Improving engagement without sacrificing reach
Disclaimer: This project began as a student endeavor and later evolved into a solo project. It is not affiliated with LinkedIn.
My role
Project Lead
What I did
User and Market Research
UX Design
Usability Testing
Team
Pub Hanchaikul
Zainab Hashmi
Sara Lin
Kalyn Watt
Timeline
September - December 2022, Revisited January - March 2024
In the job-search space, LinkedIn is unique in that it largely focuses on networking and user-generated content.
While many social media platforms focus on small, personal communities, LinkedIn is all about creating and leveraging large professional networks.
In the early stages of the project, we interviewed 20 professionals to gain a deeper understanding of their attitudes, beliefs, and experiences surrounding Linkedin’s unique functionalities
students
early-career professionals
mid-senior professionals
Research Goals
Learn user goals and motivations when opening the app
Discover the challenges and frustrations of networking
Identify what engagement looks like
Research Findings
Professional Growth. Users open the app to stay informed about economic news, industry trends, company activities, job opportunities.
Users find it challenging to engage meaningfully with connections
Engagement is driven by content that aligns with users' interests, including curated news, valuable insights from specific people and channels, and opportunities for learning
In the early stages of the project, we interviewed 20 professionals to gain a deeper understanding of their attitudes, beliefs, and experiences surrounding Linkedin’s unique functionalities
Goals
Build a valuable network, learn industry trends
Pain Point
Networking is like learning a whole new language. Navigating LinkedIn and engaging meaningfully and effectively is challenging for those starting out.
Goals
Expand network, stay informed
Pain Point
Overwhelmed by irrelevant connection requests and content, making it difficult to filter valuable insights from noise and manage a vast network efficiently.
From our user research, one thing was clear: all professionals, regardless of seniority, benefit from a streamlined experience.
Not only that. Recent shifts in the tech industry, including the rise of GenAI and ChatGPT, have elevated user expectations.
So, we focused on how users actually use the app and formalized effective practices into functionalities that everyone can benefit from. Users don’t want mere tools anymore; they want assistants. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and designing for user needs, integrating seamless assistance and intuitive features that reduce friction and improve overall user experience.
Build an ecosystem catered to your needs and interactions. Use the AI-generated domains or add your own.
Demi can effectively stay informed on relevant topics with Domains
The updated connection request informed by a topic of interest to you and why you want to connect with another LinkedIn user.
Sahil can engage with others meaningfully and effectively with the additional structure around connections
Users felt the platform's mix of content from everyone's updates can feel chaotic. To address this, we separated activity from one's network’s into “Home” and created “Discover” with News, Events, Groups, and People to connect with.
At this same time, LinkedIn implemented similar updates so we adapted their “Discover” icon and moved the “Add post” button to the floating navigation on the right.
Some users even specifically use their desktop to view news. In response, we separated this component into the Discover section.
Too many of us are guilty of sending out connection requests without context. There were multiple brainstorms and conversations regarding user expectation and human nature before we landed on one of the core features of our redesign.
V2 received a lot of positive feedback, but there was room for improvement. After multiple more rounds of testing, I landed on the final redesign, making visual and content adjustments.
We intended to enable real-time conversation to boost engagement, but based on usability testing, we realized that there are many legal, safety, and feasibility concerns for a feature that a lot of our users could do without.
Testing revealed that AI-based message templates could be detrimental. AI-generated content reduced authenticity on a platform centered around building relationships.
Although templates could automate the process for users, they wouldn't make a positive impact, much less a significant one. So, I let go of the functionality.
Be brave
Sometimes our best ideas originate from struggle and failure. Embracing ambiguity and iteration allowed my team to continuously refine design solutions, leading to more innovative and effective outcomes.
Design for humans, not users
Everything is rooted in understanding the foundations of human-human interactions. Taking a step back from the technology and focusing on authentic human behavior sparked one of the most significant redesign proposals in our project.
Curiosity drives discovery
We showed our designs to over 50 users and conducted multiple rounds of testing throughout every stage of the process, allowing us to stay grounded in the needs of our users. And this didn't end with the project. Even though we had presented our final designs I felt that our solutions could be improved. So I tapped into coffee chats, family dinners, and my own LinkedIn struggles to iterate further.
