A workshop master tool the client came back to build

The client, a Big Four professional services firm, runs collaborative innovation workshops for its own clients. Over a six-month discovery phase, I partnered with a Creative Director and the client's own creative lead to imagine a workshop "master tool", extending the client's digital brand with new flair and designing screens the client loved. A year later, the client returned to build it, and much of my work made it into the final product.

Workshops held together with outside tools

Workshop leaders were running workshops on a patchwork of external tools for assets and time management. Sessions are planned down to the minute, so when something runs long, the whole day has to shift, and none of those tools could do that. The new platform pulls assets in from wherever they already live and gives leaders one place to house, share and run the session.

We met with stakeholders across the firm to learn what they wanted the tool to do, then iterated on screens as their needs came into focus.

Re-timing the day, on the fly

The run of show lays out every agenda item with its time block, a facilitator guide and producer notes. Leaders can drag items, add days and columns, and adjust durations as the session unfolds. On mobile, a countdown shows what's left in the current activity and flags when the day is running over, with one tap to adjust.

A shared library of workshop activities

Activities are the building blocks of a workshop, like an icebreaker or the Marshmallow Challenge. Leaders can browse the catalog by phase, see how teammates remixed and rated an activity, and drop it straight into an agenda. Activities are meant to be reused across workshops, not just the one they were written for.

ACTIVITY CATALOGEvery activity sorted by workshop phase, from opening the room to closing it out. Scroll to explore.

ACTIVITY DETAILObjective, timing and group size up top, then remixes from teammates and reviews from people who've run it.

A home base that's different for everyone

Modular widgets show each person their next session, client messages, schedule and progress, with relevant activities pulled from their own history.

Everything about an engagement, in one place

Each session moves through Planning, Design, Delivery and Post Experience, with details, teams, analytics and past sessions side by side.

From the war room to the hallway

Modules reflow from desktop to phone, so facilitators can check details and analytics between sessions.

The outcome