1. Owners vs users Whats the best way to design your site?

2. What do we mean by owners vs users?

Your client,Acme Sprockets , wants to rebuild their intranet

Acmes internal communications team are driving and owning the project

The new site will be a tool for all employees of Acme Sprockets, from customer services to HR to supply chain to leadership.

The challenge?

Design a new intranet which meets the needs ofboththe project owners and the site users.

ACME Sprockets 3. Owners

Owners want to group content bywho owns it .

If you asked the owners to design the Acme Sprockets intranet, they would probably draw a diagram that mirrors the company structure.

Why does it matter?

• Owners will be managing & updating the site in the future; they must be comfortable with the site structure.

4. Acme Sprockets intranet: an owners sitemap Home HR Internal comms Finance IT Sales HR contacts Sales training Product guides Acme news Finance contacts Useful forms IT contacts FAQs Sales contacts Competitor info About Acme Useful documents 5. Users

Users want to find the content they needstraight away .

If you asked users to design the Acme Sprockets intranet, they would probably draw a wheel diagram, where all content is one click away from the homepage.

Why does it matter?

• If it isnt easy for users to locate what they want, they will not use the site and it will fail.

6. Acme Sprockets intranet: a users sitemap Home All dept contacts Sales training Product guides Acme news Useful forms FAQs Competitor info About Acme Useful documents 7. Finding the balance

Cons:

All content arranged on one level / no clear hierarchy.

Cons:

Not intuitive for users outside of the organisation.

Often includes duplications.

Pros:

Quick access to all content.

Removes duplications across different sections / departments.

Pros:

Clear hierarchy to content.

Defined site and section owners.

User-driven structure Owner-driven structure 8. Tips and tricks

There are pros and cons for both structures; the key is finding a balance between them.

Get users and stakeholders to provide feedback on existing and proposed solutions.

Group related content by type rather than owner.

Avoid creating lots of content levels small sites only need 3.

Label navigation using common, well known terms, such as About Us.

Avoid lengthy introductory homepages.

Avoid duplication merge pages which have similar or the same content.

9. Acme Sprockets intranet: a possible solution Home About Acme Documents Sales News All dept contacts FAQs Useful forms Useful documents Sales training Competitor info Product guides 10. Got any questions?

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