While working at Unity, Newmont Corporation and KPMG approached us looking for help with their internal company intranet. Looking like it was built on Geocities and had been running strong since about 1998 (respectfully), it was in desperate need of an upgrade. They would be moving over to Microsoft Sharepoint, and somebody needed to help with some structural organization and establish a consistent visual design language.
Guess who they asked to do it.
Spoilers, it was me. It was me they asked.
The design process was the usual. We researched. We brainstormed. We scribbled on whiteboards. We created a site-map. Then I got started on wireframes. The first big challenge of this project was building a solid foundation and organizational structure. The original intranet was a bit of a mess (respectfully), so we needed to present a massive amount of information in the most palatable way possible.
The second big challenge of this project was working within the limitations on the Microsoft Sharepoint framework. Generally as a designer you tend to dream as big as you dare, and then offload the unfair burden of realizing those dreams onto some poor dev. Just kidding, obviously you reign your ideas in and find a balanced and feasible design that works for everyone. Obviously. Nervous laughter goes here. Thankfully though, no devs were harmed in the making of this project, as the main thing hampering my wildest fancies was Sharepoint itself. I rolled up my sleeves, dug into the platform, learned what building blocks it had to offer me, and put them together as best possible. It was sorta like Legos, but for adults, and way less fun.
In the end, I was able to put forth some functional, professional, and not-too-shabby looking designs forth for the Intranet remodel. Everyone was happy, and I'll never touch Microsoft Sharepoint again. Hopefully.
Unless you're here from Microsoft. If so, disregard that. I love Sharepoint. It's the best.
