Problem. Postsecondary Strategy Solutions runs a grant-funded financial education program: virtual fellow calls, a 6-hour in-person training, and workbooks in digital and print. The materials have to work across every format, stay current with tax law, and actually get finished by real learners.

My role. I'm the sole designer on the whole program, end to end. The 44-page digital workbook, the abbreviated print companion, the training deck, the annual refresh. The client sends scattered updates, and I turn them into a coherent system, on schedule, every year.

The hard call. She edits everything herself, so it all lives in Google Docs, Word, and PowerPoint. Not my first choice for print work, but the right choice for her. Designing a workbook that survives client editing in Word is its own discipline, and the templates had to be bulletproof enough for non-designer hands.

What we built. A 44-page digital workbook with budget templates, tax exercises, and goal trackers. An abbreviated print version for the in-person training. A full training deck. Refreshed every year without rebuilding from scratch.

The result. 100% learner completion. The client renews every year, and the program keeps growing.

What I'd do differently. I'd build the template system around the Google Docs constraint from day one instead of adapting as I went. The work holds up, but the foundation could have been cleaner.

"Amanda is a rare find who balances technical precision with a design-thinking mindset... a nimble, client-centered collaborator." - CEO, Postsecondary Strategy Solutions

© 2026 Amanda Southworth