Social intranet design 101

Intranet design – it is the first thing people think to change; the first thing people notice; the first thing people complain about; and it is the last thing that should be changed.
Design has more to do with function than color; social is more concerned with process than technology. To many, particularly in IT, and related business services, this is anathema.

But isn’t social media just technology? *Sigh* Most organizations, a clear majority according to the Social Intranet Study, are dissatisfied with their social media efforts, if not pissed off. If it were just technology, than the ubiquitous deficiency of ‘social’ in social media would have been cured long ago. Now I’ve been spouting off for years about the necessity of process and people to make any technology work, and I need not review that here, but let’s look purely at the design function.

The designers goal is create a strong, dynamic, visual identity while reflecting the company brand and style guidelines. However, for intranets, the complete design approach should be strategically driven, recognizing that design should help to achieve the measurable goals defined for the intranet. Design must facilitate the usability of the site and aid in guiding users to where they need to go while also adding appeal and assisting with engagement.

An intranet should be focused on facilitating the quickest possible access to information and tools that help employees do their jobs. There’s no need to sell employees, they already work for the organization. So forget about glitz, glam, flash and bang that you might use on a website; an intranet is not a website.

Teekay intranet team collaboration posts June 2013
Teekay intranet team collaboration posts June 2013

What happens when you turn an intranet or any business design over to a graphic designer? Is there any focus or discipline on business process, workflow, usability, personalization – can they even define these concepts? The intranet is not a website; repeat: not a website. It’s not a glossy brochure, or a marketing campaign. An intranet is a business system – business system for directing business, communications and collaboration. A graphic designer shouldn’t have to be an expert at workflow and engineering, just as I should be mistaken for a search algorithm expert, or an elephant trainer for that matter.

An intranet redesign requires the exact same approach, though redesigning an intranet isn’t a simple matter. People tend to think that if they just change a few colors, the font, and add a photo, the intranet becomes a winner. Is that what employees want? Or do want more reliable, timely content, and better, faster retrieval of content? Unless there is a clear understanding of the intranet’s purpose and the desired audience, the intranet will not be a success.

For any intranet design or redesign each requires goals and plans on achieving and measuring them. By listening to your users and stakeholders you may implement content and tools that will provide employees with what they need to do their jobs, which in turn will help your intranet achieve its goals. And of course the best way to know and articulate that achievement is by having defined measures that are tracked on a regular basis. When you know and intimately understand these needs, and how the information architecture and functional plan of your intranet must address these needs, then you can worry about the creative design.

You can have a look for yourself at the Intranet Design white paper (it’s free, and more than 30 pages of advice, intelligence and screenshots), and a full video replay of the Social Intranet Case Study: Teekay Corporation (webinar replay), but here are those most important, salient recommendations for undertaking a social intranet design:

  • The employee is always right (exhaustively research user requirements)
  • Senior management is always right (exhaustively research business requirements)
  • A marriage of employee needs and management needs is possible (planning)
  • Information architecture and wireframes before design
  • Creative brief and guidelines before graphic designing
  • Design before you worry about technology (whether SharePoint or alternative)
  • Change management (educate, market, train)

 

View the Social Intranet Case Study: Teekay Corporation (webinar replay)

None of this is new either, check out my 2009 webinar deck on Intranet Design

The Intranet Design White Paper