Building a digital playbook from the ground up
2026 · Region of Waterloo · Digital Product Design
Tools
Figma · Google Forms · Microsoft Teams · Zoom
Timeline
January – April 2026
Team
7 students
Role
UX Researcher · Prototype Designer
Introduction
The Region of Waterloo wanted to create a new Digital Services Playbook for staff, but there was no existing internal playbook or established format to build from.
Our team had to define what the resource should include, how it should be organized, and how staff would actually use it in their day-to-day work.
We worked with the Region to design the playbook from the ground up, using staff research, client input, comparative analysis, and iterative prototyping to turn a broad idea into a searchable, practical digital resource. The playbook focused on helping staff design and deliver more consistent, accessible digital services while keeping the experience useful for people with different roles and levels of technical experience.
1
Research
2
Ideation
3
Prototyping
4
Testing & Iteration
The Problem
The challenge was not simply improving an existing tool — there wasn’t one yet.
Staff were already working across systems like CMS platforms, email, Excel, Teams, and SharePoint, while also relying on detailed strategy documents that could be difficult to translate into everyday decisions.
We needed to understand what a Waterloo-specific playbook should look like, what information staff actually needed, and how to make it useful for both technical and non-technical employees.
Our research showed that staff wanted less long-form reading and more practical support. Checklists, templates, step-by-step guides, visual examples, and clearer ways to find information came up as some of the most useful formats.
From Research to Prototype
We used three discovery methods to shape the direction of the playbook: a survey with nine Region employees, a client interview, and a comparative analysis of existing government service playbooks.
The comparative research helped us understand the strengths and limitations of web-based and PDF playbooks. Web-based resources were easier to scan, update, navigate, and search, while longer PDF documents often became dense and harder to move through.
The staff survey and client interview added another layer. Staff wanted practical tools they could use quickly, while the client emphasized that the playbook needed to be approachable, accessible, and useful across different roles.
Those findings led us toward a modular, web-based experience with clear navigation, search, templates, checklists, and room for future content. We explored different structures through sketches and low-fidelity wireframes before developing the concept further in Figma.
Refining the Experience
Testing with Region staff helped us move from an early concept to a more practical internal tool.
Staff responded positively to the simple, uncluttered layout, so we kept that direction while improving how modules were organized and how information could be found.
Feedback also raised questions around sorting modules, switching between different views, and improving the search experience. Staff suggested stronger search behaviour, including better metadata and spelling correction, which pushed us to think beyond a basic search bar.
We also learned that the playbook should live inside the Region’s existing internal environment instead of becoming another separate platform. That led us to include staff login and design the playbook as part of a larger Resident Experience Modules system.
The final prototype brought together searchable modules, structured guidance, templates, accessibility content, internal staff resources, and tools that could grow with the Region over time.
This project taught me how much the shape of a product can change once real users are involved. Starting with no existing playbook meant we had to define the problem, the structure, and the experience at the same time, which made research and iteration especially important.
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