Design matters? It sure does!

Someone quite well known in the intranet world recently said that design matters less and less on intranets.

I have to say I wholeheartedly disagree.

We launched new design templates across all our four Operating Companies' intranets in the UK earlier this year. It was a fairly short project and didn't cost a fortune. The design launch was accompanied by a quick poll where we asked people if they liked it. 172 people completed the poll, and although it was nice to see that the majority voted positively it was actually more useful to read the comments that some people left with their vote.

I divided the comments into categories and its easy to see what makes people tick:

• Colours 34%
• Navigation 6% (considering that the new design didn't alter the navigation it was interesting that some people felt it had improved!)
• Browser 6%
• Other, incl. general well done comments and questions 54%

Several people said it was good to see that the company wants to move our systems on with the times - as one person said "Facebook and the BBC do it all the time, so why shouldn't we internally?"

Intranets are here to serve the business, it's for the employees. Employees are interested in design. So design matters. I'm not saying it's more important than all the other important things (like content and navigation) but it is important.

Rant over.

HR - friend or foe?

I was at an intranet conference here in London yesterday where I talked about some of the work our team have done on the intranet in the last few months.

One of our mini projects was a complete overhaul of all the information in the employee handbook including a review of the information architecture that supports this area. During my little talk I said that it is a nightmare to work with HR. I could feel the atmosphere change as soon as the words left my lips, and throughout the day different people referred to my comment. I would just like to clarify why I said what I said.

I have worked for a variety of public and private sector organisations. And when working with HR teams on intranet matters I have come across the same barriers time and time again.

HR teams want all or nothing. It's like this:

Scenario #1:

Intranet team: Hey HR - we would like to work with you to improve the way your content is presented on the intranet.
HR: We're quite happy with it as it is thanks.

Scenario #2:

Intranet team: Hey HR - We would like to work with you to improve the way your content is presented on the intranet.
HR: Yes, well we have been waiting for you to get in touch. What we think is that policy X, Y and Z should under a heading called "Benefits" and A, B and C should.....

There seem to be only two options for them. They either don't want to change anything. Or they are desperate to change stuff, but they are the experts on how it should be changed.

IMHO content and IAs can only be reviewed successfully if the actual users are involved. There are lots of ways of doing this.

Interviews, open/closed card sorting, contextual enquiries, surveys, mix and match them as they suit the organisation. But under no circumstances should any IA be determined solely by the business owner, or an intranet team.

That said, I can sort of understand why HR is reluctant to ask user's opinions - they're just not used to it. They deal with policies, contracts and other non-flexible work. But they need to move with the times. And fortunately it seems that, once they understand the power of involving users, HR teams are collaborative and a pleasure to work with.

For more related information on this subject read Kurt's (IntraTeam) discussion on LinkedIn: Our Members say that HR don't get the intranet - why?