Designing an intranet requires skills in UX design and research, service design, content strategy, IA, or working with stakeholders. This article compiles our resources to help anyone designing a new intranet or sprucing up an old one.

User Research

All intranet redesigns require good user research to inform the design. This section covers doing research with you target users: employees.

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1

User-Centered Intranet Redesign: Set Up for Success in 11 Steps

Article

A recommended process for intranet redesigned, as surfaced from many years of intranet research

2

Structuring Intranet Discovery & Design Research

Article

A case study of early research from Intranet Design Annual winner, Commonwealth Care Alliance

3

Field Studies Should Inform Intranet Redesign

Article

Why intranet redesigns should be based on field studies that involve observing employees in their natural work environment

4

How Wellcome Trust Developed an Award-Winning Intranet

Article

A case study describing the user-centered design, product vision, in-house development capabilities, and Agile process needed for a successful intranet (and a 2020 Intranet Design Annual award)

5

User Involvement for User Adoption: An Intranet Strategy

Article

Three benefits of involving employees early and often in intranet-design projects: increased interest, change management, and easy content creation

Content Strategy

Common struggles in intranet design surround content strategy. Advice and case studies in the articles in this section help content owners stay engaged and create helpful and fresh content.

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6

Content Management on Intranets: Centralized, Distributed, and Hybrid Models

Article

Different content-management models and their relative pros and cons

7

Content Migration Alone Is Not an Effective Content Strategy

Article

Two award-winning designers discussing why “lift and shift” is a folly fueled by fear, limited resources, inexperience, and politics

8

9 Ways to Encourage Employee Sharing and Engagement on an Intranet

Article

A case study of how to engage content owners from Intranet Design Annual winner, Keysight Technologies

9

ConocoPhillips’s Improved Intranet Content-Management Process

Article

A case study of improving the publishing process from Intranet Design Annual winner, ConocoPhillips

10

« Prev

Article

A case study that illustrates how to create relevant content and localize it for the UN intranet users

Leadership & Business

Since intranets are usually meant to serve the entire organization, it’s important that leadership is involved in supporting and planning it.

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11

10 Things Executives Should Know About Intranets

Video

Why leaders can benefit from knowing how much a good intranet can increase productivity and motivate people

12

Intranet Vision

Video

How creating a clear vision for an intranet design can set teams up for success

13

Intranet Design After a Merger or Acquisition

Article

Strategies for how to restructure the intranet of a newly expanded organization and the challenges that this process may encounter

14

Should Small Companies Have an Intranet?

Article

When a small company should consider creating an intranet

15

Industries Impacted Most by UX

Video

Jakob Nielsen’s take on how technology and ecommerce industries have reaped the rewards of good UX

16

How to Collaborate with Stakeholders in UX Research

Article

An 8-step general (not intranet-specific) process for collaborating with stakeholders

17

Collaborating With Stakeholders

Video

18

Remarkable Organizations and Challenges, Fast Development, and Small Teams Define the 2021 Intranet Design Annual Winners

Article

A general overview of recent Intranet Design Winners and the processes used for the development of their intranets

We have been studying intranets deeply for 20+ years. In that time, trends have come and gone. This section covers themes in intranet design, features, teams, and tools.Trends

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19

10 Best Intranets of 2021: What Makes Them Great

Article

Trends seen across recent Intranet Design Annual Winners

20

10 Best Intranets of 2020: What Makes Them Great

Article

21

10 Best Intranets of 2020

Video

22

10 Best Intranets of 2019

Article

23

10 Best Intranets of 2019

Video

24

Enterprise User Experience

Video

How software and other factors impact enterprise design

25

4 Noteworthy Intranet Design Trends in 2019

Article

Examples of user-targeted search, core-task support, launch fanfare, and integrated access to key tools

26