ELearning: Product Platform and Course Design

Design system planning excerpt of UL's responsive EduFlex eLearning software design on iPad. Wireframe illustrating UI navigation views, imagery usage, course progression and slide-in highlighters. Copyright 2023 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

Design system planning excerpt of UL’s responsive EduFlex eLearning software design on iPad. Wireframe illustrating UI navigation views, imagery usage, course progression and slide-in highlighters. Copyright 2024 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

Excerpt of UL's responsive EduFlex eLearning software showing virtual roadmap capabilities where learners experience chapters in a 3D world. *My design with page arrow elements created by my design team. Copyright 2023 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

Excerpt of UL’s responsive EduFlex eLearning software. ELearning course design based on storytelling structure where learners experience chapters in a 3D world (virtual roadmap). Copyright 2024 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

Copyright 2023 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

An eLearning course design ideated and created from scratch. It was known as a storytelling virtual roadmap within the online Eduflex eLearning platform where learners visited and explored each floating island as part of their training. *Note: The rocky base of the islands and navigational course arrows on the right and left were created by a senior designer on my team.) **Top navigational UI collectively created by the design and product teams. Copyright 2024 EduNeering Holdings, Inc.

THE NEED
Identify a new eLearning training solution that would allow Pure Learning, a division of Underwriters Laboratories now known as UL Solutions, to depart from their Flash dependent platform and establish the future of their eLearning services for global clientele. The solution needed to be responsive to meet growing demands of mobile access, integrate with the company’s proprietary LMS, and meet a long list of specific business and advanced training requirements.

MY APPROACH
The company had experienced an unsuccessful consulting endeavor followed by a discouraging capability analysis of third party and open source software options. These circumstances left the playing field for the company’s product future cleared for bold new ideas. Personally knowing the company had incredibly capable talent, I proposed designing and developing a new proprietary software platform in-house. It would be known as EduFlex. EduFlex would consist of an LMS integrated platform that delivered its own responsive eLearning courses. As Creative Director, I took the design and development lead collaborating with cross-functional teams in the product design software creation following an agile-like, iterative approach. In-depth collaborative efforts encompassed research, business goal alignment, detailed requirements, design thinking, conceptual design and wireframes, instructional systems design framework, prototypes, user task flows and overall user experience, information hierarchy, user interfaces, theme integration, typography studies, legibility testing, accessibility, translation, narration audio, interactive design, streaming video, animation, gamification design, web development, design systems, sales promotion support, standards creation and user testing. Phased development continued beyond the initial launch for added functionality. In addition to supporting all levels of design, I also contributed to multiple product innovations including a virtual roadmap storytelling integration with branched scenario capabilities, templated course development systems and interactivity design.

THE RESULT
EduFlex became a market-leading eLearning product unmatched in responsive web functionality and other advanced capabilities by any global competitor in the commercial eLearning space at the time of its release. It became a reality through the strong collaboration of a group of extremely talented coworkers who shared the vision and value of building a market-leading, cutting-edge product. EduFlex also became the company’s most successful proprietary eLearning software with its use spanning 10 years. Retired in 2023, EduFlex delivered an estimated 2,000+ rich training solutions for over 70 global clientele such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Amgen, Stryker, Bausch & Lomb, Merck, HCSC, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cardinal Health, Reckitt Benckiser, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Novo Nordisk, Siemens, Sanofi, McDonald’s and Mattel helping generate millions of dollars in revenue. New capabilities of the platform, and library of courses built within it, elevated learning experiences and helped global organizations succeed while simultaneously doubling the speed of in-house eLearning course development.

MY ROLE
Creative direction, product management, cross-department collaboration, team leadership, research and design strategy, conceptualization, design thinking, user experience, survey development, design systems and development templates, interface design, innovation, typography and information hierarchy, interaction and gamification design, branding and graphic design, testing, file naming, structuring and standards development

    • Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. This site is the design portfolio of Carl Owens. All content, imagery, videos, and photography on this site are copyright of Carl Owens, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), EduNeering Holdings, Inc, College of the Mainland or other businesses and may additionally be trademarked. No portion of this site may be redistributed, copied, shared or reproduced in any form or fashion without expressed written consent from Carl Owens or the respective owners of copyrighted and trademarked material.