How to create a beautiful intranet design your users will love in five simple steps: brought to life by outstanding intranet design examples from companies including Sony, Travelex, the NHS, Mattress Firm, Piedmont, the NSPCC, and many more.

2. Intranet designs
guaranteed to inspire
your employees
How to create a beautiful intranet design your users will love

3. Great design is a language everyone can
understand.
The ultimate guide to intranet design

4. The ultimate guide to intranet design
Great design is a language everyone can
understand.
When it comes to your intranet, design can
mean the difference between a business-
critical tool that your users value and engage
with, and one that is left to stagnate.

5. The ultimate guide to intranet design
However, design can also be one of the biggest
challenges faced during an intranet project.

6. The ultimate guide to intranet design
However, design can also be one of the biggest
challenges faced during an intranet project.
Design can be…

7. The ultimate guide to intranet design
Subjective - what appeals to one person won’t to another
Complex - design is about more than look or brand: covering
everything from UX and accessibility to information architecture
Prone to too many cooks - with multiple decision makers
inputting, how do you balance their involvement?
Overwhelming - how do you design a platform for hundreds or
thousands of users?

8. No two intranets
should be the same.
Design is something
that is as unique as
your organization and
the people in it.

9. No two intranets
should be the same.
Design is something
that is as unique as
your organization and
the people in it.
So, how do you get it
right?

10. Let’s get
inspired.

20. The flexibility and possibility of design is, in
theory, unlimited.
The ultimate guide to intranet design

21. The flexibility and possibility of design is, in
theory, unlimited.
The ultimate guide to intranet design
But we can’t simply drag and drop some widgets
or bulk upload our documents and hope for the
best.
A strategic approach is crucial to drive adoption
and deliver that much-needed return on
investment for your intranet.

22. What
What do we
stand for, and
how can we
translate that
into an identity
and brand?
How
How do we
design winning
intranet
journeys and
experiences?
Why
Why do we
need an
intranet and
what are our
objectives?
Where
Where will our
intranet fit in our
digital
workplace?
Who
Who are our
users, and what
are their needs?
To design the right intranet for your organization, you need to consider:

23. Download our
free guide to
intranet design
interactsoftware.com/guides/
ultimate-guide-intranet-design

24. 01
WHY do we need
an intranet?

25. Always start with the ‘why’.
Why are we doing this? What is the business
problem we’re trying to solve? Then, keep that
front-of-mind at every stage of design and
development.
“
Mike Hague
Head of Product Design (UI/UX), Interact

26. Understanding the ‘why’ driving your project,
and the business challenges you’re trying to
solve, will ensure your intranet not only looks
great but also serves a functional purpose
within your business.

27. Understanding the ‘why’ driving your project,
and the business challenges you’re trying to
solve, will ensure your intranet not only looks
great but also serves a functional purpose
within your business.
Design doesn’t begin with look and feel: it
begins with the purpose.

28. To do:
§ Identify business challenges or
objectives and intranet could
support
§ Evaluate existing tools
§ Research pain-points of different
departments, individuals,
communities
§ Prioritize needs or objectives
§ Create your opportunity statement

30. The key objectives of the project are to replace the existing intranet with a new
one which:
§ Promotes organizational culture and reflects ‘one’ NSPCC
§ Enables staff to share stories, inspires and engages staff, celebrates success
and demonstrates impact
§ Encourages and facilitates learning, communications and collaboration
§ Builds organizational knowledge
§ Helps staff to do their jobs
§ Improves business efficiency

31. How did the NSPCC
objectives translate?
They translated a vision into design through:
§ Prominent use of news content widgets to share
stories, celebrate success, and inspire staff
§ Quicklinks to top tools, helping staff to do their
jobs and be more efficient
§ Visual campaign spotlight widgets to facilitate
learning
§ Great and consistent use of branding, aligned to
external brand, to promote its organizational
culture
…and more!

32. 02
WHO will use
our intranet?

33. Intranet design isn’t
about the product. It’s
about the people.
“
Steven Osbourne
Senior Strategist, Interact

34. Great design is all about your users. They’re the ones
engaging with it on a day-to-day basis: they’re also,
therefore, the best judges and informants when it
comes to design.
So, ask them.

35. To do:
§ Identify user communities and their
needs or requirements
§ Define your audience and create
personas
§ Consider different abilities and
accessibility issues
§ Determine how to personalize and
tailor content

36. The personas were a key part of our build and we regularly
referred to them as we built our navigation and content.
Involving the whole redevelopment team in their creation
helped embed them into our build.
We have continued to refer to them and have recently started
interviewing staff again to make sure we understand the
changing organization and keep the intranet user-focused.
“

37. How can intranet
personas help?
§ Stand in as a semi-fictitious representation
for real users, created from real knowledge
and research
§ Help you understand user needs, behaviors
and experiences
§ Easy to keep front-of-mind to help guide
design decisions
§ Focus on what users will actually use,
rather than what they think they want

38. of online users get frustrated with websites
when content is not personalized. Employees
are bringing those same expectations into
the workplace.

39. Use attributes such as
tagging or keywords
within your information
architecture, making
your intranet intelligent
Create tailored
homepages for
specific groups
Create persona
groups/communities
based on defined
attributes
Use third-party
integrations and
dynamic content
widgets to populate
content areas

40. 03
WHERE will our
intranet fit in our
digital workplace?

41. The digital workplace strategically unifies
employees and technologies in an ecosystem that
facilitates agile ways of working, improves
engagement and delivers an exceptional
experience.
“
Simon Dance
CEO, Interact

42. Successful digital workplaces consider the
people they serve, the tools they use, and
how everything comes together to deliver
a positive experience for our employees.

43. When it comes to intranet design, this means considering
how your intranet will facilitate connections: between
people, platforms, and information.
Successful digital workplaces consider the
people they serve, the tools they use, and
how everything comes together to deliver
a positive experience for our employees.

45. The average number of different
applications used by enterprises as part
of their digital workplace.

46. To do:
§ Determine how staff will find and connect
with each other
§ Integrate your intranet with existing tools
and systems or consider how they’ll work
together
§ Consider using your intranet to sign into
other applications with Single Sign-On
(SSO)
§ Adopt a ‘mobile first’ approach to design
and ensure all employees – regardless of
device or location – can access it

47. With Interact, our office in Houston can see what colleagues are
working on in Mexico City and Hong Kong, giving us all a feeling
of pride in the organization and the work we do together.
It’s much easier to find and communicate with employees globally
and there are great knowledge-sharing features such as team sites
and forums that help us all work together more effectively.
“

48. How does IIE connect its
digital workplace?
IIE ensured its global staff could stay
connected through:
§ A mobile-first design and use of the mobile app
for on-the-ground connectivity
§ Use of Single Sign-On to business critical systems
such as Concur for expenses
§ Centralized hosting of core business materials
such as branding collateral on the intranet, rather
than a DMS
§ Use of Forums for company-wide collaboration,
FAQs, ideation: reducing email dependency and
creating a single point of reference for staff

49. Download our
free guide to
intranet design
interactsoftware.com/guides/
ultimate-guide-intranet-design

50. 04
HOW do we design
winning intranet
journeys and
experiences?

51. Keep it simple. Design doesn’t rule all, and
shouldn’t come at the cost of function, purpose, or
user experience.
An intranet, like any website, is there to serve people
with information. Design should support that goal,
not stand in the way.
“
Peter Jones
Pre-Sales Specialist (Design Team), Interact

52. Most organizations have huge knowledge
assets. An intranet should be designed to
make it logical, intuitive, and easy for
employees to find what they need.

53. Most organizations have huge knowledge
assets. An intranet should be designed to
make it logical, intuitive, and easy for
employees to find what they need.
Managing large volumes of content, users,
information and requirements can be tricky: but
it’s also crucial to your intranet success.

54. Failing to pay
attention to the user
experience when
designing your
intranet can result in
poor adoption.

55. To do:
§ Conduct a ‘content audit’ of existing
and proposed content: what you
have, it’s quality/relevance, who
owns it, where it lives
§ Map out content to be made
redundant and any gaps
§ Sort the content by grouping it
§ Test your proposed structure and
refine it from user feedback

56. When designing your intranet, it’s important to do an audit of the different
types of content you need. Typical types of business content include:
HR, IT or business policies and documentation
Orientation and onboarding support
How to: guides or support for everyday tasks
Team-specific content
Administrative tasks or automated processes
User-friendly or user-generated content
Access to external content
Brand and culture material
Top-down communication and recognition
Bottom-up communication channels

57. Grouping and mapping out your content
forms your information architecture.
From this, you can do user testing to check
how easy information is to find.
You’ll also need to consider the language your staff use –
is it an e-roster, a rota, or a schedule? – and how to create
governance about updating, reviewing, approving and
removing outdated content.

58. User testing your intranet information architecture
Organization
You’d like to know what to do in the event
of a tornado at the Cincinnati Location.
Corporate
Policies
Team Member
Handbook
Glossary
Strategic Deployment
Process
Resources
Locations
Cincinnati
Emergency
Procedures
Denver
Org Charts
Home
Tools
ADP/UltiPro
Pies
Went down the right path
Went down the wrong path
Went back
Nominated as correct answer
Skipped question
Lines
Root node
Correct Path
Incorrect path

59. We used our organizational structure to order content on our
previous intranet, but this didn’t always reflect users’ needs. With
Flo, that’s changed, and the most commonly used content takes
precedence, making the experience much faster and more intuitive.
We’ve also scaled down from 5,000 pages to just 1,200 pages. It was
a huge amount of work rewriting and consolidating the content, but
it’s been well worth it in terms of navigability and user experience.
“

60. How did Kent Community
Health NHS Trust structure
its intranet?
When redefining the structure and
architecture for its intranet ‘Flo’, the Trust
completely reimagined its approach.
§ Content is grouped by topic, theme or action,
rather than department
§ For example the ‘Worklife section, pictured here,
combines all crucial information about working
at the Trust – including HR information, payroll
or finance information, benefits and more
§ Quicklinks to high-use areas signpost users to
the areas they need to visit most

61. 05
WHAT is our
intranet identity
and brand?

62. Brand identity is about more than design. It’s that
‘certain something’ that identifies or differentiates
you, sets you apart.
It encompasses the personality of your intranet, the
values you project, and the perception or experience
that creates.
“
Rob Jones
Intranet Designer, Interact

63. The look and feel of your intranet are a
powerful tool for engaging users, creating
a sense of pride or ownership, and
communicating your culture.

64. The look and feel of your intranet are a
powerful tool for engaging users, creating
a sense of pride or ownership, and
communicating your culture.
An internal brand that translates the
objectives for your intranet, your overall
vision as an organization, and the culture
you’re trying to build, can be challenging.

65. Brand identity is normally achieved through a combination of
different elements, including:
Your intranet name and logo
Brand color palette
Fonts and typography
Page designs and style sheets
Icons, calls-to-action, and buttons
Language or tone of voice
Structure, IA, and navigation
Content or information you choose to host

66. To do:
§ Align with external brand
§ Define tone of voice
§ Give your intranet a name and logo
§ Create an intranet identity or character
§ Determine brand elements such as
typography, color palette, icons
§ Create templates or style sheets and host
brand materials on intranet
§ Establish guidance around brand use

67. The amount employee turnover can be
reduced by investing in employer brand:
including your internal brand.

68. How Acorns brought its
brand to life
This children’s hospice non-profit set out to
align its intranet with its external brand.
§ Replicated core brand colors and ‘brush effect’
around buttons or modules
§ Replicated the use of the acorn in the logo for
continuity, but played on the name to give the
intranet a unique identity
§ More fun, informal, and child-like typography
§ Use of children’s drawings throughout, to
focus users on the purpose and mission of the
organization – the children it helps
The Acorns intranet, ‘Intranut’
The Acorns website

69. What’s the secret
to a great intranet
design?

70. The formula for a great intranet design is made up
of many parts. Bringing together creativity and an
understanding of the purpose of your intranet is
crucial to success.

71. While the sea of options may feel overwhelming, it’s a
practice worth getting right.
Investing upfront in a user-focused design can have a huge
impact on the long-term success of your intranet.
The formula for a great intranet design is made up
of many parts. Bringing together creativity and an
understanding of the purpose of your intranet is
crucial to success.

72. Every intranet will have its own style, traits and character, and offer users:
Easy customization, navigation and functionality
A brand that reflects – and engages users with – your organization
A great user experience for every individual
Intuitive, easy-to-use features that support users in their roles
A mobile-first approach for multi-device accessibility
A relevant and eye-capturing homepage

73. Pushing the boundaries of
design will bring your content
to life and offer a digital
employee experience that
sets your organization apart.
That, in turn, will futureproof
your organization in an
increasingly digital age.

74. Download our
free guide to
intranet design
interactsoftware.com/guides/
ultimate-guide-intranet-design

75. For questions or more information about Interact….
Thank you!