Mentorxchange, spreading peer learning and distributed guidance
Ventures, products, and services
Education
mentorXchange
2020
Challenge
Create a new brand and visual identity to reflect the concept and philosophy of the company. Design and develop its digital product cross platform and touchpoint. Finally define a go-to-market strategy.
Solution
We used a phased approach and launched 2 parallel streams, the first steam focused on building new brand identity and go to market strategy while the second stream focused on the actual product design and multi device development including technical integration with backend systems.
Impact
Starting from a branding rework (including logo, website, pitch deck, and presentation video), we created a product that conveyed a consistent identity and philosophy across several touch points.
In today’s hyper-competitive business landscape, the battle to engage talent is raging. Turnover is higher than ever in younger generations and when choosing their employer, these talents place the most importance on growth and development. Progressive organizations need to promote a new kind of learning: self-directed, social, informal. Mentoring can be a solution: the practice is proved to increase employee retention, improve workplace engagement, and accelerate career development for mentees and mentors alike. In order for this to happen, some organizational obstacles must be addressed, such as information silos and the difficulty of developing coaching skills at scale.
We approached this project with a clear idea about what motivates people; their desire to grow, their interest in sharing distributed guidance, spreading wisdom, and magnifying talent. All of that supported by the use of existing data and intelligence.
We launched a branding stream and analysed their identity, philosophy and values. We conducted a competitive landscape analysis and mapped potential user archetypes. We then proceeded to define a marketing strategy including a visual identity and tone of voice.
The second stream was dedicated to the actual development of the tool, we worked on the design of interface and the tool using principles of Atomic Design before finally developing the platform and apps.
With this specific client we were able to create an end-to-end solution transforming the brand and its presence in the market. This cross activity project managed to consolidate many areas of our offering. The initial research and competitor analysis, rebranding, and startup repositioning workstream were essential for the project’s success. Building on a new, solid brand allowed us to precisely tune into the company’s communication and to differentiate the product’s features uniquely on the market.
Using co-design methodologies, we facilitated an extensive generative workshop, focusing on all aspects of the brand: pitch deck, product teaser video, and visual identity among others. The platform enabled employees of organizations or corporate networks to create mentoring relationships for their professional growth.
Users could offer their support based on their experiences, skills, and competencies, or look for topics they would like to improve on. They then spontaneously connected through new mentorship relationships, schedule sessions, and share structured feedback. Editorial articles were also available for the community, allowing a deep-dive on topics relevant to the organization. All interactions were registered in an intuitive HR dashboard, with metrics (including skill growth).
Thanks to atomic design, UI components were responsive and modular. Our internal team setup allowed an agile design and implementation workflow. Creatives and coders worked on the product side by side, keeping the client on board at all times.
Together with MentorXchange we managed to extract relevant information and a storytelling concept to design a new brand and website experience to transform their business proposition into an engaging experience and model.
