In addition to the main LinkedIn site (linkedin.com), LinkedIn also has other products. Last week we launched a redesigned version of LinkedIn Recruiter, a product for corporate recruiters.
The primary objectives of the redesign were:
- Bring relevant information to the user rather than making them search for it.
- Reduce the amount of space devoted to navigation. Free-up space for page content.
- Bring the design more in line with the recently redesigned LinkedIn consumer site.
- Provide users with information about team members.
- Foster re-use of designs and code between the consumer and recruiter web sites.
The new LinkedIn Recruiter home page serves as a dashboard of relevant information important to the corporate recruiter. On the left is a list of projects – both private projects as well as shared team projects. In the center is a list of the the most recently received messages. Below that is a feed of recent team activity.
Corporate recruiters frequently work on teams. The new Team Activity module provides a feed of information about the activity of other team members working on shared projects. A user also sees their own activity in the feed.
On the right side of the home page are modules that provide status on things important to the recruiter. On the top is a summary of saved searches which highlights new results. Next is a summary of the jobs the recruiter has open. Below that is a status showed the amount of shared resources available, along with an easy way to request additional resources from the administrator.
LinkedIn Recruiter is an indispensable tool for thousands of corporate recruiters. We worked closely with our customers in designing the new version. First, we held in-person sessions where we listened to the needs of our users. As we designed the new version we showed it to a sample of our customers and iterated on the design based on their feedback.
A lot of enterprise software does not have the quality and ease-of-use of consumer software. Our goal was to change this by taking the best of what we have learned from the LinkedIn consumer site and adapting it to the needs of corporate users. The response from customers has been very positive. We are learning more every day and have lots of additional enhancements planned.
More information about the new LinkedIn Recruiter.
February 7th, 2010
Recently, we launched a new site navigation design for LinkedIn. The first thing you’ll notice in the new design is that the old, persistent left-hand navigation area has been removed. All global navigation is in the top navigation bar. We did this in order to free up space for page content – information about you and your professional network.
Another thing you’ll notice is that the new global navigation bar takes up less vertical space. Page content is moved up higher on the page – less scrolling!
The global navigation bar
The global navigation bar is always available and provides convenient access to all LinkedIn services. Pass your mouse over the bar and you will see menus that provide quick access to the most popular LinkedIn features. For example, the Groups menu has links for finding and creating groups; it also has quick links for the groups you access the most often.
Local Navigation
When you are in an area of LinkedIn (such as Contacts or Groups) you see local navigation. The major sub areas are in tabs along the top of the page. If the page allows filtering of content (such as Discussions or Search Results) these options are shown on the left.
The redesign process
We began the redesign effort by analyzing how people use LinkedIn. We looked at what features people use the most and pored over several years of data from usability research on the site. Armed with this information we began doing design explorations of how to better organize LinkedIn features, and make them more convenient to find and use.
We factored into this effort additional features we knew were coming. We narrowed down the designs to a few candidates we felt were strong contenders. We then prototyped these designs and had users perform tasks with the prototypes in the usability lab. We went through numerous iterations until we arrived at a design we felt worked the best.
On some pages, the new navigation can increase the amount of space available for page content by almost a third. In the coming weeks and months look for LinkedIn to provide continually improved and relevant content to occupy this space. Stay tuned.
For more information see the following.
January 6th, 2010
On June 20th, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Karel Vredenburg on UXDesignCast. You can hear the interview at http://uxdesigncast.com/
June 21st, 2008
We just launched Yahoo! Buzz – another product designed by the Yahoo! Front Doors user experience team. Buzz is a site that surfaces stories from around the net. Top stories are determined by user votes, searches, and other user activity.
Yahoo! Buzz can highlight anything – a major news event, an intriguing video or image, or an interesting blog post – and instead of editors, real people vote and search for their favorite stories to determine the top rated content from across the Web. Yahoo! Buzz ranks the most popular content of the moment using a unique approach that combines consumer votes with search popularity to give a story a Buzz Score.
Stories with a high Buzz Score can be featured in the Today Module on the Yahoo! Front Page. This opens up the Yahoo! front page to the best content chosen by users as well as traditional content chosen by editors.
We worked very hard on Buzz and we hope you like it. Here’s what ReadWriteWeb had to say about us (view story).
Go to http://buzz.yahoo.com/ and try Yahoo! Buzz for yourself.
February 27th, 2008
Check out the new in-line video player on the Yahoo! Front Page. In the past, clicking on a video link opened up a video playing in a new window. The Front Doors design team redesigned the experience to open up the player in-line. Now, when a user clicks on a video link the player animates open and plays the video right there. When finished, the user can play another video or close the player.
Not only is the new user experience less disruptive, the video loads in a fraction of the time it did with the old player. To see it in action, go to http://www.yahoo.com/. Sometimes there is a video available on the first tab, if not, click on the video tab and you will see a collection of the most popular videos of the day.
August 27th, 2007
The new version of My Yahoo! is now in beta! Go to http://cm.my.yahoo.com/upgrade to upgrade. We have totally redesigned the product packing in lots of new features. We’ve also made the product much more efficient to use. Things that used to require multiple pages to perform can now be done in-line – without ever having to leave your page.
You can choose from over 2 million modules to display on your customized page. To add a module, click “Personalize This Page”. The “Extravaganza” opens (that’s what we call it internally) at the top of your page. You can browse, search and preview modules from the extravaganza. When you find one you like, simply click “Add”.
New Modules
We have added tons of new and redesigned modules to My Yahoo! The new portfolio module let’s you track your stocks, and the new movies module keeps you informed about new movies opening in your area. Many of the modules were designed by the My Yahoo! design team. Others were developed by other groups both inside and outside of Yahoo!
Open Modules
Use My Yahoo! as your aggregator of information across the internet. You can monitor your Facebook friends, check your Netflix queue, and keep track of your Yahoo! and Gmail inboxes.
Customize The Look of your My Yahoo! Page
Choose from over 40 different My Yahoo! themes. We are adding more all the time. Just go to Personalize this page and click “Change Color”.
June 22nd, 2007
Previous Posts
