Overhauling and revamping branded deliverables to ensure alignment with BetterLesson’s 2024 initiatives and readiness for sales efforts
Category: Branding Design, Layout Design, Presentation Design
Role: Graphic Designer
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Google Slides
About BetterLesson
BetterLesson connects K-12 educators with comprehensive professional learning solutions that help them thrive in an increasingly complex world. They have partnered with more than 30,000 educators across 47 states, plus D.C., Puerto Rico, and five countries internationally. Through research-based professional development centered on student outcomes, educators gain the necessary skills to create meaningful student-centered learning experiences that meet all students’ needs.
Repositioning Efforts
BetterLesson has identified four elements that are key for creating student-centered classrooms and developing curriculum instruction skills: instructional leadership, inclusive and responsive practices, flexible instructional models, and curriculum and academic content. In each element, there are focus areas and product offerings that are designed to help districts achieve the goals in their strategic professional learning plan.
Designed to introduce and scope the full suite of product offerings for customers, BetterLesson showcased a catalog called “Focus Area Packages” to their existing and new customers. The packages were initially built with focus on year 1 offerings. However, as revisions for year 1 offerings were underway, the Go-to-Market team recognized that packages need to include years 2 and 3, with inclusion of multi-service and leadership offerings. Doing so would support renewal of Tier 1 and 2 customers but also attract new business.
2024 Focus Area Packages
While waiting for the new package details from the Learning Design and Solution Design teams, the Director of Marketing and Vice President of Design advised me to pull from the 2023 focus area packages to get an understanding of what potential information might be present. It was advised for me to design the 2024 focus area packages in Google Slides, as established by the previous Graphic Designer. This would allow for effortless editing by different teams and serve presentation needs for the sales team.
The main feedback I received about the 2023 version centered around layout and copy, particularly concerning the large amounts of text on a single slide and redundant information throughout the entire package. To address this concern, the initial round of designs focused on spacing everything out into multiple slides.
However, after initial review, it was suggested that consolidating all the information into a single slide would benefit the sales team to effectively present all offerings and their explanations to customers. Despite the absence of finalized package information, I held a brief discussion with the Director of Marketing, Vice President of Design, and Senior Product Marketing Manager to discuss layout and copy considerations. I stressed that aiming to preserve all current information while introducing new products without reducing or removing any content would lead to the same layout in the 2023 version, but with a smaller text size and limited branding.
Shortly after, I was presented with all product offerings and descriptions for each focus area via spreadsheets and Miro boards. As I reviewed them, I strongly emphasized the need to reduce the amount of copy. Without such reduction, achieving the desired new layout would be challenging, all requested information wouldn’t fit in one slide, copy would become illegible and inaccessible for screen-readers, and incorporating an array of branded elements would be difficult.
Upon my input and drafts that conveyed my concerns, the cross-functional teams came to an agreement to cut down copy, as long as all products were linked to the BetterLesson catalog. This adjustment gave way for the focus area packages to have a refreshed look complemented by branded assets and colors. To add, the reduced copy allowed for the outcomes for each focus area to be highlighted, as it gave customers a clear understanding of what they can expect and hope to achieve.
With this polished focus area package complete, the key results that the Go-to-Market team set out to accomplish were met:
65% of 2023-2024 customers returned and 85% of 2023 net booking dollars were retained.
60% of customers with multi-service and leadership offerings were included in their SOW.
With the repositioning of non-curriculum focus areas, BetterLesson was able to drive new business with a wider pool of customers.
Testimonials Master Slide Deck
As I was finalizing the 2024 focus area packages, I was directed to develop a revamped testimonials master deck. Working closely with the Director of Marketing, I was provided with the original testimonials slide deck and a spreadsheet containing quotes from various individuals across 28 locations.
Examining the original testimonials slide deck, I determined that the slides needed visual elements as the large amount of text was overwhelming. To address this concern, I designed branded banners and initially divided the quotes in white, rounded rectangles.
However, after consulting with the Vice President of Design and Design team, I opted for a narrow rectangular block positioned to the left of the quote instead of excessively using the wide white rectangles. This adjustment aimed to improve organization, reduce strain navigating the slide, and provide details about the speaker.
