PTG Linen Service

Redesigned Brand Identity

We designed a new logo system, visual identity, and website mockup to reflect a more approachable brand based on shared values developed during PTG’s strategic workshop:

Quality | Dependability | Community | Opportunity | Sustainability.

Employee Innovation Toolkit

The “Idea to Action” toolkit leverages design strategy and facilitation techniques, empowering employees to lead and collaborate with team members, tackle key business challenges, and drive innovation.

Inventory Tracking Tool

We guided PTG’s office manager through the “Idea to Action” toolkit to design and prototype her own business optimization idea: a networked digital tool to track linens, communicate with other teams, and surface customer issues.

With this no-cost prototype, employees can scan account-specific QR codes on laundry bins to be directed to a Google Form for inventory tracking, status and notes.

Research

Market Analysis | SYSTEMS MAPPING | USER INTERVIEWS

Understanding the Ecosystem(s)

We began our design process by researching the regional and national competitive commercial laundry landscape, mapping out PTG’s current organizational structure and exploring best-practices for employee lead growth and development.

Understanding the People

With a stakeholder map in hand, we interviewed 16 PTG stakeholders, ranging from equity partners/owners to managers and service employees who handle driving, washing, folding, and packing services.

Our research revealed a broad misalignment in goals at each level of the organization and lack of a feedback system to communicate these discrepancies effectively.

Need for Organization Redesign

In our consulting capacity, we realized that we uniquely had a systemic overview of the entirety of PTG.

PTG’s current structure is rigid and hierarchical. Strategy is reserved for leadership at the top and implementation is delegated to service employees at the bottom, with management shifting between the two, always trying to keep the lights on.

We realized that to achieve the ideal system for PTG, one that addresses the responsibilities and aspirations of all stakeholders, a new organizational system needed to be designed. A new system where roles move more fluidly throughout, enabling greater communication across teams, leading to cross-functional collaboration and business innovation.

How might we co-design a system with PTG that empowers employees while driving business growth?

Process

FACILITATION | DESIGN STRATEGY | PROTOTYPING

Convene to Build Consensus

We convened PTG’s first strategic workshop to:

1. Define a set of shared values.

2. Articulate a shared vision for the future.

3. Co-create a decision-making process for broad employee participation.

4. Develop an action plan to implement ideas for business optimization and growth.

Designing a New Brand Identity

Leveraging the 5 core values that emerged from the strategic workshop, I designed a new visual brand intending to communicate a more professional identity across all of PTG’s website, signage, and marketing touchpoints.

Previous Branding

Proposed Future Branding

Impact

Cultural Growth | Business Clients

Employee-Led Innovation

After reviewing the “Idea to Action” process, Joanna designed and prototyped her own idea to facilitate internal communication and streamline inventory tracking.

The result of her efforts were an in-office, dry-erase communication board and QR-code inventory tracker linked to Google Forms; solutions leveraging existing tech and very little cost to PTG.

Business Growth

Through the rich network of my colleague Sylvia, we introduced PTG to a new hospitality client Sonder, a company specifically looking to partner with “an organization that cares” about people, quality, and service.

Ultimately, Sonder signed on as a full-time client.

Reflection

Entering this project, we assumed that we could question everything, prototype rapidly and design an elegant solution to empower employees.

These methodologies would have lead to complete failure. Our greatest learning came with the realization that we needed to design with the whole system in order to have the greatest impact. The PTG system had its own sets of institutional history, business constraints, and cultural rhythms; we learned to slow down, listen intently and build trust within PTG so we could co-design an effective solution together.