Leon Heng
UX/UI Designer
LinkedIn
Redesign
A redesign of the website & app of an iconic job search/networking brand.
Design Brief
LinkedIn is the largest and by far the best networking platform for professionals. Given its diversified user base and product offerings, it can empower users for better career growth and progression.
However, we noticed that LinkedIn lacks a lot, with regards to the ease of navigation, connectivity between features, and consistency in layout. All these will lead to the users becoming unaware of the features available within the platform, resulting in a lower retention rate.
Duration
2 weeks
Team Project
Role
UX Designer
UX Researcher
Skills
User Research
Business Analysis
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Iteration & Refinement
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Miro
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Business
Research
User Research
Persona / Customer Journey Map
Competitor Analysis
Ideation
Wireframing
Prototype
Round 1
Prototype
Round 2
Final Revision
Initial Research and Insights
Business Analysis
LinkedIn is a multisided platform that offers a wide range of products that cater to individual and business needs. It relies a lot on network effects and value to keep the platform alive. This means that the more active users on the platform, the more value LinkedIn has to maximize its revenue streams.
Based on an analysis done in 2019, Linkedin talent solutions account for 65% of the company’s revenue.
Talent solutions encompass the resources offered to both recruiters and employers in building their brand and recruiting qualified candidates. They can also develop their team by upskilling their employees with learning, engagement, and performance tools.
Business Goals
By attracting a bigger talent pool of professionals to use and stay active on Linkedin,
companies and recruiters will be more inclined to subscribe to the this platform
to build their brand presence and recruit talents.
User Research
Within Singapore, about 3.07 million users (50.4% of the population) are on LinkedIn, and most of them are junior and mid-level professionals aged 22-30 years old.
To better address LinkedIn's business goal, we sought to conduct user interviews and online surveys, to better understand users' goals and experience on LinkedIn.
Key Insights
Primary usage:
Job searching
Users’ immediate goal is to get hired with desired job or company.
Their greater intention of changing jobs is to seek career progression or professional growth.
Challenges during the
job searching process
Lack of required experience leads to lesser job options.
Lack of strong network connections that can help them to land a job.
Not as confident in the interview process.
Secondary usage:
Networking
Most users don't network often. They usually network to explore new job opportunities.
Some do exchange insight, seek career advice with others.
Some enjoy expanding their network, while part of them see networking as part of work commitment.
Persona
Customer Journey Map
Establishing Project Goals
So, where is the gap?
Most users use LinkedIn for job search purpose only, the retention is low.
Users are not aware of other features available to them due to poor navigation and accessibility.
Most users react negatively to premium services.
-
Fees are expensive as they only use LinkedIn for job search purposes.
-
Users are not aware of the premium features available.
-
Users find that they can’t maximize their benefits.
Design Direction
In order to address the gap between business and users' goals, we thought of leveraging on the users' primary footprints to increase awareness of other services available.
With this, not only we can empower users in their career progression, we can also improve retention and improve user's impressions on LinkedIn.
Problem:
Users use LinkedIn primarily for job search purpose,
the retention is low.
Solution:
We aim to close the loop by connecting features that can empower users, allowing them to achieve greater goals.
Areas of Focus
As guided by research, we decided to focus on the following areas
so that users can achieve the greater career goal.
Users' Primary Goal
Users' Secondary Goal
Networking
Competitors:
ADPList
Job
Searching
Competitors:
Glassdoor
Mycareersfuture
Users' Greater Goal
Learning
Competitors:
Coursera
Udemy
Solutions
Introduction of a new feature:
My Career Progression Path
LinkedIn Learning is one of the key features that can potentially improve retention and empower individual users. However, it is not well-received among users due to the following reasons:
1. Users are unsure if the courses suit them
2. Users doubt the credibility of certification
Given the concerns above, we would like to propose a new feature- My Career Path. We are inspired by Coursera, where they recommend the courses together with the projected path.
Leveraging LinkedIn user data, the system can provide accurate path recommendations and guide users. So that they have a clearer goal and more motivated to kick start their learning journey.
Improving the User Flow
Apart from improving the sitemap, we also simplified the user flow for most tasks by connecting features. With a more efficient user flow and clear navigation, users' retention can be greatly improved and they are more empowered in performing their tasks.
Existing User Flow:
The existing user flow was disjointed and not cohesive, making each of the functions look like its a separate function.
New User Flow:
With the new proposed user flow, we tries to combine and loop the various features together so that the whole LinkedIn process is more integrated to help in the users' job searching and networking processes. Within this loop, we also encourage users to stay engaged within LinkedIn.
Improving the Information Architecture
During our initial research phase, we noticed that most users have difficulty finding certain features, whether it is way too hidden on the site or sitting within the unexpected category.
We conducting card sorting to remove unnecessary hierarchy, as well as grouping some features so that users can access all related functions all at once.
Existing Site Map
New Site Map
Personalization and Visual Design
During our usability testing, a few users mentioned that the styling is static, uninspiring, and lacks a sense of personalization. Users are also overwhelmed by all the irrelevant highlights. The inconsistency in terms of typeface hierarchy and layout affects the legibility and reading flow negatively.
Given the feedback above, we redesign the widget on the homepage to include job recommendations and LinkedIn Course. We also increase the usage of color overall to subtly bring a fresher look to the professionals, as well as standardizing the layout of pages to lighten user's mental load.
Home Page
Job Search Page
Actual Site
Prototype
The columns on the side provide the users quick access to various features such as Job Recommendation and courses.
Actual Site
Prototype
A side panel is included for easy navigation as well as to provide more space to flesh out the various features inside.
Reflections
Working as a team virtually
This was the first time that 5 of us worked together and we explored the dynamic on the go. We were still able to cooperate well and properly coordinate our efforts efficiently. By constantly exchanging thoughts and views, we were able to learn more effectively from each other, and overall, we had a better understanding on the same subject and alignment on goals.
Time waits for no man
As LinkedIn has a wide variety of products, we almost made a critical mistake by starting our research with a very narrow scope at the beginning of the project. We were able to rectify this issue quickly by adopting iterative process on the research phase and questioning our thought process and approach, stepping back to look at the bigger picture, seek help and consult from other groups, and re-working our user interview to discover significant problems for end users. It was not easy to accept that we made a mistake when we had already started and having to go back to the beginning, but we managed to push ahead after hitting our first milestone.