Case Study
Building a Style Guide & Process
As the Design & Development Lead on a multi-year contract with a federal agency, I oversaw the modernization of seven 80-hour training programs. The team—over 25 instructional designers and developers—rotated frequently due to the contract’s scale and duration.
Early in the project, I recognized that without clear standards, the final product would lack consistency in tone, quality, and branding.
To address this, I led the creation of a comprehensive style guide and standardized development process to serve as the team’s “single source of truth,” ensuring every deliverable aligned with both client expectations and instructional design best practices.
Understanding the Problem
The core challenge was not simply that the training was outdated—it was a problem of scale, consistency, and efficiency.
​
-
Project inconsistencies: Seven different programs, developed by a large and rotating team, risked ending up with mismatched voice, visuals, and learning experience quality.
​
-
Virtual and in-person delivery complexity: All programs needed to be designed to work seamlessly both virtually and in-person. This dual delivery requirement was especially challenging for instructional designers with little prior experience in hybrid formats, creating the need for an entirely new set of design standards and guidelines to maintain consistency and effectiveness.
​
-
Onboarding bottleneck: Frequent turnover meant onboarding new team members repeatedly, slowing production without a clear, standardized process.
​
-
Credibility & rework: Without a documented standard, design choices were subject to endless debate with SMEs and clients, leading to unnecessary revisions.
Needs Analysis & Data
Although no formal data collection was conducted, I performed a proactive needs analysis based on project risks:
Varying Team Experience
Team members came from corporate, K–12, and higher ed backgrounds, with varying levels of eLearning expertise.
Client
Requirements Gap
Existing brand guidelines were insufficient for instructional design needs, leaving ambiguity in areas like interactivity standards, learning objectives, and voice.
This analysis confirmed the need for a guide to unify decision-making, speed up onboarding, and reduce rework.
Learning Strategy
This strategy was internal-facing, designed to optimize the team’s work, not the learners’ experience directly.
Centralized,
Living Document
Create a single, authoritative style guide accessible to the entire team, updated as needed.
Collaborative
Development
Engage the Analysis & Evaluation Lead, Graphic Designer, and other team members to contribute expertise and foster ownership.
Embedded
Standards
Develop templates for PowerPoint, Word, and Storyline so that standards are integrated directly into production tools.
Process for Implementation
1 / Development
-
Authored the initial guide, incorporating visual, editorial, and instructional design standards.
​
-
Consulted with team to ensure the guide addressed all functional needs.
2 / Implementation
-
Rolled out in weekly team meetings, supplemented by one-on-one coaching sessions.
​
-
Used dedicated team chat for style guide questions, reminders, and updates.
3 / Enforcement & Sustaining
-
monday.com tracking ensured process steps were followed.
​
-
Integrated the style guide into the QA process.
​
-
Established a two-tiered feedback system (“REVISE” for non-negotiable changes, “CONSIDER” for recommendations) to clarify priorities.
Results & Impact
Tangible Results
​
-
Reduced rework by clearly defining standards upfront, cutting revision cycles by 40%.
​
-
Accelerated onboarding, as new team members could get up to speed quickly with minimal training, reducing storyboarding time by 50%.
​
-
Streamlined production, allowing concurrent workstreams to maintain a unified look and feel across 300+ hours of training.
​
Intangible Results
​
-
Increased team efficiency by eliminating repetitive decision-making, enabling designers and developers to work more autonomously.
-
Strengthened credibility with SMEs and clients—style guide became a reference point to defend design decisions.
​
Long-Term Impact
​
-
The style guide was adopted as a model for other company projects, proving its scalability and value beyond the original contract.