is communication.
The UX: Casual Conversations, Motion & AI That Actually Earns Its Seat at the Table
The UX: Casual Conversations, Motion & AI That Actually Earns Its Seat at the Table
There is a big difference between encouraging users and making them feel guilty through the design experience. We should always be building the former.
Then there's the AI coaching layer, which is honestly where things got interesting for me as a designer and educator. Employees can practice real workplace scenarios through conversational assessments — voice or chat — and receive personalized feedback from an AI coach that remembers their training context. Not a static quiz. A dialogue.
04 — In-Course Animation
Motion that motivates
Every micro-lesson intro animations
Micro lesson intro animations
Employees complete scenario-based conversations — practicing real situations, getting instant feedback, demonstrating knowledge through natural dialogue. Employees can tap a mic or chat and ask questions — the AI coach responds with personalized guidance, scenario practice, and instant feedback.
What happened after launch
87% first-week completion (vs 55% legacy LMS), 68% 7-day streak retention (goal: 60%), and 30% faster manager feedback via heat-map dashboard.
"I always thought I wasn't good at training. Now I know I just needed the right tools." — Employee feedback
MOVE FORWARD
The Brand — Bold, Minimal, Built to Travel
With the app proven, the work expanded into something more tangible: how does ST feel when it exists in the physical world? The logo— bold and minimal—had already established a visual language built on energy and momentum. The challenge was carrying that into spaces and objects without losing the warmth that made the digital experience work.
Web Design
Merchandise started with a tote bag and t-shirt: practical, everyday, a quiet brand ambassador. The design kept it clean.
Wayfinding rolled out across three offices and their meeting rooms. Rather than generic signage, the system drew on the app's visual DNA — purposeful typography, restraint in the brand palette, and a sense of direction that felt intuitive rather than institutional. Employees moving between spaces encountered the same design intelligence that greeted them on their phones every morning.
Infographics brought the brand into print. Designed in a brochure format, these pieces distilled complex learning data and onboarding journeys into visuals that were clear without being cold. The same gradient energy from the app translated into illustrated charts and frameworks that felt like they belonged to the same world — because they did (I used ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, Figma Make, and other AI tools as part of my creative process — not to replace my authorship, but to support research, visual exploration, iteration, prototyping, and refinement while I shaped the concept, design direction, and final visual system myself).
Here is the LinkedIn Article