Learning Design · Localization
Spanish-Language Rise 360 Module Series
A five-module bilingual professional development series built in Articulate Rise 360 — designed for cultural relevance and genuine accessibility, not just word-for-word translation.
Overview
Designing for a learner the original content ignored
A significant portion of professional staff in the organization were Spanish-dominant — fluent enough to navigate daily work in English, but most comfortable learning in Spanish. Existing professional development content was English-only, creating an unequal experience: English-speaking staff received training designed for them; Spanish-dominant staff received training they had to translate in their heads while simultaneously trying to learn.
This project was commissioned to address that gap — not by translating the existing English curriculum, but by building a parallel bilingual series designed from the ground up to serve Spanish-dominant learners as the primary audience while remaining fully accessible to English speakers. The distinction between translation and localization was the foundation of every design decision made.
Design Foundation
Translation vs. localization — why it matters
Translation Approach (What We Didn't Do)
- Take the English course and convert text to Spanish word-for-word
- Keep all examples, scenarios, and references drawn from English-dominant cultural contexts
- Preserve idiomatic English phrases with literal Spanish equivalents that don't land naturally
- Assume the same visual hierarchy and reading flow works across languages
- Treat Spanish as a secondary deliverable — a version of the "real" course
Localization Approach (What We Did)
- Designed scenarios, examples, and names that reflect the lived contexts of Spanish-dominant staff
- Rewrote idiomatic expressions in natural, professional Spanish — not translated English
- Adapted visual and layout choices to account for text expansion in Spanish (avg. 20–30% longer)
- Consulted Spanish-dominant staff as reviewers, not just translators, throughout development
- Treated both language versions as first-class deliverables built in parallel
Series Structure
The five modules
Design Principles
Three commitments that shaped every module
"This is the first training I've done here that felt like it was actually made for me — not just translated for me."
— Spanish-dominant staff participant, post-course survey (translated from Spanish)Deliverables
What was produced
| Deliverable | Format | Tool | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience & Localization Analysis | Document | Google Docs | Learner interviews, cultural context research, localization decision record |
| Bilingual Storyboard Set (5 modules) | Storyboard | Google Slides | Side-by-side English/Spanish storyboards for SME and community review |
| Rise 360 Courses — English (5 modules) | eLearning | Articulate Rise 360 | Full interactive modules with embedded knowledge checks and reflection activities |
| Rise 360 Courses — Spanish (5 modules) | eLearning | Articulate Rise 360 | Fully localized parallel versions — not translated exports; rebuilt for Spanish |
| Module 5 Professional Growth Plan | Interactive Asset | Rise 360 / Canva | In-module fillable reflection tool; downloadable PDF in both languages |
| Community Review Summary (3 rounds) | QA Document | Google Docs | Feedback from Spanish-dominant staff reviewers; change disposition record |
Results
What the data showed
Learner Satisfaction — Spanish Version
91% of Spanish-dominant participants rated the series as "relevant" or "very relevant" to their work — compared to 58% who said the same about prior English-only professional development offerings.
Completion Parity
Spanish version completion rates matched English version completion rates (94% vs. 96%) — eliminating a historical gap where Spanish-dominant staff completed optional PD at significantly lower rates.
Community Review Impact
Three rounds of community review produced 31 content changes across the five modules — 18 of which were cultural relevance edits that would not have been caught by translation-only review.
Module 5 Growth Plans
87% of Spanish-version completers downloaded their professional growth plan — a concrete artifact of engagement that exceeded the English version download rate (71%) by 16 points.
Reflection
What this project clarified for me as a designer
This project was personally meaningful in a way that's hard to separate from the professional work. As a bilingual designer, I've experienced the difference between content that acknowledges your language and content that was actually built for you. Those are not the same experience — and the gap between them shows up in learner engagement data, in completion rates, and in whether people walk away feeling seen or tolerated.
The most important structural decision was treating both language versions as first-class deliverables from the first day of the project, not building in English and adapting afterward. That decision added development time upfront and saved significantly more time in revision cycles — because the Spanish version didn't accumulate English-centric assumptions that then had to be undone.
The community review process was the other non-negotiable. Having Spanish-dominant staff review as learners — asking "does this feel like it was made for you?" — surfaced edits that no accuracy-focused translation review would have caught. That process is now part of every localization project I take on.
Tools & Technologies