Your intranet is your organization's digital home, and it should be an inviting space for employees to find information, connect, and thrive. When designing your platform, consider what makes a home comfortable and functional. Its design plays a vital role in user experience, brand identity, and the overall effectiveness of your platform.

The tips in this article will help create a visually appealing and effective platform that resonates with users and reinforces your brand values.

Choose your colors

• Brand Consistency: Use colors consistent with your brand identity to create a unified and memorable experience for employees. Consult your Marketing department for help or access to your organization's Brand Guide. Choose two or three complementary colors to work with.
• Element Consideration: Think beyond the homepage. Your colors are implemented throughout the platform, so they should complement the rest of your content. Reflect on the colors you will use in your profile images for pages and communities, and ensure these align with your theme or remain neutral to adapt to any future changes in theme colors.
• Contrast: Use color contrast to make elements stand out while ensuring that the text remains readable. For example, when selecting the background color for buttons, make sure that it attracts attention and that the text on the button is well-contrasted.
• Platform Background: Opt for a light and neutral background color for the overall platform. This provides a clean canvas that allows other design elements, content, and interactive components to stand out and be easily legible. Consider light gray (#F0F0F0, #EBECF0) or light beige (#F6F1EC, #F4F2F2) as potential base colors. These neutral tones create a sense of spaciousness and ensure visual hierarchy.
• Navigation Bar: Carefully consider whether to use a light or dark color for the navigation bar. As a persistent and prominent feature across all pages of your platform, the navigation bar's color choice significantly influences the overall look and feel.
  • Dark Navigation Bar: Creates a strong visual anchor at the top of the page. However, avoid overly dark shades that might feel heavy or overwhelming.
  • Light Navigation Bar: Creates a more open and airy feel. But, make sure it contrasts enough with the platform background to achieve visual separation.

Embrace change

• Inject Spirit: Consider periodically updating the visual elements of your intranet to reflect different seasons, holidays, or internal company themes. This keeps the platform feeling fresh, engaging, and connected to the current atmosphere. Check out some theme ideas below!
• Subtle Theming: Opt for subtle changes that enhance the existing design rather than a complete overhaul. Think of it as adding seasonal "decorations" to your digital space. You can easily do this by updating your hero teaser or adjusting your button color.
• Communicate Changes: Inform users in advance about any planned design updates, especially if they are more noticeable. This helps manage expectations and can build anticipation.
• Gather Feedback: Consider soliciting feedback from employees on seasonal design changes to gauge their impact and preferences for future updates. Use a Form app on a relevant page like People & Culture. 

Theme Ideas

Examples

Take a look at the example themes below for some inspiration! If you want to explore more details, open it in full screen.

Further tips & tricks

• Extend your colors to your page and community images: When designing images for your page and community profiles and covers, select those that enhance your overall intranet design and color scheme. This extends your branding beyond navigation and button elements, fostering a cohesive and professional visual experience across the platform.