Overview
A multinational manufacturing company sought to help its middle managers move beyond giving advice and mentor their direct reports more effectively.
When designing learning solutions, we go beyond teaching “how to mentor.” Our goal is to create experiences that resonate with managers. We begin by developing learner personas, empathy maps, and learner journey maps to better understand our audience and address their actual needs.
Challenge
What's Learning Experience Design (LXD)?
Learning Experience Design (LXD) is a human-centered approach to designing learning that focuses on the learner’s holistic experience, not just the instructional content. It integrates principles from instructional design, user experience (UX) design, behavioral science, and design thinking to create meaningful, engaging, and impactful learning journeys.
Key aspects of LXD
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Starts with empathy for the learner (their motivations, needs, and contexts).
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Focuses on the entire experience of learning (emotional, cognitive, and social).
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Uses iterative design and testing, similar to UX design.
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Seeks to create memorable, motivating, and purposeful learning interactions.
Differences and Similarities between Instructional Design (ID) and LXD
ID Examples
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Compliance Training (eLearning)
Designing a SCORM-compliant course in Articulate Storyline to ensure employees understand and pass assessments on workplace safety regulations. -
Instructor-led Workshop
Developing a structured 2-day sales training with facilitator guides, participant workbooks, and roleplay practice aligned to the company’s sales methodology. -
Performance Support Job Aid
Creating a step-by-step PDF or mobile job aid for customer service reps to handle troubleshooting calls.
LXD Examples
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Leadership Development Journey
Designing a 6-month blended program including self-paced modules, peer coaching circles, simulations, and reflective journaling to support managers transitioning to senior leadership roles. -
Onboarding Experience
Building a personalized, gamified onboarding journey with mobile microlearning, mentor check-ins, and an onboarding portal that adapts to each role. -
Customer Education Program
Creating an ecosystem for clients to learn a SaaS product through interactive tutorials, user communities, webinars, and adaptive in-app learning prompts.
1. Research
To avoid building a persona based on assumptions, we gathered quantitative data through 20-minute contextual inquiry interviews with a representative sample of middle managers, focusing on their daily workflow, peak-stress moments, how they currently solve problems on the job, and what triggers them to seek information.
2. Analysis
After collecting the data, we synthesized the findings into actionable LXD parameters by identifying recurring patterns in pain points, friction, environmental constraints, and core functional and emotional outcomes, rather than demographics.
3. Preparation
Empathy Map
What: A framework that visualizes what learners say, think, feel, and do.
Why: Identifies challenges, emotions, and motivational barriers in the learning process.
Value: Supports the design of experiences that lead to more relevant, engaging learning.
Learner Personas
What: A modeled profile representing typical learners.
Why: Clarifies the learner’s role, background, needs, and motivations to specify who the learning is designed for.
Value: Enables a learner-centered approach and helps tailor content and tone effectively.
When we design for everyone, we design for no one.
Learner Journey Map
What: A timeline of the learner’s full experience across touchpoints.
Why: Outlines the flow from start to finish, highlighting emotional shifts and key learning moments.
Value: Reveals where support is most needed and enables the design of the whole learning experience.
Solution
By combining personas, empathy maps, and journey maps, we created a learner-centered blueprint.
Together, these tools let us design experiences that fit busy managers’ schedules, anticipate potential barriers, and connect learning directly to on-the-job behavior—making the program not just informative, but also transformative for both managers and the organization.