Intern guide for morningstar
Creating an accessible guide to improve new employee orientation and communication.
Every summer, Morningstar hosts a 10-week internship program for college students. To prepare incoming interns for the intense session, the People team usually prepare a presentation with an overview of the program. This year, given the advance notice, nature of the information and the potential to reuse the material, the design team decided a pdf guide might suit the content better. Given my affinity to working on books and long format content and the other similar projects I was managing, I was presented the opportunity to work on this project.
To begin, I looked at prior reports and documents Morningstar had published for employees. While most were presentations or printed reports, the company had started to publish a Corporate Sustainability Report digitally in 2020. The report had a horizontal format that lent itself well to laptops and desktop screens, and it was easy to scroll through as the running folio doubled as navigation; the text was hyperlinked to the table of contents and various section pages. Using these successful features, I iterated through grids for the guide while trying to make the design friendlier given the fresh audience.
Morningstar Corporate Sustainability Report 2022.
The content was organized into three clear sections, with most information presented in short paragraphs. I settled on a three column grid which was further broken down into four columns to accommodate for tabs, bullets and more. The top-third of the page was left for the section/page heading and I utilized a hang line for the body content, creating an airy yet consistent page design. The folio was brought forth due to the airy top section and highlighted using an underline, an ode to traditionally-formatted hyperlinked text.
On any page, there are four main levels of hierarchy: the page title, subheading, body content and the folio. I also incorporated graphic elements for lists and the calendar to visually engage the audience.
To make up for the inevitable negative space on the page, I incorporated pictures from a recent photoshoot which made the guide overall friendlier. From beginning to end, the pictures reflect the content and transition from a brighter palette to darker to amplify the weight of the opportunities the internship experience could lead to for the interns.
For the cover, rather than just using an image, I referenced some prior email banners I created for the various employee communications that go out. This was in effort to promote associating certain visuals to specific information. Using Morningstar’s library of illustrated icons and their primary color palette, I composed together various key Morningstar icons like the style box, star rating and IP. To give the image texture, I used bar graphs and adjusted the colors to create a sober yet dynamic cover.
Morningstar Internal Weekly Newsletter Banner.
Once distributed, I had the opportunity to meet some of the summer interns and was delighted to learn that they loved the guide, for both the content and visuals, and appreciated the functional features. I worked on this guide in conjunction with other employee guides, including a health, financial and social benefits overview, resulting in a cohesive visual language amongst all guides. During my time at the company, a ton of employee experience initiatives were underway and I was able to positively contribute toward their effective communication.