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Building Assembly's Deck System — Designing for the Entire Customer Journey 🔥
Building Assembly's Deck System — Designing for the Entire Customer Journey 🔥
Building Assembly's Deck System — Designing for the Entire Customer Journey 🔥
I didn't set out to build a deck system. I just kept getting asked for more decks.
I didn't set out to build a deck system. I just kept getting asked for more decks.
I didn't set out to build a deck system. I just kept getting asked for more decks.
Role & Team
Role:
Product & Marketing Designer (contractor)
Scope:
Presentation design, design system, brand application, content strategy
Team:
Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and Partnerships stakeholders
Timeline:
Ongoing across the Assembly engagement
Context block
Assembly's sales, success, and partnerships teams were all producing their own presentations, inconsistently, from scratch, often in a hurry. By the time I'd designed my fourth deck, I realized I wasn't making decks. I was missing the opportunity to build something that scaled.
Assembly's sales, success, and partnerships teams were all producing their own presentations, inconsistently, from scratch, often in a hurry. By the time I'd designed my fourth deck, I realized I wasn't making decks. I was missing the opportunity to build something that scaled.
Assembly's sales, success, and partnerships teams were all producing their own presentations, inconsistently, from scratch, often in a hurry. By the time I'd designed my fourth deck, I realized I wasn't making decks. I was missing the opportunity to build something that scaled.
Over the following months, I designed 12+ decks covering every stage of the customer journey. What started as individual requests became a system.
Over the following months, I designed 12+ decks covering every stage of the customer journey. What started as individual requests became a system.
Over the following months, I designed 12+ decks covering every stage of the customer journey. What started as individual requests became a system.
Problem
Every team was making decks their own way. Sales decks looked different from onboarding decks. Onboarding decks looked different from integration guides. Nothing shared a visual language, a color logic, or a typographic system.
Every team was making decks their own way. Sales decks looked different from onboarding decks. Onboarding decks looked different from integration guides. Nothing shared a visual language, a color logic, or a typographic system.
Every team was making decks their own way. Sales decks looked different from onboarding decks. Onboarding decks looked different from integration guides. Nothing shared a visual language, a color logic, or a typographic system.
More importantly, there was no thinking behind the structure. A sales deck was a list of features. An onboarding plan was a list of tasks. The decks didn't understand who was reading them or what that person needed to feel at each stage of their relationship with Assembly.
More importantly, there was no thinking behind the structure. A sales deck was a list of features. An onboarding plan was a list of tasks. The decks didn't understand who was reading them or what that person needed to feel at each stage of their relationship with Assembly.
More importantly, there was no thinking behind the structure. A sales deck was a list of features. An onboarding plan was a list of tasks. The decks didn't understand who was reading them or what that person needed to feel at each stage of their relationship with Assembly.
Approach
Before I redesigned anything, I mapped the customer journey: the moment a prospect first sees Assembly → a demo → a signed contract → IT setup → employee launch → ongoing engagement. That journey has distinct emotional states.
Before I redesigned anything, I mapped the customer journey: the moment a prospect first sees Assembly → a demo → a signed contract → IT setup → employee launch → ongoing engagement. That journey has distinct emotional states.
Before I redesigned anything, I mapped the customer journey: the moment a prospect first sees Assembly → a demo → a signed contract → IT setup → employee launch → ongoing engagement. That journey has distinct emotional states.
I identified four deck types covering the full arc:
I identified four deck types covering the full arc:
I identified four deck types covering the full arc:
Sales decks — for buyers evaluating Assembly against competitors
Sales decks — for buyers evaluating Assembly against competitors
Sales decks — for buyers evaluating Assembly against competitors
Onboarding plan decks — for new customers in implementation
Onboarding plan decks — for new customers in implementation
Onboarding plan decks — for new customers in implementation
Integration guides — for IT admins who need step-by-step instructions
Integration guides — for IT admins who need step-by-step instructions
Integration guides — for IT admins who need step-by-step instructions
Feature enablement decks — for managers being activated on new capabilities
Feature enablement decks — for managers being activated on new capabilities
Feature enablement decks — for managers being activated on new capabilities
Each type needed a different visual logic, a different density of information, and a different relationship with the Assembly brand.
Each type needed a different visual logic, a different density of information, and a different relationship with the Assembly brand.
Each type needed a different visual logic, a different density of information, and a different relationship with the Assembly brand.
Challenges and trade-offs
The hardest deck to design was the onboarding plan - because it had to work for three completely different readers in the same room.
The hardest deck to design was the onboarding plan - because it had to work for three completely different readers in the same room.
The hardest deck to design was the onboarding plan - because it had to work for three completely different readers in the same room.
An onboarding plan deck is presented to an HR lead, referenced by a project manager, and sent to an IT admin. All three have different questions. I solved it with a four-phase color-coded timeline — each phase (purple, pink, salmon, teal) owned a visual identity so each reader could immediately find their lane.
An onboarding plan deck is presented to an HR lead, referenced by a project manager, and sent to an IT admin. All three have different questions. I solved it with a four-phase color-coded timeline — each phase (purple, pink, salmon, teal) owned a visual identity so each reader could immediately find their lane.
An onboarding plan deck is presented to an HR lead, referenced by a project manager, and sent to an IT admin. All three have different questions. I solved it with a four-phase color-coded timeline — each phase (purple, pink, salmon, teal) owned a visual identity so each reader could immediately find their lane.
Solution
The sales deck family anchored on Assembly's dark navy and Assembly orange — authoritative for enterprise deals, warm for HR buyers. Stat-forward slides led with numbers (87% retention, 3× engagement) before explaining the feature. Decision-makers scan for reasons to keep listening, not descriptions of features.
The sales deck family anchored on Assembly's dark navy and Assembly orange — authoritative for enterprise deals, warm for HR buyers. Stat-forward slides led with numbers (87% retention, 3× engagement) before explaining the feature. Decision-makers scan for reasons to keep listening, not descriptions of features.
The sales deck family anchored on Assembly's dark navy and Assembly orange — authoritative for enterprise deals, warm for HR buyers. Stat-forward slides led with numbers (87% retention, 3× engagement) before explaining the feature. Decision-makers scan for reasons to keep listening, not descriptions of features.
The onboarding decks introduced a full phase system (Phase 1 purple through Phase 4 teal). The post-launch slide used a full-bleed editorial collage — a deliberate tonal shift to signal the hard part was over.
The onboarding decks introduced a full phase system (Phase 1 purple through Phase 4 teal). The post-launch slide used a full-bleed editorial collage — a deliberate tonal shift to signal the hard part was over.
The onboarding decks introduced a full phase system (Phase 1 purple through Phase 4 teal). The post-launch slide used a full-bleed editorial collage — a deliberate tonal shift to signal the hard part was over.
The MS Teams and Slack integration guides were designed for IT admins with 20 minutes and zero patience. Step-by-step, screenshot-backed, nothing decorative.
The MS Teams and Slack integration guides were designed for IT admins with 20 minutes and zero patience. Step-by-step, screenshot-backed, nothing decorative.
The MS Teams and Slack integration guides were designed for IT admins with 20 minutes and zero patience. Step-by-step, screenshot-backed, nothing decorative.
The Manager Empowerment decks led with data: 38% of employees feel their manager doesn't listen. 61% want more regular feedback. 3× engagement for teams using Assembly's 1-on-1 tools. Data first, so the feature recommendation felt inevitable, not arbitrary.
The Manager Empowerment decks led with data: 38% of employees feel their manager doesn't listen. 61% want more regular feedback. 3× engagement for teams using Assembly's 1-on-1 tools. Data first, so the feature recommendation felt inevitable, not arbitrary.
The Manager Empowerment decks led with data: 38% of employees feel their manager doesn't listen. 61% want more regular feedback. 3× engagement for teams using Assembly's 1-on-1 tools. Data first, so the feature recommendation felt inevitable, not arbitrary.
Results & Impact
The deck system is now the standard for how Assembly communicates at every stage of the customer journey. Sales, CS, and partnerships teams pull from the same visual system instead of rebuilding from scratch.
The deck system is now the standard for how Assembly communicates at every stage of the customer journey. Sales, CS, and partnerships teams pull from the same visual system instead of rebuilding from scratch.
The deck system is now the standard for how Assembly communicates at every stage of the customer journey. Sales, CS, and partnerships teams pull from the same visual system instead of rebuilding from scratch.
The deeper outcome: once the visual language was consistent across all 12+ decks, the Assembly brand started to feel like a real system rather than a collection of one-off marketing moments. The decks didn't just look better — they argued better.
The deeper outcome: once the visual language was consistent across all 12+ decks, the Assembly brand started to feel like a real system rather than a collection of one-off marketing moments. The decks didn't just look better — they argued better.
The deeper outcome: once the visual language was consistent across all 12+ decks, the Assembly brand started to feel like a real system rather than a collection of one-off marketing moments. The decks didn't just look better — they argued better.
The process of doing this audit is also what led to the deck system project — once I understood how buyers moved through Assembly's story, it changed how I approached every subsequent piece of communication they made.
The process of doing this audit is also what led to the deck system project — once I understood how buyers moved through Assembly's story, it changed how I approached every subsequent piece of communication they made.
The process of doing this audit is also what led to the deck system project — once I understood how buyers moved through Assembly's story, it changed how I approached every subsequent piece of communication they made.
