Cisco Security Academy
Cisco offers a wide range of security products that require comprehensive customer training. The Security Enablement team’s mission is to help customers achieve their security goals by providing the best possible learning experience. Through educational content and tailored programs, our team makes Cisco Security products more intuitive and accessible, while also enhancing users’ technical expertise.
The Security Academy serves as a centralized e-learning hub, bringing together all Cisco Security product courses in a cohesive, visually engaging, and user-friendly platform. This streamlined design enhances both the learning experience and the understanding of complex security concepts.
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The Security Customer Enablement team was managing multiple training websites, each dedicated to a different Cisco security product. Each site had its own unique course layout, leading to frustration among customers who used several products and wanted a unified platform to access all their training content.
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The goal of the project was to create a single platform where Security customers could easily find courses for all Cisco security products in one convenient location.
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As the lead designer, I collaborated closely with two multimedia designers and a web developer to bring this project to life within an eight-week timeframe. This tight schedule required working on multiple facets of the project in parallel, including wireframing, content curation, site design, and development. I also managed the project, holding weekly status meetings with the design team to review goals, discuss wireframe iterations, address development constraints, and refine strategy.
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The site needed to be intuitive, user-friendly, and scalable. Key questions we asked included: How could the portal design support information architecture and user needs? We focused on crafting a human-centered experience that prioritized usability, findability, brand alignment, and ensuring visitors could quickly achieve their goals. The design needed to offer immediate value while accommodating future growth.
Before:
Security enablement content was spread across multiple learning portals, resulting in a fragmented experience for customers. SecureX Academy, Secure Analytics Training Center, Umbrella Learning Hub, and Duo Level Up were separate sites, each with its own login process and unique learning experience for different security products.
After:
All enablement content was consolidated into a single, cohesive learning hub. Now, users can access training for all Cisco security products through Security Academy, streamlining the experience with one login and a unified learning platform. Below are page views from the redesigned Security Academy.
Designed Web Components
Cards
Cards group related information in a flexible-size containers. Basic cards typically contain a few short, related pieces of information and can be interactive or non-interactive.
Tabs
Primary tabs are used for first-level organization of content on a page. Selecting a primary tab changes the entire display of the content of the page below it. Tabs are used to navigate easily between content that is related but can be viewed independently within a page.
Tooltip
A tooltip displays short, informative text paired to an element. The popover is triggered on hover of the paired element. It is displayed higher on the z-index than the element with which it is paired. It contrasts strongly against the background color it is displayed against.
All tooltips are paired with an element. They point to the element with which they are paired.
Below is a clickthrough video of a sample lesson showcasing these designed web components.
Constraints
The primary constraint we faced was time. As a project team, we needed to make swift decisions while also planning for future iterations. After the initial launch, we continued to meet weekly to discuss incremental improvements and potential additions, including strategies for promoting the site through customer communications.
Wishes
Due to time and development constraints, several features and interactions were deferred from the MVP. While many of these solutions were ideal and feasible, we tabled them for future phases. Here’s the short list:
Not featuring all security products in Security Academy due to limitations with Single Sign-On (SSO) compatibility.
Course filters including product type, target persona, course duration, and content type.
Learning paths and certifications for structured user progress.
Customized dashboards and gamified learning experiences to enhance user engagement.