Hi George Labrakos, Annie Stavridis, Amber Lavitt, and Andrew Steer you folks went through a successful home page and Visual design change last year.  Would you be able to help Cristina Herrera with her questions?

We are currently in process of a visual design change.  It has been multi-pronged, but here's the high level evolution:

1. Why are we doing it?
   • Although our company has been around a lot longer, we rebranded in 2013, so 2023 brought our 10 year brand anniversary.  As part of that our brand went though a transformation that included our visual identity.  On our 10 year anniversary we launched a VI update across our DW to update to the new VI colors and visual elements on all of our top level and most used areas of our DW.  Work still continues on the lower levels of the structure and content.
   • We have done some extensive data analysis and user studies over the past few years and the data and users tell us we need to improve the user experience through design and content organization.
   • Our company was completely reorganized as of Jan. 1 this year.  As such, we needed to reorganize most of our DW.  This provided a great opportunity for big transformation with the look and feel and an opportunity to standardize layouts for a more consistent experience across the DW.
2. What analytics/findings did we use to justify?
   • Live observation user studies where we're able to watch how users actually use the site to get to the information they need as well as get live feedback directly from them in their moments of frustration.
   • New hire survey 60 days after start to leverage the incoming perspective of these new users.  These surveys give us insight into how people think coming in the door from other companies using DW and other resources.  It also helps us with vocabulary to ensure the right content is coming up in search even when the searched term is not a term we use at Leidos.
   • We use many different reports to analyze what we have vs. what people actually use, what people are searching for vs. navigating to, what areas of the business are successfully using the DW that can be applied to other areas, what it takes to manage the site (so we can improve efficiency), etc.
3. What outcomes have you seen?
   • This work is still pretty fresh and in process, but our reports and continued user studies are starting to show improved user satisfaction.  
   • While some of our community managers are resistant to change and conforming to the new standards, many are also expressing that they appreciate the guidance, more consistent experience and lower maintenance layouts.  
4. Other thoughts/findings
   • The transformation takes longer than I want it to.  I/my team have to do a fair amount of the work while we also work to educate and provide new resources for the community managers ... all still while running the day-to-day.  But once we get through the effort, it will be totally worth the extra effort now.

I'd be happy to discuss/show you some of what we've done if you'd like.  Just let me know and we'll set up a time.

FYI: Adam Cichorzewski 

Tammy Triplett LOVE the idea of a New Hire survey! I know our HR team meets up with new hires around the 60-day mark as well, so I'm wondering now if we can jump on that opportunity. 

Thank you for all the insights, and I would love to pick your brain (on LOTS of digital workplace stuff, haha!)! 

Cristina Herrera - When would you like to target to find a time to meet?  Let's coordinate via email.  You can reach me at triplettt@leidos.com.

Hi Cristina Herrera,
We are planning an update for this fall.

1. What were some of the reasons that you initially proposed a Visual Design Evolution? 

• We have found that updating the community every 3-4 years provides a bump in engagement by giving everything a fresh look and new energy. 
• It's also an opportunity for our team to plan a communication and engagement campaign around best practices and new features. 
• We have a new corporate campaign that we want to feature more prominently by changing up navigation menus and widget layouts.
• Our accessibility and inclusion design standards have evolved and we want to ensure these are in place throughout the design of the community. Igloo helped us set the foundation with our style templates, but we are auditing our firm-wide pages to ensure access for visual and audio aids (e.g., WCAG Level AA color contrast, screen reading) as well as inclusive photos throughout the site that represent our corproate social responsibility platforms (e.g., visibility for cultural and disability-inclusive images).
• We have encountered some ownership gaps in our communities due to turnover and want to re-organize so that new community managers and contributors feel ownership from the ground up. The commitment level for "I helped build this" is much higher than "I push this button to edit?" - I cannot encourage you enough to get champions on board and iterate with them in all phases of the design.

1. What analytics/findings did you provide to justify the evolution? 

We do a deep dive on metrics for content and engagement every six months using Igloo data. 

We are also sending out a firmwide survey in April to collect feedback on features, design, etc. and our core communications strategies to assess how they are landing. This will be a benchmark to inform our updates and we will measure against it after the update to assess success. We will also have five topics Listening Sessions to collect unstructured feedback around the key areas we use for our community architecture. These are-- core business depts, shared services depts, employee resources, connection, and global access for our non-US colleagues.

1. What outcomes have you seen after the evolution? (Increased engagement, employee feedback, etc.) 

This is still a work in progress. I will note that asking stakeholders for feedback hasn't provided much feedback over time, but approaching them that a re-design is underway and asking for feedback on a time-bound project created a new wave of constructive brainstorming and critical input. 

1. Any other findings/thoughts are welcome!

Good luck with your re-design!

Melissa Westervelt "It's also an opportunity for our team to plan a communication and engagement campaign around best practices and new features." LOVE THIS!!

I've been bouncing around a survey for a while now, but I think now would be the perfect and most relevant time to do one. Love the idea of Listening Sessions, too, as much as I get nervous about unstructured feedback   

Thank you for your input and support!!