The Smooth Academy
The Smooth Brothers is a popular smoothie place in Groningen and Utrecht, with a strong company culture based on the principles of jazz music. For the Smooth Brothers, I created a responsive onboarding method for new employees. The website and app prototype were designed to provide new employees with a fun, engaging, and interactive way to get to know the company's culture and philosophy.
Research
Before creating the concept, I researched the best way to create an onboarding, researching the target group, the jazz philosophy, game-based learning, culture-based organizations, e-learning for millenials, best practices, and field research. The research helped me to identify the best ways to create an engaging and interactive onboarding experience for new employees.
Concept
During my research, I developed 30 design principles that the onboarding concept had to meet. Using these principles, I brainstormed various methods and discussed them with the target group and client. Ultimately, I settled on the responsive onboarding method, which includes both an app and a website.
To structure the onboarding method, I opted for module-based learning with games and an interactive learning approach. By taking a module-based approach, the learning can be customized to the needs of each new employee, while games and interactive elements help to keep them engaged and motivated.
Look & Feel + Prototyping
After defining the concept for the onboarding method, I created the visual identity of the academy. To ensure the design would resonate with the target group, I used rapid testing, including A/B testing, to gather feedback and make iterative improvements. Once I had a clear understanding of the design direction, I created low-fidelity wireframes as a starting point for the development of the website and app.
Prototyping
Once the low-fidelity wireframes were tested, they were converted into high-fidelity wireframes. I used Figma to create the wireframes, taking into account the differences between app and desktop usage. By creating detailed high-fidelity wireframes, I was able to communicate the design more effectively to the client and the development team, ensuring that everyone involved had a clear understanding of the design and functionality of the website and app.
