A better start for every new hire
New hires struggle to find information, stay aligned, and ramp up efficiently. HR lacks visibility into trainee progress. Here comes Onboardly: A digital onboarding platform designed to give new employees a smooth, supportive and structured start into their role. Instead of facing scattered information, endless email threads, and unclear expectations, trainees are welcomed with a central hub that guides them step-by-step through their first weeks.
The problem
Employee onboarding is often far more chaotic than it should be. New hires arrive excited, but quickly face scattered documents, unclear expectations, and a lack of structure. Information lives across emails, PDFs, meetings, and outdated folders, leaving trainees overwhelmed and unsure where to begin.
For companies, this results in slower productivity, repeated questions, and an onboarding experience that feels inconsistent and impersonal. Trainees struggle to settle in, while managers and HR spend unnecessary time guiding each individual through the same basics again and again.
User Persona A
Junior Sales Manager Phillip Riley
Age: 24
Education: Bachelor’s in Business Administration
Annual income: ~44,000 €
Location: Berlin
Work experience: 1–2 years in sales
Personality & traits
Phillip is an energetic and outgoing young professional who thrives in environments with high social interaction. He enjoys building relationships and solving complex challenges — especially when it involves negotiation or communication. He adapts quickly, isn’t afraid of change, and loves being in the spotlight when presenting ideas.
Extroverted, positive, sociable. Tech-savvy & very comfortable with digital tools. Analytical thinker with a solutions-oriented mindset. Reliable, ambitious, and stress-resistant. Loves staying informed about trends (fashion, finance, tech)
Interests
Enjoys fashion shopping, interested in personal finance & investing. Loves going out, meeting new people, and networking. Values efficiency and tools that simplify life.
Goals
Wants to feel fulfilled and successful in his role. He aims to learn, grow, and gain expertise in sales. Wishes to earn enough for a comfortable lifestyle + financial security. Wants to build a strong professional network. Long-term dream: starting his own business.
Challenges
Previous workplace pressured him to follow outdated ways of working, so he feels held back by traditional company cultures resistant to innovation. Sometimes fears not being “good enough”.
Empathy map
💬 Says
“There’s so much to remember in the first weeks, I don’t wanna mess up.”
“Can someone tell me the priority? I don’t know what to start with.”
“I wish onboarding felt less chaotic.”
💭 Thinks
“I want to make a good impression and prove they hired the right person.”
“I hope I’m not annoying by asking too many questions.”
“Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing… am I behind?”
🫴🏻 Does
Spends time searching through emails, files, and onboarding docs.
Writes notes everywhere (notepad, sticky notes).
Asks different people for updates.
♥️ Feels
Excited but anxious
A bit lost the first days
Relieved when tasks are clear and structured
Motivated when seeing progress and feedback
User Persona B
HR Business Partner Daniel Adler
Age: 35
Annual Income: ~63,000€
Experience: 7 years in HR
Personality & traits
Daniel is a composed, strategic thinker who sees talent development as a key contributor to business success. He is approachable, professional, and communicates with clarity. While he doesn’t sugarcoat feedback, he believes honest guidance helps people grow, but he delivers it with respect and tact. He doesn’t do “hand-holding,” yet he isn’t cold. He has high expectations and believes that great performance opens the door to great opportunities.
Strong communicator & confident presenter. Fair, constructive, but firm in expectations. Business-driven mindset with a focus on performance outcomes. Strong relationship with leadership. Organized, analytical, and process-oriented. Feels responsible for the success of overall company growth
Goals
Smooth and fast onboarding. High retention and low early turnover. Strong performance stats for new hires within first 90 days. Clear visibility on employee development progress. Being perceived by leadership as reliable, strategic, and efficient.
Challenges
Manual onboarding processes wasting time across multiple tools. New hires feeling lost or underperforming in the first weeks. Inconsistency between teams. Pressure to present good numbers to executives, even when reality fluctuates. Carrying responsibility for results he can’t fully control.
Concept
I crafted a visual identity that feels warm, trustworthy, and forward-moving. The core color palette creates a balance between professional stability and uplifting approachability. These tones extend across the interface to support a calm, intuitive user experience while strengthening brand recognition.
The logo design symbolizes guidance, progress, and momentum. Clean typography and a geometric structure keep the identity modern.
Alongside the visual branding, I developed the foundational UX architecture, including the sitemap, user flows, and full user-journey mapping.
To round out the system, I illustrated a custom icon set in the brand’s colors and friendly aesthetic.
UI
The UI for Onboardly was designed to make onboarding feel effortless, structured, and human. The product begins with a clean, modern landing page that introduces the platform’s value, showcases key features, and gives users a simple path to either learn more or sign in. The design blends soft contrasts, generous spacing, and a friendly visual rhythm to ease newcomers into the experience.
Once inside the platform, users enter one of two tailored dashboards: Talent or Recruiter.
Each interface was built around the specific needs, mental models, and daily responsibilities of its user group.
The Talent dashboard provides an at-a-glance overview of all upcoming responsibilities: clients, tasks, meetings, onboarding progress, and updates.
A clean weekly schedule helps them stay organized, while the messaging feature keeps communication simple and accessible. The dedicated Learning hub brings all educational content together in one focused space. Chapters, resources, tasks, and Q&A support users throughout their onboarding journey without overwhelming them.
Recruiters and HR managers access a more data-driven environment. Their dashboard enables them to build onboarding flows, customize templates, monitor progress, identify who is on track and who may need support, access detailed analytics and compare progress across time ranges or between talents.
This side of the UI prioritizes information hierarchy and scan-ability, allowing recruiters to manage complex processes with confidence and speed.
Across both user types, the interface maintains strong consistency through the brand’s color palette, typography, and custom illustration style, ensuring a unified experience that feels calm, intuitive, and welcoming from the very first click.
Recruiters and HR managers access a more data-driven environment. Their dashboard enables them to build onboarding flows, customize templates, monitor progress, identify who is on track and who may need support, access detailed analytics and compare progress across time ranges or between talents.
This side of the UI prioritizes information hierarchy and scan-ability, allowing recruiters to manage complex processes with confidence and speed.
Across both user types, the interface maintains strong consistency through the brand’s color palette, typography, and custom illustration style, ensuring a unified experience that feels calm, intuitive, and welcoming from the very first click.
Outcome
Onboardly redesigned onboarding, creating measurable improvements for both HR teams and new talents. By streamlining workflows, centralizing information, and introducing a structured learning experience, the platform significantly enhanced efficiency across the entire onboarding lifecycle.
Clear task guidance, automatic progress tracking, and intuitive dashboards empowered talents to onboard faster and stay engaged, while HR teams gained the tools they needed. The result is an onboarding experience that feels modern and supportive.
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