The D2L Brightspace learning platform personalizes education for every student. To cement D2L as a leader in personalized learning, we created a school desk that could be reshaped and reimagined to meet the unique needs and desires of every student.

This is a prototype but the ultimate goal would be to mass produce the desk for classrooms around the world.

With no prescribed output in place, we sought to demonstrate D2L’s innovative nature by launching something that represents original thinking in its own right. The strategy we built around our insight set aside traditional advertising in favour of something surprising: intellectual property in the form of industrial design.

D2L is a classic Canadian tale: a global success story most have never heard of. A leader in online learning with educational software used in schools and corporate training, D2L was founded on the belief that everyone deserves high-quality education.

D2L faced a common marketing challenge. Its core product – Brightspace – is better known than the company itself. As the company expands its offering with products under the D2L name, it needs to increase its corporate profile.

Our challenge: Develop a North American-focused B2B initiative to increase D2L’s profile as a leader in the minds of the education community. A big job to do with a production budget of only $150K.

Competing in over 40 countries, D2L engages those across academia, needing to persuade administrators who focus on costs. It must inspire educators as well as technology professionals.

We felt the way to distinguish D2L was through beliefs and values, not with a typical campaign. Since its inception, D2L’s been committed to personalized learning and believes how that is delivered needs to change. Exploring that led to our insight: Students aren’t standardized. Their education shouldn’t be either.

Just as D2L brings innovation to the world of online learning, the strategy we built set aside traditional advertising in favour of something surprising: intellectual property in the form of industrial design.

To communicate the importance of personalized learning, we tackled one of the most one-size-fits-all relics of old-school learning – the standardized desk. The result was a provocative take on a core educational fixture that no one’s ever questioned.

For all the changes technology has brought to education, one thing’s remained the same. The desk today’s students sit at is fundamentally no different than the desk their parents or grandparents used. With the Unstandardized Desk, D2L challenged everything about this ubiquitous component of learning.

Development began with input from real experts: teachers and students of all ages. We asked them to imagine the perfect desk, and encountered that everyone wanted something different.

Working with industrial designer Miles Keller, we developed multiple prototypes until a solution emerged. The Unstandardized Desk uses hinged panels made from Nordic wood – inspired by traditional school desks – that can be moved to create different shapes and ways of interacting. The final design allows students to create their own vision of a desk to reflect how they learn. We made something that embodies D2L’s core belief, the transformative impact personalization can have on learning.

Rather than being a short-term sales driver, the Unstandardized Desk is a statement of D2L’s vision and a calling card that demonstrates the power of personalized learning to transform education. It also validates taking an unexpected approach to B2B communications.

A quantitative study with educators across North America showed:

• 87% said it helped them understand just how different learning styles can be

• 93% said it helped them understand D2L’s vision for personalized learning

• 80% felt it demonstrates D2L is a thought leader in education

• 73% would visit the D2L website for more information