California Policy Collaborative
Website and Learning Management System
Problem
There is a need for accurate and accessible bipartisan TK-12 policy education for California legislative staffers early on in their careers. Policy is complex and those jump-starting their careers at the Capitol might not be familiar with the many legislative nuances or intricacies of a particular issue area. For legislative staff working in the education space, it is essential to develop a core knowledge of California’s TK-12 policy framework and other skills necessary to effectively influence state policy in their role.
Project Overview
In response to this need, our team looked to strategically design and develop a custom website with an integrated Learning Management System (LMS) to host an online course for California’s junior legislative staff that allows users to engage with an interactive curriculum on the state’s TK-12 policy fundamentals.
Using a combination of Wordpress and LearnDash, the website should serve as the primary digital presence for the California Policy Collaborative (CPC) while also having the ability to support the application and registration processes for the e-learning course.

I led this project while working as a Creative Strategist at Lucas Public Affairs.
My Role
In my position as Creative Strategist I was responsible for Product Management, UX/UI and the Front-end development of the public facing website and e-learning course: 
▸ Primary Client Contact
▸ Coordinate Development and Timeline
▸ Implement Feedback and Testing
▸ UX Research
▸ UX Strategy Development
▸ UI Design
▸ Front-end page development using Elementor for WordPress
▸ Front-end e-learning course development using LearnDash
Project Team
Only myself, the Creative Strategist, as well as the Digital Strategist and Developer were experienced in website design and development, so I had to wear multiple hats throughout the project as shown in the diagram below.
Planning
The first phase of this project was all about planning and research. Working with a multidisciplinary team, it was very important that we had an organized process to ensure all work streams moved along and deadlines were met.
I led my team in establishing a four phase timeline, with clear roles and responsibilities, that helped guide us throughout the project cycle.
Research
Client & User Interviews
We began with strategy sessions and client interviews that were designed to uncover ideas, needs and goals. We also uncovered insights about our key users, audiences and stakeholders. 
To gain a better understanding of our primary users, we interviewed former and current legislative staff to learn about their experiences with policy education and perceptions of available digital tools.
Key Findings 
● Primary audience would include legislative staff early on in their careers with an interest in California TK-12 education policy. 
● Secondary audiences would include senior legislative staff, TK-12 education and policy experts, funders and evaluators.
● Depending on which Member a legislative staffer works for, they will likely need knowledge and background about specific processes and nuances related to a particular policy issue. There are very few resources available for legislative staff to learn the intricacies of various policy frameworks across issue areas. 
● During the legislative session the schedules of legislative staff can be very demanding, so it’s important that the program can be completed at a flexible pace during the legislative recess. It is also important that the LMS is user-friendly for our time-pressed target audience.
Competitive Research
Because the CPC program model would bring e-learning technology to the policy education space for the first time, we didn’t have any direct examples to refer to so we instead focused our efforts by looking at various competitors with strengths in different areas. 
First, we looked at other California Education Policy Centers, who serve as trusted sources for student-centered education policy resources data and insights, to understand how they position their brands. Next we looked at organizations offering relevant online courses to understand their UX and UI strategies and e-learning best practices. With the help of our developer, we also researched softwares that would support our needs as well as e-learning best practices to determine a solution that was innovative and effective.
User Experience Strategy 
Synthesizing our research findings, I developed a User Experience Strategy that provided a user-centered blueprint for the California Policy Collaborative website design by translating insights into actionable tactics for design and development teams.
The UX strategy included the following:
Situation Assessment
User Personas
Sitemap
Page Content Strategies
Key User Flows

The User Experience Strategy included a Situation Assessment, User Personas, Sitemap, Page Content Strategy and User Flows.

UI Design 
Working fluidly between Elementor for WordPress and Adobe XD I created low fidelity page designs that started to visualize the public facing website’s interface. After getting client approval on the direction the low-fidelity wireframes were going I then built out a hi-fidelity page design in Elementor.

Low and High Fidelity Wireframes were presented to the client.

Responsiveness
Additionally, across all pages I also adjusted the UI for site visitors using smaller screens like tablets and mobile devices.
Results
The California Policy Collaborative website launched introducing audiences to the new organization and allowing users to apply for the pilot cohort using an application form. The launch was a huge success with news of the new organization spreading like wildfire through the legislature and in total securing 30+ applicants in a two-week period. 
This website and e-learning course we created will serve as a national model for state policy education solutions.
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