PenguinRandomHouse
Together by design:
Building research based consensus for a post -merger ordering experience
B2B
Responsive
TL;DR
Modernizing an ordering workflow for educators — crafting an insight-driven, unified platform to replace outdated, fragmented systems.
In a nutshell
Duplicate departments. Outdated ordering systems. The merger of Penguin + Random House created multiple academic divisions and supporting systems, outdated processes — some as old as paper/fax-based — and inconsistent workflows. Data was scattered and error-prone, leading to inefficiency, high operating costs, and misuse.
PenguinRandomHouse needed to consolidate and modernize the academic ordering experience, and create a unified platform — while navigating politically sensitive divisions with competing priorities — and align stakeholders around one shared solution.
I led the user research and customer-facing design strategy and co-facilitated workshops with stakeholders across divisions. I mapped the end-to-end journey, led customer research (including interviews, surveys, tree-testing, concept testing, and usability sessions), and directed UX and UI design. Just as importantly, I introduced experience design — including user research — as an available competency within the organization, influencing teams and leadership to adopt a more evidence-based approach to decision-making.
By grounding decisions in customer insights at every stage, we cut through internal politics, built alignment across divisions, and delivered a modern, user-friendly platform shaped directly by educators’ needs, improved efficiency + accuracy for internal teams, reduced operating costs, and helped to establish user research as a strategic, organization-wide capability.
Highlights
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Highlights
Close collaboration + user research guided every design decision, ensuring that each feature solved real problems and consensus was built across stakeholders.
Key takeaways
Customer engagement exceeded expectations
Successfully lobbied + expanded design system to include interactive quizzes - a template system that cold be used company -wide
Funding for continuation of the work + expansion was secured due to the MVP success
Key takeaways
Leveraging user research not only cut through politics and aligned multiple divisions — it helped establish how leveraging the design team early can drive data informed decisions across the company. We were able to:
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Achieve alignment across previously siloed divisions, establishing shared language and goals through research.
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Lay a foundation for establishing User Research + Experience Design as part of the organizational culture.
THE CHALLENGE
Duplicate Departments. Outdated ordering systems.
The merger of Penguin and Random House created duplicate academic departments, disconnected systems, and outdated processes—some as old as paper/fax-based ordering.
Some groups still relied on paper and fax, data was scattered and error prone, workflows were inconsistent, and the ordering process lacked verification — leading to inefficiency, high costs, and misuse (non-academic orders).
At the same time, politically sensitive stakeholders across divisions had competing priorities, making alignment challenging.
THE ASK
How can we create a unified, modern ordering experience for educators ...
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Build alignment across politically sensitive, siloed stakeholder groups
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Streamline workflows across three major business units (Elementary, Secondary, Higher Ed)
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Enable academic verification and reduce non-qualified orders
My team + role
Design
3
Stake-holders
10+
Product
1
As the Lead Product Designer, I was responsible for:
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Developing + conducting user research; Providing analysis + recommendations to stakeholders
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Providing UX Strategy + Design recommendations
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Directing the design (UX + UI team, providing guidance + oversight
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Collaborating with product + tech partners to ideate, develop, validate, and launch
Design -3, Product-2, Tech-3
THE APPROACH
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THE IMPACT
Key takeaways
Thoughtful user -centric design thinking and cross-functional collaboration can shift deeply ingrained behaviors, deliver operational efficiency, and unlock new business value — even within tightly constrained environments.
Scalable + consolidated
Experience
Established a modern, phased ordering system that consolidated divisions and positioned PRH Education for scalable growth
Improved
Accuracy
Simplified workflows → less manual entry and easier tracking for educators and internal teams
Reduced
Costs
Reduced non-academic orders → significant cost savings through credential validation
Default to digital → reduced shipping costs and environmental impact