The Problem

New and existing General Managers at Marriott were having a hard time understanding their onboarding process and knowing what, where, and how to access the right resources for them. Often times, GMs are extremely busy and overwhelmed by all of the tasks that they need to accomplish within their role. General Managers needed one place to go to find all of their brand specific information, tasks, and guides in order to do their jobs most effectively.

Design Process

In collaboration and conversations with the Senior Director of Learning and Development, Global Area Vice President's, and brand team leads, it was obvious that there was a major gap in learning for General Managers. In this process, I drafted up numerous user flows and wireframes based on the user feedback, created high-fidelity designs with interaction elements, and delivered video prototypes to sell the concept to senior leadership, presenting the work to the Global Senior VP of Learning and Development.

One of the design challenges that I decided to solve was the main CTA on the home page. Because of how busy their day is, I wanted to make it very clear to the GMs of what their next steps are right when they log in. For a GM that has never been on the page before, the button would say “Next Step: Start your onboarding activities” and for someone who’s on month 2 of their onboarding journey, the button would read “Next Step: continue your month 2 onboarding activities”. The button is also dynamic to remind the GM of any overdue tasks. Branding Opportunity: This gives the brands a chance to differentiate through brand voice on messaging.

Ultimately, this product was signed off on with high-level buy in from many different global leaders because the designs were able to convey the immediate need and long-term product growth. Throughout the design process, I worked directly with brands to understand their style guides and incorporate into every screen. It was crucial to have these standards for GMs in order to have a seamless branded experience in their everyday product. After design approvals, I worked directly with the development team to execute and implement all phases of the designs. I led the daily stand-ups with dev and weekly touch-points with various stakeholders to help foster the product development process.

Solution & Success Measure

As the sole and lead designer for the GM Gateway, I had to deliver this highly visible and usable product on a tighter timeline that would emcompass what the entire user experience from day one of the GM’s journey to the end of year one. Working hand and hand with all Marriott brands and General Managers, the GM Gateway was launched in January 2020 and actively tested with a large and key audience to make sure the content was useful and digestable. The experience was branded for all 30 brands, and today, it acts as the key access point for all Marriott GMs when they first begin or continue their onboarding experience.