Social Intranet Design Strategies presented by Intranet Connections CEO Carolyn Douglas at the 19th Annual Intranets for Internal Communications, Vancouver, BC

1. Topics We’ll Discuss
Creating the Intranet
Experience / Ambience
Your Intranet Front Door
Build Culture and Ensure
Engagement
A Fat Intranet: How to
Avoid the Excess Weight
Repeat Business: The End
Goal for Intranet Success
@carolyndouglas Carolyn Douglas | www.intranetconnections.com

2. “Just get rid of
the crappy
stuff and focus
on the good
stuff”
Steve Jobs

3. Early Days of Design
Circa 1998 web site
design

4. Design 2011
We’ve come a long
way in web design
and enhanced
usability
Modern design
MUST make its
way onto our
intranets

5. Creating the Experience
Sanafir is a popular restaurant
in Vancouver on Granville Street
What tone and perception
does
this image convey?
What do you think the
ambience
would be at Sanafir?
What kind of experience do
you
think you would have?

6. Creating the Experience
Bright | Modern | Relaxed
Punches of Color

7. Creating the Experience
• Create Ambience
Ambience • Set the Tone
• Put People First
Aesthetics Matter
• Modern
Perception • Easy to Use
• Valuable

8. Good Design can Engage
Make it easy Embed external
for employees tools that help
to find the employees
information they
need Use a pop of color to
focus
attention on key elements
Ask for feedback
and opinions
Use professional
graphics that do
not distract from
information

9. It’s HOW you use the Intranet
It’s not the technology
It is HOW you choose to use
it that makes the difference
Think About Your Design
1. professional: no clipart
2. when in doubt: go white
3. choose 3 main colors
4. consistent = ease of use
5. reflect company culture
6. put people first

10. You have designed
around building an
experience
Now to Your Intranet
Front Door ... aka the
Home Page
1. What do you want
employees to see?
2. How do you want
them to feel?
3. Where do you want
them to go?
@carolyndouglas Carolyn Douglas | www.intranetconnections.com

11. Your Intranet Front Door
1 •Engage
2 •Inform
3 •Secret Ingredient

12. Engage and Inform
Find People and Info Interact with People and Info
Push Content
Relevant & Timely
Current & Quality
Intranet Personalize / Pull Content
Content Feeds, Bookmarks
Alerts, Subscriptions, Widgets
Information

13. Secret Ingredient: People
An Award Winning Intranet
Employees submit photos that
are shown in background
Employees can weigh in
through polls, ratings and
comments from the Front
Door
Photos of co-workers
Fun, interesting, creative
Good images, visual
Good labels “Wikilumbia”
Your Intranet should be about PEOPLE; your company is made up of PEOPLE

14. A Good Front Door Will ...
 Feature People
 Learn about the people: employee spotlights
 Tell stories about customers and good service
 Interview employees, share success stories
 Engage and Inform
 Provide polls, embed videos, slideshows
 Quick links to popular content and tools
 Inform employees: news, articles, blogs

15. Consistent Navigation
Good navigation Simple + Consistent
Think like an employee Short labels
Get creative Make it easy
Make it obvious
Use engaging terms
Take the time to *think* like an employee
Make it easy for them, logical, obvious
Get fun, get creative, get engaging
Short labels, not too many options
Don’t overwhelm, simple-simple-simple

16. Gateway to Killer Apps
Put your “killer apps”
front and center in your
navigation
#1 Killer App?
Rich Social Profiles
aka
Employee Directory
Finding People / Contact Info
Finding People with Knowledge
Finding People with Similar Interests
Visual + Clean + Simple Navigation Finding People with Skill Sets
Make it easy to find & interact with people .... and now SHARING with those PPL

17. You’ve got your
employees through
the Front Door, what
now?
What are your goals
for the intranet?
What consistent
thread is going to
bind the user
experience?
Culture and
engagement
top of mind
@carolyndouglas Carolyn Douglas | www.intranetconnections.com

18. Culture and Engagement
Use your intranet
to support and build
upon your corporate
culture

19. Good Branding
Bonnier’s intranet is
visual with an emphasis
on people. The site is
branded to their
corporate identity.
Many intranet elements
are incorporated and
similar to their
public-facing web sites

20. Good Design
Bonnier’s Intranet has a similar
design aesthetic to their
public-facing web site

21. Culture and Engagement
The glue that binds a
good user experience
1. Aesthetics
2. Consistency
3. Culture / People
4. Engagement
Involve executives. Ask
them to contribute and
have a presence on
your intranet. Ask them
to engage and share

22. Keeping your Intranet Skinny
 Focus on a clear purpose
 Communicate that purpose
 Delegate content review to publishers
 Set & enforce deletion guidelines
 Clean up clutter with Archived content
 Front door = relevant, timely, interesting
 Feedback: survey your employees
 Stats: know your popular areas

23. Repeat Business and Word
of Mouth! Your end goal
Recap in creating the
intranet experience with
good design
1. Set the tone, build
ambience, good
design can engage
2. Feature people on your
Intranet Front Door
3. Build your design
around people;
company culture and
engagement
4. Keep the intranet
skinny and focused
@carolyndouglas Carolyn Douglas | www.intranetconnections.com

24. Intranet Design Resources
http://www.steptwo.com.au/products/designing-intranets
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/
30-more-ways-to-a-better-intranet-012817.php
http://www.pebbleroad.com/articles/view/
managers-guidebook-on-intranet-redesign-projects/
Intranet Connections: Build on Culture with our Social Intranet
Software
http://www.intranetconnections.co Intranet Connections combines
m
http://blogs.intranetconnections.com
business tools and social sharing to
http://twitter.com/carolyndouglas offer easy to use intranet software