DELV Design was engaged by scaling tech software company, Lessonly, to design offices for their rapidly expanding team in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lessonly wanted a space to reflect their mission to “Do Better Work”.

We workshopped with the Lessonly team to map out the day-to-day functionality of all their people to discover what new connections needed to be made (and existing to be preserved) in order for them to accomplish their best work. Intentionally maximizing every square foot, each area could flexes and serves multiple uses. Lessonly’s success hinges off dynamic internal collaboration–the layout of the space gives opportunities everywhere for people to connect, varying in shape, size, and privacy.

The design leverages the efficiency of an open office layout while providing ample choice for employees to accomplish focus task work or have acoustical privacy when on phone or training calls. Multiple “pair pods” – termed by their two-person screen-facing meeting style, allow Lessonly’s frequent small meetings to not book up their other conference spaces needed for larger group sizes.

The centralized café & work-lounge was designed as the nexus–encouraging casual and impromptu day-to-day collisions across departmental teams. Furniture, lighting, and floor level variety allow this space to adapt quickly from a lunch spot with co-workers, to pop-in meeting with full tech connectivity, to a weekly all-employee meeting space.

Knowing that productivity is highly influenced by overall health and wellness, the design also helps achieve the coveted balance of work and respite. Floods of natural light, indoor plant life and views to nature are carefully cadenced throughout each floor; while access to the adjacent trail, bike storage, a yoga room, showers, a nap room, and a mother’s room work in conjunction. Building on a culture of engagement, the space creates fun, interactive moments that give ownership and personalization back to their employees like a polaroid wall, Llama Awards, and scrabble style messaging.

The new space pulls in their iconic bold yellow color palette, in small yet impactful doses. Raw, unfussy materials like sealed concrete floors, exposed ceilings, and finished plywood exude Lessonly’s casual and relaxed vibe. Custom graphics with classic pair names like “Mac-n-Cheese” and “Thelma & Louise” were applied to all the pair pods along with other creative riffs such as “Calma Llama” for the nap room to remind people that the office doesn’t have to be stiff to get things done.

Design: DELV Design

Contractor: Edwards Rigdon

Photography: Michael Firsich, Lessonly

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