Senior Learning Experience Designer & Learning Strategist

From complex change to finished experience.

I turn complex business and learning challenges into experiences people can understand and use—from strategy and experience design to film, AI-enabled production, and the finished build.

Learning Strategy & Performance Consulting • Leadership Development • Product & Technology Enablement • AI-Enabled Learning • Creative Technology & Multimedia Production

Selected experience

  • Cox Enterprises
  • IHG Hotels & Resorts
  • Atlanta International School

EducationM.Ed., Instructional Design & Technology, Arizona State University

Selected case studies · 05

Featured work

Leadership, product, and platform change for enterprise teams, each shown from the problem to the shipped experience.

01Leadership developmentCox Enterprises

Operation: Legacy Unlocked

An immersive leadership simulation that casts employees as intelligence agents and turns organizational history into a mission, built for audiences up to VP and SVP.

02Product enablementIHG Hotels & Resorts

Global product readiness for hotel technology

New-hire onboarding, release communications, and reusable learning workflows for evolving hotel platforms.

03Platform launchCox Enterprises

Workday Learn, launched as a growth ecosystem

A launch campaign that led with organizational purpose before platform features.

04Change enablementIHG Hotels & Resorts

Guest CRM adoption across pilot hotels

Teaching pilot hotel teams the reasoning behind new guest-relationship workflows, not just where to click.

05Systems designShowcase prototype · Figma

Enterprise Learning Experience & AI Systems Hub

One prototype that brings shipped work together: the Workday Learn launch, the AI production pipeline, Cox 20/20, and IHG product enablement.

View the prototype

Selected impact

What the work moved.

Outcomes from programs I designed or contributed to, across enterprise and education settings.

Adoption

98%

Platform adoption in Q1, supported through targeted enablement

Workday Learn launch · Cox Enterprises

Production

40%

Faster content development using an AI-assisted production pipeline, adopted team-wide

Learning production · Cox Enterprises

Leadership

35%

Lift in strategic knowledge retention versus presentation formats

Cox 20/20 executive simulation

Migration

95%

Adoption and 4.9/5 satisfaction on an organization-wide LMS migration

Digital learning function · Atlanta International School

Experience

16+ years

In education and learning design, with recent years focused on enterprise instructional design

Capabilities & tools

What I bring to a team.

Capability first. Open any row for the tools I use to deliver it; depth varies from daily practice to emerging workflows.

Method

How thought becomes action.

Five moves I run on every project, from a leadership simulation to a platform launch to an AI-assisted production run. Each carries a rule I don't break.

  1. 01

    Clarify

    Define the business problem, learner need, stakeholder expectations, and success criteria.

    Clarity over complexity. Every complex problem hides a simpler structure worth finding first.

  2. 02

    Structure

    Organize complexity into a learning architecture, journey, content map, or enablement strategy.

    People before platforms. Technology only matters once the people using it can succeed with it.

  3. 03

    Design

    Shape the experience through story, interaction, visuals, accessibility, and human-centered learning principles.

    Technology should feel human. Systems earn adoption when they respect attention, context, and effort.

  4. 04

    Build

    Produce eLearning, video, guides, toolkits, job aids, and communications. Prototype early, then scale.

    Speed for production, not decisions. AI expands what is possible; the point of view stays mine.

  5. 05

    Measure

    Use feedback, adoption signals, performance evidence, and stakeholder input to refine impact.

    Learning should move behavior. The measure is what people do differently after.

Every output is reviewed and owned. Nothing ships that I wouldn't defend in front of a stakeholder.

Thinking in Motion

Cinematic learning for complex change.

A design perspective on how narrative structure, visual rhythm, emotional relevance, and multimedia storytelling can make learning more memorable, human, and actionable.

I approach learning design like a narrative system. Every experience needs rhythm, tension, clarity, visual pacing, and a purposeful arc. Whether I am building an executive explainer, a leadership simulation, a product enablement toolkit, or an interactive eLearning module, I use cinematic principles to help learners move from attention to understanding — and from understanding to action.

  • Narrative Structure
  • Visual Pacing
  • Emotional Relevance
  • Scenario-Based Learning
  • AI-Enabled Production
  • Behavioral Clarity

Story arc

  1. Context

    Establish the situation people are actually working inside.

  2. Tension

    Name the friction that makes the change hard.

  3. Clarity

    Resolve complexity into a decision people can hold.

  4. Action

    Move understanding into confident behavior.

Featured Insight

Thinking in Motion: Cinematic Learning for Enterprise Transformation

An emerging design perspective on how narrative structure, visual rhythm, emotion, AI-enabled production, and multimedia storytelling can help people understand complex change and act with confidence.

Explore Cinematic Learning Systems (newsletter on LinkedIn, opens in a new tab)

Creative Lab · Film & creative technology

The same craft, without a brief.

Self-directed film and AI-assisted production where I test the storytelling, cinematography, and tools I later bring into enterprise work.

Start with The Train Story, then open the systems map to see how narrative, sound, and light were engineered beat by beat.

Preparing The Train Story…
0:00 / 0:00

Lab Entry 01 / AI Production

The Train Story

Challenge
Cinematic production normally requires a crew, a budget, and a schedule most projects never get.
Hypothesis
Generative tools directed as one connected system — rather than used in isolation — could carry a concept from narrative through to finished motion.
Experiment
Structure the concept in one model, develop the visual language in another, and translate it into motion in a third, holding creative direction constant throughout.
Result
A complete cinematic prototype produced by a single practitioner, start to finish.
Learning
The bottleneck was never the tools. It was having a clear enough point of view to direct them.

The Train Story is an experimental cinematic prototype created to explore how generative AI can support a complete visual-production workflow. The concept was structured and refined through Claude, developed visually through Gemini, and translated into motion through Omni. Rather than treating each platform as an isolated tool, I directed them as one connected production system—from concept and narrative framing to visual language, scene development, and final animation.

The film draws inspiration from the architectural tension, psychological scale, and layered reality associated with Christopher Nolan's cinema, particularly Inception. The objective was not to reproduce that film, but to study how its atmosphere, pacing, visual gravity, and sense of impossible space could inform an original AI-enabled experiment. This piece is one example of how I combine creative direction, systems thinking, storytelling, and emerging technology to move an idea from imagination into a tangible cinematic experience.

Claude · Concept and narrativeGemini · Visual developmentOmni · Motion productionCreative direction · Jonathan

Artifact / Systems Map

Cinematic Learning Systems Map

A time-based breakdown of how narrative architecture, visual world building, cinematography, audio, and learning integration interact across the sequence.

Key Moment / Threshold

The threshold moment visualizes the transition from disruption to decision. Through amber light, silence, and a single piano note, the sequence marks a deliberate shift in emotional and narrative direction — held for three seconds, 0:54–0:57.

  • Narrative architecture
  • Systems thinking
  • Cinematic learning design
  • AI-directed production workflow

About

Adoption is a human problem before a technical one.

I learned that early, guiding educators and communities through digital learning and platform change. It still shapes everything I make, from leadership simulations to release-ready product training.

The problems I'm handed rarely stay inside one discipline, so neither do I. I structure the ambiguity, design the experience, then film, prototype, and build it, using AI to move faster without handing it the judgment.

Make the complex clear, make the learning useful, and make the experience worth remembering.

“I translate complexity into learning people can use.”

Jonathan Iker Zamarripa · Learning Experience Design & Strategy

M.Ed., Instructional Design & Technology · Arizona State University

The journey

Built through experience.

A practice shaped across learning, systems, technology, storytelling, and enterprise transformation.

  1. 01

    Education Innovation

    K–12 education · Teaching

    Guided educators through digital learning adoption, where I learned to design for real behavior change.

  2. 02

    Digital Transformation

    Atlanta International School · International education

    EdTech & Innovation Coach / Strategist · Employee · 2019⁠–⁠2024

    Supported an organization-wide LMS migration, helping a school community move from hesitation to fluency.

  3. 03

    Enterprise L&D

    Cox Enterprises · Enterprise & corporate learning

    Learning Experience Designer · Contract · Feb⁠–⁠Sep 2025

    Designed leadership and enterprise learning for audiences from frontline teams to SVPs.

  4. 04

    Product & Technology Enablement

    IHG Hotels & Resorts · Hospitality technology

    Creative Content Specialist / Producer · Contract · Sep 2025⁠–⁠Aug 2026

    Turned evolving platforms into release-ready learning that keeps global teams operationally current.

Tools & platforms

A modern learning stack for strategy, design, production, and scale.

Hands-on tools and emerging AI workflows used to design, build, localize, automate, and measure learning experiences across enterprise environments.

  • 01Design

    Learning Design & Authoring

    Interactive learning, microlearning, simulations, branching, assessments, and performance support.

    • Articulate Storyline 360
    • Rise 360
    • Genially
    • Canvas LMS
  • 02AI Production

    AI-Enabled Content & Workflow

    Rapid ideation, content transformation, SME synthesis, scenario drafting, script development, learning architecture, and review acceleration.

    • ChatGPT
    • Claude
    • Gemini
    • Microsoft Copilot
  • 03Automation

    Agentic AI & Learning Automation

    Agentic workflow awareness across content intake, SME analysis, knowledge retrieval, QA checks, learner support, and scalable learning operations.

    • Custom GPTs
    • Claude Projects
    • Zapier
    • Make
  • 04AI Production

    AI Video, Voice & Localization

    AI-assisted video production, voiceover, localization, multilingual enablement, explainer content, and scalable media production.

    • Synthesia
    • ElevenLabs
    • HeyGen
    • Descript
  • 05Design

    Multimedia & Visual Design

    Visual systems, branded learning assets, motion design, storyboards, prototypes, job aids, decks, and digital learning interfaces.

    • Adobe Creative Suite
    • Photoshop
    • Illustrator
    • Premiere Pro
  • 06Delivery

    Learning Operations & Platforms

    Learning delivery, stakeholder workflows, content governance, launch operations, versioning, and enterprise enablement.

    • Workday Learn
    • SharePoint
    • Microsoft 365
    • Asana
  • 07Measurement

    Analytics, Skills & Measurement

    Learning impact, adoption signals, performance evidence, executive visibility, and data-informed decisions.

    • Tableau
    • Power BI
    • Excel
    • Learning dashboards
  • 08Strategy

    Accessibility & Quality Assurance

    Accessible, inclusive, compliant learning experiences that support learner variability and enterprise quality standards.

    • WCAG
    • UDL
    • Accessibility checkers
    • Captioning tools

Depth varies by tool. Some are daily practice; others are emerging workflows I actively explore and apply where they earn their place.

Principles

The principles behind every decision.

Eight commitments that hold whether the work is a leadership simulation, a platform launch, or an AI-assisted production run.

  1. 01

    Clarity over complexity

    Every complex problem hides a simpler structure worth finding first.

  2. 02

    People before platforms

    Technology only matters once the people using it can succeed with it.

  3. 03

    Design with evidence

    Decisions hold up when grounded in data, feedback, and observed behavior.

  4. 04

    Learning should move behavior

    The measure of a learning experience is what people do differently after.

  5. 05

    Technology should feel human

    Systems earn adoption when they respect attention, context, and effort.

  6. 06

    Direction, not delegation

    AI expands what is possible; the point of view still has to be mine.

  7. 07

    Speed for production, not decisions

    Move fast on assets. Slow down on the choices that shape outcomes.

  8. 08

    Every output is reviewed and owned

    Nothing ships that I would not defend in front of a stakeholder.

Selected Additional Work

More work. More range.

Projects that show range across interactive learning, multimedia, and AI production. Summarized here; the full archive holds more.

View the full archive
  • Interactive eLearning

    Bilingual Scenario-Based eLearning

    Branching practice built for bilingual learners, grounded in accessibility practice and learner-centered storytelling.

    • Storyline 360
    • Accessibility
  • Education Innovation

    Canvas LMS Adoption at an International School

    Professional learning and adoption strategy that moved faculty from hesitation to fluency.

    • Canvas LMS
    • Change Management
  • Multimedia

    Explainer Video Library

    Short-form motion pieces that compress dense process into minutes.

    • Video
    • Motion Design
  • AI Experiments

    AI Production Experiments

    Prompt systems and agentic drafts tested against real production work.

    • AI Workflow
    • Prototyping
  • Enterprise Learning

    Leadership Toolkit Series

    Job aids and facilitation kits supporting manager capability at scale.

    • Job Aids
    • Facilitation

Contact

Have something complex worth making clear?

A strategy that needs shape, an experience that needs building, a story that needs telling, or a new tool worth figuring out. Tell me what you’re working on. I’m open to senior full-time and contract roles, consulting projects, and speaking or panel invitations.

Email me directlyjonathan.zamarripa@gmail.com

Or use the form. A few lines are enough; I reply personally.

Start the Conversation

Hiring, projects, or speaking — a few details are enough to begin.

I’m reaching out about
How did you hear about me?

Your details are used only to respond to this inquiry. No mailing lists. No unsolicited follow-up.