Learning Experience Designer

Hi, I'm
Elena Ryzhova

Designing learning that works.

I design learning architecture — starting from how people actually learn, and aligning it with business goals.

Structure comes before content. Outcomes before materials.

My path into learning design runs through two different worlds — 9+ years of systems thinking and implementation, and two years in a Montessori classroom.

Both shaped the way I design

✦ Turning messy processes into organized learning systems

Elena Ryzhova
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My Process

How a learning system takes shape

It starts with a simple question: what should actually change for the learner?

Not “they will listen to a lecture” — but what they will be able to do, understand, or explain differently afterwards. That distinction shapes everything that follows.

First — context. Who are these people, what do they already know, what might block them. The same content for school students and for working adults becomes a completely different program. Ignoring that produces something that looks good but doesn’t work.

Then comes the structure. I work with subject matter experts — people who know the content far better than I do. My job is to help them bring that knowledge out in a way that can actually be taught. The right questions — including the uncomfortable ones, like “why does the learner need to know this?” — are often where the real structure appears.

Only after that comes the lesson itself: logic, flow, sequence. What activity builds understanding, what checks it, where a question is needed, where a task. Materials come last — not first.

And even then, the work isn’t finished. A good learning experience rarely works perfectly the first time. It gets tested, adjusted, refined.

This process is not linear — you don’t move in a straight line, you keep returning, refining, adjusting. That feels more honest than pretending everything can be planned from the start.

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Selected Cases

Methodology. Research. Systems.
Architectural Environment Design
IT-CUBE
→
Natural Sciences Course Architecture
Creative college
→
Introduction to Creative Industries
Creative college
→
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How I Can Help

I design learning for people

"There is expertise — but it doesn’t yet work as a learning system"

Content exists — but it is not yet structured into a learning system.

No clear logic, no sequence, no way to understand what should actually change for the learner.

I turn scattered materials into a coherent program — with structure, flow, and measurable outcomes.

"The program is running — but it doesn’t hold together as a system"

People start — and gradually drop out or disengage.

Not because the topic is uninteresting, but because the program doesn’t account for how people actually move through learning.

I identify where motivation is lost — and design support into those exact moments.

"The program works — but it’s unclear why"

There are results — but they rely on intuition.

It’s unclear what actually works, what doesn’t, and how to improve or scale it.

I make the logic of the program visible — so it can be managed, measured, and developed further.

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Contact

Ready to discuss your project? I'd love to hear from you.

✦ CV available upon request

← Home
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All Cases

Methodology. Research. Systems.
Architectural Environment Design
IT-CUBE
→
Natural Sciences Course Architecture
Creative college
→
Introduction to Creative Industries
Creative college
→
← Back to Home
Home → Cases → Architectural Environment Design

Architectural Environment Design

A full-cycle program for teenagers

The program existed as a list of topics — no methodology, no learning outcomes, no way to hand it to another instructor. It needed to engage a group of 12–17-year-olds over 36 sessions, remain financially sustainable, and be transferable without loss of quality. The task was structural: to turn an idea into a working system — not only pedagogical.

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Context & Task

Client
IT-CUBE — Center for Innovative Creativity
Project Type
End-to-end Program Design
The Brief
Design a paid supplementary program in architectural environment design for teenagers (ages 12–17; 72 academic hours, 36 weekly sessions). Topics were defined by the client. Everything else — methodology, outcomes, and assessment — was not in place.
My Role
Research · Goal architecture · Program concept · Learning outcomes · Program structure · Student Journey Map · Assessment system · Metrics · Module design · Instructional design
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Design Process

01
Research & Alignment
A structured interview with the program author clarified both stated and implicit goals. Three priorities defined the direction: a paid evening program, financial sustainability at 5–14 students per group, and a natural next step for students already engaged with the center's Industrial Design track.

No conflicting expectations — which kept the design process focused.
02
Learner Insight
Two anonymous surveys — one for current center students, one for the external target audience — and analysis of comparable programs. Several solutions were taken directly into the program.

The core observation: teenagers want to shape the spaces around them, but lack the tools — and a clear starting point.
03
Concept & Goal Architecture
Business goals were translated into a program goal and four learning outcomes (CABD). Alignment was set before content: outcomes, assessment, and learning activities designed as one system.

The concept is built around continuity: one real site, chosen at the start, developed throughout the program into a physical result.
04
Program Structure & Module Design
An eight-module sequence with increasing complexity, each module connected to the core project. Three levels of task difficulty allow the program to work with mixed groups without entry testing.

Each module includes session breakdowns, learning outcomes, teaching approach, scaffolding levels, and assessment criteria.
05
Student Journey Map
Emotional trajectory, motivation curve, and cognitive load mapped across all eight modules. The mid-program dip is expected — pacing, feedback formats, and support mechanics were designed around it.
06
Measurement
A measurement system was defined across three levels: student satisfaction per module (LX Index — topics, delivery, and tasks rated across four criteria), learning outcomes tracked per student per block, and program retention measured by attendance and final defense completion.
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Project Outcomes

From Sketch to Model
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The program builds a continuous path from the first sketch to a physical model and presentation. Each student works with a real site throughout the year.

This continuity supports engagement: the work remains personal and tangible at each stage.

Final outcome: a physical model, a digital presentation, and a public defense of design decisions.
Research into Design
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Five key design decisions follow directly from research:

Physical model as a mandatory outcome (84%) · emphasis on tools over theory (67%) · three levels of task complexity (47%) · early scaffolding with final project examples shown upfront (33%) · real urban site as the project base.
Assessment & Measurement
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Assessment is built into the program architecture — not added after. Each module closes with an LX Index: students rate topics, delivery, and tasks across four criteria. Learning outcomes are tracked per student per block through a structured teacher checklist. The final defense measures project completion across three levels: full, partial, incomplete.

First year is baseline. Targets are set after data collection, not before.
Lesson-Level Design
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A full instructional scenario was developed for a 90-minute Blender session: timed phases, separate instructor and learner actions, cognitive load considerations, and differentiated complexity.

The format is a guided project workshop — where design decisions emerge from the student's own work, not from repetition.
Designed for Transferability
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The client's key concern was dependence on a single instructor. The answer: documented methodology, session scripts with step-by-step instructor guidance, ready-made templates and checklists for each module.

The quality of handover is measured: LX Index scores from a new instructor are compared with those of the experienced one — any drop in quality becomes visible and manageable.

The program can be picked up and delivered by any instructor — without the original author.
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Home → Cases → Natural Sciences

Natural Sciences Course Architecture

A year-long course design for creative specialisations

A subject students don't see as relevant. An instructor building lessons the week before class, alone, with no curriculum. The task: design a full year-long program — and invent the core that would make it work. The challenge was not the subject matter. It was making it matter.

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Context & Task

Client
Creative college
Project Type
End-to-end Program Design
The Brief
Design a 72-hour Natural Sciences course for first-year students in film, design, marketing, and fashion — and solve the problem of low engagement with a subject perceived as non-professional.
My Role
Research · Stakeholder interviews · Course concept · Outcomes design · Lesson-level design · Student Journey Map · Scientific Passport
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Design Process

01
Research
The stakeholder interview surfaced both explicit and implicit goals — including two the client hadn't named: raising motivation toward a subject students see as irrelevant, and making the program realistic for one instructor managing 53 students. A student survey confirmed the central barrier: 62.5% couldn't connect the subject to their profession. Desk research across twelve programs from five countries showed what actually works — and shaped the design directly.
02
Course Concept
The research pointed in one direction: students engage when they see direct relevance to their work. The answer was not to simplify the subject — but to reframe it. Science not as a discipline to pass, but as a method to think with. Students stay in their own specialisation and analyse a real product from their industry — through the lens of human perception and sensory systems. The subject becomes relevant because it becomes useful.
03
Outcomes Design
Three learning outcomes defined before any content. The final was set first — what the student must be able to do and demonstrate by the end of the year. Assessment and support structure followed from there. Outcomes, assessment, and learning activities designed as one system.
04
Program Architecture
Six modules built around sensory systems — vision, touch, hearing, taste and smell. Each module adds one step of the scientific method: from observation and hypothesis in the first modules to a full independent research cycle by the final. 80% of all work happens in class. No homework. The through-project runs the entire year — one product, one student, six analytical sections.
05
Student Journey Map
Emotional arc mapped across six modules. The first session sets the destination: the student sees the final passport structure from day one and knows exactly where they are headed. Each module opens with a navigation moment — where we are and why this matters. Motivation dips are anticipated — wow-experiments and unexpected formats are built into the precise points where engagement typically drops.
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Project Outcomes

Research into Design
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Four research findings translated directly into design decisions. No connection to their profession (62.5%) — students analyse a product from their own industry. Overloaded with homework (45%) — 80% of all work happens in class. Need templates and scaffolding (45%) — ready-made structures replace blank-page tasks. One instructor, 53 students — a scalable model built in from the start.
From Intuition to Evidence
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Science and creative practice speak different languages. This course builds the bridge. Students learn to read any creative product — visual, tactile, sonic — through the laws of human perception. Intuition becomes argument. Feeling becomes evidence.
The Scientific Passport
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An original artifact invented for this course — and the clearest signal of what the student has learned. A structured scientific analysis of a real product from their industry, built section by section across the year. By the final session, the student has a portfolio document that demonstrates analytical thinking in the language of their own profession.
Lesson-Level Design
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A full lesson scenario developed for a 90-minute session: problem → hands-on experiment → reflection → theory → passport section. Each phase maps to Kolb's cycle — abstract science becomes tangible through direct sensory experience. Students touch, rank, observe — then theorise. The passport section closes every lesson: the student applies what they learned to their own product immediately.
Designed for Scale
+
One instructor, 53 students. The program makes this workable: modular templates for every session, self-check challenges that don't require individual review, group defenses of 10–12 students. The instructor facilitates — the structure carries the load. Every student completes the same artifact to the same standard.
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Client Feedback

On instrumentation and depth
"A very deep, very instrumental approach. Every slide is a model or a framework — business goal flows into program goal, program goal into learning outcomes. I wish I could work like that."
On the core invention
"You turned this toward working with real things and gave students a tool — this passport. I think students are going to love it."
On understanding the audience
"You heard both the student and the teacher. I even learned something from this research — things I didn't know, or knew but forgot — for example, about how overloaded they are and how important practical applicability is for them."
On metrics and measurability
"Well-formulated goals. Good learning outcomes. It's great that there are numbers — they always make it easier to evaluate."
On the result
"Ideas that existed as fragments transformed into a coherent system. The ability to finally see it as a whole — that's a real achievement."
Blueprint
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Home → Cases → Introduction to Creative Industries

Introduction to Creative Industries

A redesign of an induction course

Fragmented lectures from different speakers. No shared framework, no connecting thread. Students left with new friends — but without clarity about their own profession. The task: design a system that addresses all three at once.

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Context & Task

Client
Creative college
Project Type
Program Redesign
The Brief
Redesign an induction program for first-year students across creative specialisations. The previous version had no shared structure, no measurable outcomes, and no way to hold together a program delivered by multiple speakers.
My Role
Research · Stakeholder interviews · Outcomes design · Program structure · Lesson-level design · Student Journey Map · Assessment system
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Design Process

01
Stakeholder Research
The brief listed six explicit goals. The stakeholder interview surfaced six more — initially unspoken, but shaping every decision that followed.
02
Learner Research
A student survey and desk research across leading creative schools surfaced six findings. Two defined the direction: 78% of students remembered the friends they made, not the skills. And 83% named hands-on practice as the only thing that kept them engaged.
03
Design Approach
This is not a course. It is an induction — and that distinction drove every design choice. Designing for competencies would have created an illusion: that five weeks is enough to learn something. The real task was different. Help students feel: this is my place. These are my people. This is my profession.
04
Program Architecture
Five weeks. Four industry intensives plus a final. Ten creative probes — each built around the same cycle: Warm-up → Theory → Practice → Presentation. Students stay in their own specialisation but apply their skills across different creative contexts.

Second-year students work as tutors — introduced to reduce the distance between students and authority, and to make scale manageable without losing personal contact. No homework. All artefacts created inside the probes.
05
Student Journey Map
The Student Journey Map traces five weeks of emotional dynamics — attention, confidence, and the moments where motivation typically drops. Each critical point has a designed response: rituals that anchor students to their profession, sketchbook as a space for individual reflection without grades, peer feedback built into every session.

Motivation is not assumed. It is designed.
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Project Outcomes

Research into Design
+
Four research findings translated directly into design decisions. What students remembered was friends, not skills — so the program was built around teams and proximity, not content delivery. What kept them engaged was making things — so 70% of every session is hands-on. Reflection met resistance — the sketchbook replaced written assignments with a visual, personal space.
A Shared Framework
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Every session follows the same structure: Warm-up → Theory → Practice → Presentation. This is the answer to the patchwork effect — any speaker, any industry, any topic fits the same frame. The program holds together not because of its content, but because of its architecture.
Designed for Scale
+
Depth without limits on size. The program works the same way for one student as for the whole group — personal contact, individual reflection, first contact with real professional practice. Scale is not an obstacle. It is accounted for in the design.
Learner-Centered Assessment
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One tool, three functions. The sketchbook is the space for individual work in a group-heavy program. A place for reflection without grades or judgement. And a physical artifact the student takes away at the end — evidence of five weeks of their own thinking and making.
Rituals as Design
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Rituals are not decoration. Each industry intensive has its own — designed to anchor students to their profession through tradition, not instruction. A bead collected after every session. A first shot taken with the lens cap on. Small moments that make the profession feel real before the student has mastered it.
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Client Feedback

On depth and uncovering meaning
"I was struck by your approach, which is rooted in a deep understanding of the client's challenges — perhaps even deeper than our own. You were able to uncover hidden objectives through thorough and insightful interviewing."
On systems and architecture
"It is clear that this is the design of specific learning outcomes and educational goals, not just an experience. We will be moving in this direction following your lead."
On research expertise
"A special thank you for conducting the research that we hadn't managed ourselves. You surveyed the students, identified their needs — and all of this is clearly reflected in the final products you proposed."
On metrics and measurability
"Providing the program with clear assessment tools — I see them, they are intuitive. Checklists, success markers, both quantitative and qualitative. To me, it's a 100% perfect execution."
On the quality of solutions
"The solution is well-thought-out, profound, and fully meets the brief. The work is magnificent."
Blueprint
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Imprint

Angaben gemäß § 5 TMG

Elena Ryzhova
Bingen am Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz, Deutschland
lenaryzh@gmail.com

Verantwortlich für den Inhalt nach § 55 Abs. 2 RStV

Elena Ryzhova, Bingen am Rhein

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Learning Experience Designer. Die Tätigkeit unterliegt keinen spezifischen berufsrechtlichen Regelungen.

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