Connecting Employees to Their Organization's Gender Equality Initiatives
Overview
Organizations in male-dominated industries use the Best Practices Framework (BPF) to foster workplaces that provide equal opportunities to women. However, they struggle to organize and distribute practices to their employees. With my team, I led strategy and design for MyPlan, a feature that organizes practices into company-specific plans. With these features, business leaders can plan and distribute up-to-date gender equality initiatives to their employees. Since 2023, over 20 initiatives were created using MyPlan with 68% of Engendering Industries partners promoting women at the same rate as men.
Role
UX Designer, UX Researcher
Duration
3 months
Key Features
MyPlan Planning Initiatives for Current and New Customers
MyPlan helps business leaders create and organize plans by providing them a central location with a way to add, remove, share, and export practices important to them.
Throughout the site, Phases and Practices are designed to be easily added to MyPlan in bulk or as needed.
My Plan Onboarding Rapid Assessment
The Rapid Assessment is a beginner friendly entrance that pre-populates MyPlan with suggested Best Practices to implement. Users found MyPlan intuitive, but they needed help starting an empty plan.
The Problem
The resource saw less than 400 views in the last year; a stark number compared to how many partners and people it ultimately touched (98 organizations globally).
Leaders rely on the BPF to identify practices for their organization's initiatives but struggle to effectively share these practices with their employees. Instead, they resort to copy-pasting or screenshotting the content in emails, documents, and presentations. Since their employees typically work outdoors in low-data areas, this approach makes receiving and accessing practices difficult for workers.
Research and Discovery
Designing for Two Groups
To understand the context of the project and what tools our audience could benefit from having, I spoke with employees at partnered companies and gender equality subject matter experts. I identified two main groups:
Business Leaders & Employees
We simplified each to it's core needs and expectations.
Business Leaders
Individuals who make decisions at a high level for large organizations. They're community changers and cultural decision makers.
They use the Best Practices Framework to inform them on what changes they need to make internally to promote gender equality, and how to make those changes. They partner with Engendering Industries to become a leader in their industry and promote diversity.
&
Employees
Individuals implementing new gender equality Best Practices. Previously, they interacted with the Best Practices Framework indirectly through cultural meetings, company emails, and events. They don't actively think about the Best Practices each day, but are responsible for contributing to company culture and inclusiveness.
Many employees work in low data areas, making them less able to access the PDF materials Engendering Industries provides managers. They do, however, have the ability to navigate through low data websites.
Business leaders need more advanced tools to help them distribute information to employees.
Leadership uses the BPF the most, and how they involve employees with gender equality initiatives was cumbersome. Their previous journey looked like:
Find Best Practices
Managers collaborated with Engendering Industries to identify best practices for their company to implement.
Copy and paste initiatives into a document
Then, they copy and paste from the original PDF into a document, presentation, or email.
Send .pdf files to employees
And give it to employees via email or in person.
Unfortunately, organizing and distributing material in this way was time-consuming and difficult to organize for leaders. Also, employees working in low data areas suffered from material being sent as PDF's.
Company leaders can use MyPlan to organize Best Practices for internal use.
MyPlan resolves both of these issues by providing a space where companies can organize the Best Practices important to them. They can add practices, remove practices, or share the plan with their employees.
What Shape Will This Feature Take? Competitive Analysis
Would creating a plan for the Best Practices Framework operate like a project management tool?
Each phase in the BPF has multiple practices just like stories and issues, so we decided to mirror this feature in Jira.
Then, I remembered how I would create "plans" for college courses and investigated the course catalog.
There was a central location for a plan, and this seemed the most in line with the kind of plans we were creating with Best Practices.
I researched many framework tools which follow a similar structure to the BPF like the M3 Playbook. They served as a good basesline, but didn't have much interactivity to them.
Identified Issues
To summarize research, weekly discovery meetings and requirement gathering sessions, we identified these primary issues:
No Organization
There wasn’t a way for leaders to organize best practices they wanted to focus on.
Not Reaching Employees
Managers had to create separate resources to distribute initiatives so that employees were aware and involved.
Objective
Create a more effective way for leaders to plan, organize, and distribute gender equality initiatives.
Iteration
Integrating throughout the Best Practices Framework
Practices needed to be updated to reflect MyPlan. I added a way to remove and add plans to both practices and phases. Ultimately, we switched the numbering system since users didn't use them.
MyPlan Details
The MyPlan screen went through multiple revisions to reflect functionality important to those who use the feature, like exporting to PDF and returning to a phase.
Cart Idea
One of the earlier concepts involved a sidebar cart that slid out for MyPlan. We eventually removed the idea as the pattern resembled a shopping cart too much and added confusion.
Small Details
Onboarding
Early concepts of Onboarding Results had a 'suggested reading' below answers to the assessment. Later, we incorporated the practices into the answers for a more streamlined appearance.
Adding
Links, buttons, and layout went through a massive overhaul. Attention was given to small interactions like adding being more intuitive than starring practices, and how users understand actions for adding and removing practices and phases to MyPlan.
Extras! The original BPF was a PDF, and there was a lot of thought that iteration that took place to build a foundation for MyPlan and the Assessment.
Navigation Layout Wireframe
Deciding how the navigation appeared and functioned was a main priority to flawlessly design. To meet business needs, too, we iterated multiple times over what the navigation structure.
We presented all of these internally to USAID with recommendations based off of heuristics and focus group feedback, ultimately ending on the squares.
This serves as a large identity and navigation element for way-finding throughout the BPF.
Book Navigation Improving the Exploration Experience
The BPF was a long spreadsheet that users had a hard time exploring content, referencing specific practices, and sharing sections. By looking over existing digital frameworks, we broke the BPF into three separate page levels: Home > Phases > Practices. Like a book, with a cover, chapters, and pages, the BPF could be organized for easy reading and sharing.
A 100 page pdf that looks like this…
Is so much easier to explore and link by putting content into three levels.
Home – Top Level
Phase – Middle Level
Practice – Bottom Level
From the Home page, you can access all the phases, and from each phase, you can access its practice pages. This way, users:
Quickly navigate to a section they are looking for, like a library.
Easily explore sections of the Best Practices Framework.
Do not feel overwhelmed by too much content on a single page.
Share individual resources throughout their network.
Iconography and Color Easier to Identify, Scan and Navigate
Differentiating sections from one another in the original version of the BPF proved to be impossible. Users quickly got lost trying to scan when looking for an initiative.
Brand colors and iconography were utilized to help navigate the site.
Each Phase was color coded and given an icon to give users a sense of direction.
Navigation Layout Ideation
I proposed three different layouts along with details of each.
Easiest to see hover and selected items. Familiar design pattern for readability.
Better at bringing users to focus on the content, rather than the navigation. Abillity to have wider images and dynamic layouts.
Blocks give users a solid structure to navigate from. This gives a large identity opportunity to be exciting with colors and iconography.
The block design successfully compromised on a middle ground between exciting and useful. The navigation issues dramatically improved this option was supported by stakeholders.
Launch
My Plan
For developer handoff and product launch, I created a comprehensive and responsive design system.
Assessment
The length and result of the assessment was determined through usability testing where we found a comprehensive quiz and actionable results page made the most sense.
Assessment in Progress
Assessment Results
Integrated
Practices are easily added and removed throughout the Framework.
Style Guide
I compiled the BPF into a cohesive style and identity for the Best Practices Framework to be used in desktop, mobile, presentation, and other media.
Design System
The Best Practices Framework was added to Engendering Industries' existing design system, which I also led. I was responsible for creating the overarching site's comprehensive and responsive design system. It involved 0-to-1 identity, designing styles for all template pages, and delegating tasks to graphic designers.
Reflection
For my first major product release, I held the majority of responsibility for design. I realized understanding the BPF was crucial for change, and how important simply reading it and meeting with its authors can be. I learned when to be firm and confident while presenting to stakeholders, something that will continue throughout my career. I also learned to trust my coworkers; this MVP would not have been released without collaboration from other designers and members on my team.
In 2024, we transformed the BPF into a digital product and re-imagined how leaders organize and share these resources with employees. I received support and guidance from my Creative Director, CEO, Director of Project Management, and the entirety of the client's team. I took on many unfamiliar challenges in this project and am thankful for all the help I received!
Connecting Employees to Their Organization's Gender Equality Initiatives
Overview
Organizations in male-dominated industries use the Best Practices Framework (BPF) to foster workplaces that provide equal opportunities to women. However, they struggle to organize and distribute practices to their employees. With my team, I led strategy and design for MyPlan, a feature that organizes practices into company-specific plans. With these features, business leaders can plan and distribute up-to-date gender equality initiatives to their employees. Since 2023, over 20 initiatives were created using MyPlan with 68% of Engendering Industries partners promoting women at the same rate as men.
Role
UX Designer, UX Researcher
Duration
3 months
Key Features
MyPlan Planning Initiatives for Current and New Customers
MyPlan helps business leaders create and organize plans by providing them a central location with a way to add, remove, share, and export practices important to them.
Throughout the site, Phases and Practices are designed to be easily added to MyPlan in bulk or as needed.
My Plan Onboarding Rapid Assessment
The Rapid Assessment is a beginner friendly entrance that pre-populates MyPlan with suggested Best Practices to implement. Users found MyPlan intuitive, but they needed help starting an empty plan.
The Problem
The resource saw less than 400 views in the last year; a stark number compared to how many partners and people it ultimately touched (98 organizations globally).
Leaders rely on the BPF to identify practices for their organization's initiatives but struggle to effectively share these practices with their employees. Instead, they resort to copy-pasting or screenshotting the content in emails, documents, and presentations. Since their employees typically work outdoors in low-data areas, this approach makes receiving and accessing practices difficult for workers.
Research and Discovery
Designing for Two Groups
To understand the context of the project and what tools our audience could benefit from having, I spoke with employees at partnered companies and gender equality subject matter experts. I identified two main groups:
Business Leaders & Employees
We simplified each to it's core needs and expectations.
Business Leaders
Individuals who make decisions at a high level for large organizations. They're community changers and cultural decision makers.
They use the Best Practices Framework to inform them on what changes they need to make internally to promote gender equality, and how to make those changes. They partner with Engendering Industries to become a leader in their industry and promote diversity.
&
Employees
Individuals implementing new gender equality Best Practices. Previously, they interacted with the Best Practices Framework indirectly through cultural meetings, company emails, and events. They don't actively think about the Best Practices each day, but are responsible for contributing to company culture and inclusiveness.
Many employees work in low data areas, making them less able to access the PDF materials Engendering Industries provides managers. They do, however, have the ability to navigate through low data websites.
Business leaders need more advanced tools to help them distribute information to employees.
Leadership uses the BPF the most, and how they involve employees with gender equality initiatives was cumbersome. Their previous journey looked like:
Find Best Practices
Managers collaborated with Engendering Industries to identify best practices for their company to implement.
Copy and paste initiatives into a document
Then, they copy and paste from the original PDF into a document, presentation, or email.
Send .pdf files to employees
And give it to employees via email or in person.
Unfortunately, organizing and distributing material in this way was time-consuming and difficult to organize for leaders. Also, employees working in low data areas suffered from material being sent as PDF's.
Company leaders can use MyPlan to organize Best Practices for internal use.
MyPlan resolves both of these issues by providing a space where companies can organize the Best Practices important to them. They can add practices, remove practices, or share the plan with their employees.
What Shape Will This Feature Take? Competitive Analysis
Would creating a plan for the Best Practices Framework operate like a project management tool?
Each phase in the BPF has multiple practices just like stories and issues, so we decided to mirror this feature in Jira.
Then, I remembered how I would create "plans" for college courses and investigated the course catalog.
There was a central location for a plan, and this seemed the most in line with the kind of plans we were creating with Best Practices.
I researched many framework tools which follow a similar structure to the BPF like the M3 Playbook. They served as a good basesline, but didn't have much interactivity to them.
Identified Issues
To summarize research, weekly discovery meetings and requirement gathering sessions, we identified these primary issues:
No Organization
There wasn’t a way for leaders to organize best practices they wanted to focus on.
Not Reaching Employees
Managers had to create separate resources to distribute initiatives so that employees were aware and involved.
Objective
Create a more effective way for leaders to plan, organize, and distribute gender equality initiatives.
Iteration
Integrating throughout the Best Practices Framework
Practices needed to be updated to reflect MyPlan. I added a way to remove and add plans to both practices and phases. Ultimately, we switched the numbering system since users didn't use them.
MyPlan Details
The MyPlan screen went through multiple revisions to reflect functionality important to those who use the feature, like exporting to PDF and returning to a phase.
Cart Idea
One of the earlier concepts involved a sidebar cart that slid out for MyPlan. We eventually removed the idea as the pattern resembled a shopping cart too much and added confusion.
Small Details
Onboarding
Early concepts of Onboarding Results had a 'suggested reading' below answers to the assessment. Later, we incorporated the practices into the answers for a more streamlined appearance.
Adding
Links, buttons, and layout went through a massive overhaul. Attention was given to small interactions like adding being more intuitive than starring practices, and how users understand actions for adding and removing practices and phases to MyPlan.
Extras! The original BPF was a PDF, and there was a lot of thought that iteration that took place to build a foundation for MyPlan and the Assessment.
Navigation Layout Wireframe
Deciding how the navigation appeared and functioned was a main priority to flawlessly design. To meet business needs, too, we iterated multiple times over what the navigation structure.
We presented all of these internally to USAID with recommendations based off of heuristics and focus group feedback, ultimately ending on the squares.
This serves as a large identity and navigation element for way-finding throughout the BPF.
Book Navigation Improving the Exploration Experience
The BPF was a long spreadsheet that users had a hard time exploring content, referencing specific practices, and sharing sections. By looking over existing digital frameworks, we broke the BPF into three separate page levels: Home > Phases > Practices. Like a book, with a cover, chapters, and pages, the BPF could be organized for easy reading and sharing.
A 100 page pdf that looks like this…
Is so much easier to explore and link by putting content into three levels.
Home – Top Level
Phase – Middle Level
Practice – Bottom Level
From the Home page, you can access all the phases, and from each phase, you can access its practice pages. This way, users:
Quickly navigate to a section they are looking for, like a library.
Easily explore sections of the Best Practices Framework.
Do not feel overwhelmed by too much content on a single page.
Share individual resources throughout their network.
Iconography and Color Easier to Identify, Scan and Navigate
Differentiating sections from one another in the original version of the BPF proved to be impossible. Users quickly got lost trying to scan when looking for an initiative.
Brand colors and iconography were utilized to help navigate the site.
Each Phase was color coded and given an icon to give users a sense of direction.
Navigation Layout Ideation
I proposed three different layouts along with details of each.
Easiest to see hover and selected items. Familiar design pattern for readability.
Better at bringing users to focus on the content, rather than the navigation. Abillity to have wider images and dynamic layouts.
Blocks give users a solid structure to navigate from. This gives a large identity opportunity to be exciting with colors and iconography.
The block design successfully compromised on a middle ground between exciting and useful. The navigation issues dramatically improved this option was supported by stakeholders.
Launch
My Plan
For developer handoff and product launch, I created a comprehensive and responsive design system.
Assessment
The length and result of the assessment was determined through usability testing where we found a comprehensive quiz and actionable results page made the most sense.
Assessment in Progress
Assessment Results
Integrated
Practices are easily added and removed throughout the Framework.
Style Guide
I compiled the BPF into a cohesive style and identity for the Best Practices Framework to be used in desktop, mobile, presentation, and other media.
Design System
The Best Practices Framework was added to Engendering Industries' existing design system, which I also led. I was responsible for creating the overarching site's comprehensive and responsive design system. It involved 0-to-1 identity, designing styles for all template pages, and delegating tasks to graphic designers.
Reflection
For my first major product release, I held the majority of responsibility for design. I realized understanding the BPF was crucial for change, and how important simply reading it and meeting with its authors can be. I learned when to be firm and confident while presenting to stakeholders, something that will continue throughout my career. I also learned to trust my coworkers; this MVP would not have been released without collaboration from other designers and members on my team.
In 2024, we transformed the BPF into a digital product and re-imagined how leaders organize and share these resources with employees. I received support and guidance from my Creative Director, CEO, Director of Project Management, and the entirety of the client's team. I took on many unfamiliar challenges in this project and am thankful for all the help I received!