Designing for Talent Success. Anytime, Anywhere
Crafting Engaging Brand Experiences for Enterprise Learning Platforms
SumTotal, now part of Cornerstone OnDemand, is an enterprise talent development platform offering comprehensive learning and workforce management solutions for large-scale organizations. It helps companies train, upskill, and manage their people through a robust suite of tools, including a learning management system (LMS), performance tracking, succession planning, and talent acquisition.
Trusted by large corporations across industries, SumTotal delivers personalized learning experiences that drive compliance, workforce growth, and organizational productivity. In 2022, its acquisition by Cornerstone OnDemand further expanded its influence and reach within the enterprise learning space, solidifying its position as one of the most comprehensive platforms in B2B SaaS talent development.
Role:
Graphic Designer and Brand Designer
Industry:
Corporate Learning and Talent Development (B2B SaaS)
Tools:
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Teams, Zoom
Duration:
2021 – 2023
As the sole Graphic Designer supporting both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand’s marketing and branding initiatives, I was responsible for creating a wide range of visual assets that communicated each platform’s value across the full talent development landscape. My work ensured brand consistency across every touchpoint, from digital campaigns to sales collateral to live events.
I collaborated closely with marketing, product, and sales teams to translate complex enterprise solutions including learning management, performance tracking, succession planning, and workforce planning into clear, compelling, and visually engaging communications. When Cornerstone OnDemand acquired SumTotal in 2022, I played a key role in managing the brand transition, adapting and rebranding existing SumTotal materials, assets, and visual systems to align with Cornerstone’s identity while preserving continuity for existing customers and stakeholders.
This work spanned three distinct phases: designing for SumTotal as a standalone brand, designing for Cornerstone OnDemand independently, and navigating the merger rebrand that brought both identities together under one unified platform.
My contributions included:
Digital Campaigns to drive awareness and engagement across channels
Sales Collateral to support pipeline and enterprise conversations
Event Graphics for conferences, trade shows, and activations
Webinar Assets to elevate virtual presentations and brand presence
Product Datasheets to communicate platform value clearly and concisely
Social Media Assets to maintain a consistent and engaging digital presence
Merger Rebrand Assets adapting SumTotal materials to Cornerstone
Brand Transition Guidelines ensuring consistency across the rebrand
Pain Points Identified:
- Complex enterprise solutions that were difficult to communicate visually to broad audiences
- Inconsistent brand application across marketing, sales, and product touchpoints for both platforms
- Lack of a scalable design system to support a growing volume of asset requests across two brands
- Visually outdated SumTotal materials that needed to be adapted and rebranded to reflect Cornerstone’s identity post-acquisition
- Disconnect between product messaging and the visual language used in market-facing materials during the merger transition
Goals:
- Establish a cohesive visual language for both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand independently and together
- Manage the brand transition from SumTotal to Cornerstone with consistency, clarity, and minimal disruption
- Translate complex B2B SaaS solutions into clear, compelling, and visually engaging communications
- Build a scalable asset library supporting marketing, sales, and product teams across both brands
- Strengthen brand perception and market differentiation throughout the acquisition and rebrand process
NOTES
To support both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand across all touchpoints, including through the merger and rebrand, I focused on these key areas:
- Digital Campaigns: Designed cohesive campaign assets for both brands, communicating platform value clearly across email, web, and paid channels throughout the acquisition period.
- Sales Collateral: Developed polished pitch decks, one-pagers, and presentation templates for both SumTotal and Cornerstone, ensuring sales teams could represent each brand and the combined platform with confidence.
- Merger Rebrand: Led the visual transition of SumTotal’s existing asset library into Cornerstone’s brand system, adapting templates, updating brand marks, and ensuring a consistent experience for customers navigating the change.
- Event Graphics: Created booth displays, banners, and event materials representing both brands across conferences and trade shows, including assets that reflected the combined entity post-acquisition.
- Webinar Assets: Designed branded templates and presentation graphics for both SumTotal and Cornerstone virtual events, maintaining professionalism and consistency across all customer-facing sessions.
- Social Media Assets: Produced an extensive library of on-brand social graphics across both brand identities, managing the visual shift from SumTotal to Cornerstone across all active channels throughout the rebrand.
ELEVATING CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ACROSS EVERY TOUCHPOINT
Effective enterprise communication is not just about making things look good. It is about making complex information feel simple, trustworthy, and actionable for the people who need it most. Across my work with SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand, I designed a full ecosystem of corporate communication assets that helped businesses convey intricate platform capabilities clearly, engage diverse audiences effectively, and reinforce brand authority at every interaction.
Each asset was crafted with both strategic intent and design precision, ensuring that messaging was not only visually compelling but also aligned with broader business objectives. Whether supporting a sales conversation, a marketing campaign, or an internal alignment meeting, every deliverable was built to do real work in the world.
By integrating strategic design thinking with UX principles, I ensured that every asset, from a single infographic to a full webinar deck, guided users through complex information with clarity and ease. Features like learning management, performance tracking, and workforce planning are inherently dense topics. The design challenge was always to make them feel approachable and immediately understandable to audiences ranging from HR professionals and executives to frontline employees encountering the platform for the first time.
Beyond aesthetics, the work was rooted in engagement and trust. Clear visual hierarchies, consistent branding, and intuitive layouts ensured that stakeholders could quickly grasp key insights, take meaningful action, and feel confident in the platform’s capabilities. Every design decision, from color choices to typography to information architecture, was made in service of that goal.
This holistic approach positioned SumTotal as a modern, enterprise-ready solution in the competitive B2B SaaS market. Following its acquisition by Cornerstone OnDemand, these assets played an active role in the brand transition, strengthening the platform’s credibility, reinforcing brand authority, and supporting marketing initiatives that drove adoption, awareness, and measurable business outcomes throughout the rebrand period.
Every touchpoint became an opportunity to communicate value, inspire confidence, and foster lasting relationships with users across the enterprise landscape.
Enterprise data is only valuable if people can understand it quickly and act on it confidently. I transformed dense metrics, workflows, and platform statistics into visually engaging, easy-to-understand infographics that helped executives, managers, and employees grasp key insights at a glance.
Using clear visual hierarchies, purposeful iconography, and strategic color coding, these infographics distilled complex concepts into formats that were immediately scannable and actionable. Whether communicating learning completion rates, workforce productivity benchmarks, or talent pipeline data, the goal was always the same: turn numbers into narratives that support faster, more confident decision-making across teams.
Key design considerations included:
- Structuring information flow to guide the eye naturally from insight to action
- Using color to differentiate data categories without creating visual noise
- Designing for both digital screens and print formats to maximize flexibility across use cases
- Balancing data density with white space to prevent cognitive overload
TURNING CLIENT SUCCESS INTO BRAND CREDIBILITY
In the B2B SaaS space, nothing builds trust faster than proof. I crafted compelling case study narratives that showcased measurable results, client successes, and real-world platform impact across a range of industries and enterprise contexts.
Each case study was built around a clear structure: the challenge the client faced, the solution SumTotal or Cornerstone provided, and the measurable outcomes that followed. By combining strong visual design, concrete data points, and storytelling, these assets reinforced the platform’s credibility and helped prospects see themselves in the success stories being told.
These case studies served multiple functions across the sales and marketing funnel:
Top of funnel: Building awareness and establishing the platform as a credible, proven solution
Mid funnel: Demonstrating ROI and differentiating SumTotal and Cornerstone from competitors
Bottom of funnel: Providing the concrete evidence prospects needed to make confident purchasing decisions
CLARITY AT THE POINT OF DECISION
A well-designed product datasheet is one of the most powerful tools in an enterprise sales toolkit. It has to communicate a platform’s full value quickly, clearly, and compellingly, often in a single page, to a reader who is evaluating multiple competing solutions simultaneously.
I designed concise, visually polished datasheets that communicated product features, benefits, and technical specifications at a glance. Every layout decision was made to reduce friction in the evaluation process: clear section hierarchy, scannable feature callouts, and strategic use of visual emphasis to draw attention to the platform’s strongest differentiators.
These assets directly supported sales enablement by:
Giving sales teams a leave-behind that continued the conversation after the meeting
Helping prospects evaluate SumTotal and Cornerstone offerings efficiently and independently
Reducing the cognitive load of complex feature comparisons through structured, visual layouts
Reinforcing brand credibility through polished, professional presentation at every touchpoint
ALIGNING TEAMS AROUND A SHARED VISION
Internal and external slide decks serve very different purposes, but both demand the same fundamental qualities: clarity, consistency, and the ability to keep an audience aligned and engaged from the first slide to the last.
I designed and structured presentation decks for a range of contexts across SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand, including product strategy presentations, sales pitches, stakeholder briefings, and merger transition communications. Each deck was built around a clear narrative arc, ensuring that complex topics like platform roadmaps, feature rollouts, and workforce planning workflows could be communicated without confusion or information overload.
Design priorities across all decks included:
Establishing a consistent visual template that could be used and adapted by multiple teams
Using hierarchy and layout to guide audiences through dense information naturally
Balancing text and visuals to maintain engagement without sacrificing depth
Ensuring every deck felt on-brand for both SumTotal and Cornerstone depending on context and audience
PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLING FOR EVERY AUDIENCE
At conferences, client meetings, and industry events, a brochure is often the first physical touchpoint a prospect has with a brand. It needs to make an immediate impression while communicating the platform’s value in a format that travels home with the reader and continues working long after the conversation ends.
I developed polished print and digital brochures for SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand that elevated visual storytelling across events, client presentations, and marketing campaigns. Each brochure integrated brand identity, compelling layouts, carefully chosen typography, and purposeful imagery to create a cohesive, professional piece that strengthened the platform’s image and reinforced key messaging.
These brochures were designed to perform across a range of contexts:
Trade show and conference distribution, where first impressions matter most
Client presentations, where the brochure supports and extends the conversation
Digital distribution via email and web, requiring layouts that translated seamlessly from print to screen
Post-acquisition rebrand, where existing SumTotal brochures were adapted and updated to reflect Cornerstone’s visual identity
BUILDING BRAND PRESENCE ONE POST AT A TIME
In the enterprise B2B space, social media is often underestimated as a brand-building channel. Done well, it builds community, educates audiences, and keeps the brand visible and relevant throughout long sales cycles that can span months or quarters.
I created a consistent library of on-brand social graphics for SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand across multiple platforms, tailoring content visually for each channel while maintaining brand cohesion across the full suite. These assets covered a wide range of content types including campaign launches, product announcements, thought leadership, event promotion, and merger transition communications.
Key design priorities included:
Maintaining strict visual consistency across platforms while adapting formats and proportions for each channel
Designing for thumb-stopping impact in crowded social feeds without sacrificing brand integrity
Supporting the SumTotal to Cornerstone rebrand by transitioning social visual identity smoothly and consistently
Creating templated systems that allowed marketing teams to produce on-brand content at scale without requiring individual design support for every post
DESIGNING FOR COMPREHENSION AT SCALE
Webinars are one of the most powerful thought leadership tools available to enterprise brands. They put the platform’s expertise front and center, in front of an audience that has actively opted in to learn. But a poorly designed webinar deck can undermine even the strongest content, losing audiences to distraction and confusion before the key message lands.
I designed presentation templates, slide decks, and promotional assets for SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand webinars, ensuring that every visual element served the goal of audience comprehension and engagement. Complex topics like LMS implementation, succession planning, and workforce analytics were broken down into clear, visually structured segments that guided participants through dense material with confidence.
Design principles applied across all webinar assets included:
Prioritizing readability and hierarchy to ensure key messages were immediately clear on screen
Using visual storytelling to maintain momentum and audience attention across longer sessions
Designing promotional graphics that communicated the webinar’s value proposition clearly and drove registration
Reinforcing SumTotal and Cornerstone’s position as thought leaders in talent development through a consistently polished, professional visual presence
REFLECTIONS & KEY LEARNINGS
Communicating Complexity Through Clarity: Working across SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand reinforced a truth that applies to every enterprise design project: complexity is not something to hide, it is something to design through. Learning management, performance tracking, succession planning, and workforce analytics are inherently dense topics. The challenge was never the subject matter itself but finding the visual and structural language to make it feel immediately accessible to audiences ranging from C-suite executives to HR managers to frontline employees. Every infographic, datasheet, and campaign asset was an exercise in turning sophistication into clarity.
Brand Identity Consistency Across Two Platforms: Managing the visual identity of both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand simultaneously, and then navigating the merger rebrand that brought them together, reinforced how critical cohesion is at every touchpoint. Inconsistency, even subtle inconsistency, erodes trust in enterprise contexts where credibility is everything. Maintaining a unified visual language across two distinct brand systems, and then gracefully transitioning one into the other, required meticulous attention to detail and a disciplined approach to every color choice, typographic decision, and layout structure along the way.
Strategic Design as a Business Tool: This project deepened my understanding of what it means to design not just for aesthetics but for business outcomes. Every asset had a job to do, whether supporting a sales conversation, driving webinar registrations, educating a prospect at a trade show booth, or reinforcing the platform’s credibility in a case study. Keeping that strategic purpose front and center in every design decision, rather than treating it as an afterthought, was what elevated the work from visually polished to genuinely effective.
End-to-End Ownership as a Design Advantage: Being the sole designer across both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand meant owning the visual language of two enterprise brands from end to end. That level of ownership is both a significant responsibility and a meaningful creative advantage. It allowed for a level of consistency, intentionality, and strategic coherence that is difficult to achieve when design is fragmented across multiple contributors. Every asset I produced existed within a system I understood completely, which made the work stronger at every stage.
The Merger as a Design Challenge: The acquisition of SumTotal by Cornerstone OnDemand presented one of the most complex design challenges of the project: how do you transition a brand without losing the trust of the customers who already know it? The rebrand process required careful, phased adaptation of existing assets, templates, and visual systems, updating brand marks, color palettes, typography, and tone while maintaining enough continuity that the transition felt like an evolution rather than a rupture. Navigating that balance taught me as much about brand strategy as it did about design execution.
Consistency at Scale: Producing a high volume of assets across digital campaigns, print collateral, social media, webinars, events, and sales materials for two brands simultaneously required building scalable design systems that could support output without sacrificing quality. Creating reusable templates, establishing clear brand guidelines, and maintaining a well-organized asset library were not just organizational decisions but essential design tools that made consistent, high-quality work possible at scale.
CHALLENGES I OVERCAME
Maintaining Consistency Across Two Brand Systems: Designing for both SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand across such a wide range of asset types meant holding two distinct visual identities in mind simultaneously, each with its own color system, typography, tone, and audience expectations. Ensuring that every asset felt unmistakably on-brand for the right platform, regardless of format or channel, required a level of discipline and organizational rigor that went beyond standard design practice. When the merger added a third layer of complexity, managing the visual transition between the two identities without creating confusion or inconsistency became one of the most demanding and rewarding challenges of the entire project.
Translating Enterprise Complexity Into Accessible Design: The subject matter across SumTotal and Cornerstone OnDemand was inherently complex. LMS workflows, talent succession models, workforce analytics dashboards, and compliance frameworks are not topics that lend themselves naturally to clean, compelling visual communication. Making these concepts feel approachable and immediately understandable to diverse enterprise audiences demanded a deep understanding of both the content and the audience, and required constant collaboration with marketing, product, and sales teams to ensure accuracy was never sacrificed in the pursuit of simplicity.
Designing for Multiple Audiences Simultaneously: Enterprise platforms serve a remarkably diverse range of users, and the design of every asset had to account for that breadth. A product datasheet might be read by a procurement officer, a CHRO, and an IT director in the same week, each bringing different priorities, levels of technical knowledge, and decision-making criteria. Designing assets that could communicate effectively across that entire spectrum, without feeling generic or oversimplified, required careful thinking about hierarchy, language, and visual emphasis at every stage.
Managing the Rebrand Transition: When Cornerstone OnDemand acquired SumTotal, the design implications were immediate and far-reaching. Existing assets, templates, campaign materials, social graphics, event collateral, and sales tools all needed to be systematically audited, updated, and transitioned to reflect Cornerstone’s brand identity. Managing that process as a sole designer, while simultaneously continuing to produce new assets for ongoing campaigns, required careful prioritization, clear workflow management, and a thorough understanding of both brand systems at every level of detail.
Iterative Refinement Across a High-Volume Output: Producing assets at the volume and variety this project required meant that the iterative design process had to be efficient without cutting corners. Feedback from marketing, sales, and product stakeholders was ongoing, and incorporating that feedback across dozens of active asset types simultaneously required both flexibility and discipline. Each round of revision was an opportunity to sharpen the work, and the willingness to revisit and refine, even on assets that already looked strong, was consistently what separated good outcomes from great ones.