AlumniAces:

IdeaZONE

IdeaZONE is the heart of AlumniAces. At its core, AlumniAces is a community for corporate alumni leaders to share their ideas with one another.

All ideas are shown at a glance on IdeaZONE. Users have the ability to browse everything and select a particular idea to learn more, as well as the opportunity to share their own ideas.

Timeline (IdeaZONE and sub-pages): 6 weeks

Goal

Design an interface that allows users to browse ideas from the AlumniAces community. Users should be encouraged to share their own ideas and have a simple, straightforward way to do so.

Inspiration

Ideas are a long-form content type, similar to articles on other platforms. Rather than being limited to 280 characters (for example), users can write as much as they’d like to describe their idea in detail.

For inspiration, I considered articles on LinkedIn. I also referred to the EnterpriseAlumni platform, in which admins have the ability to write articles for their alumni communities.

IdeaZONE Wireframe

I knew that IdeaZONE would only include a snippet of each idea and that the bulk of the content would be on the idea pages themselves. Thus, this page should be easy to scan and absorb.

My initial wireframe followed a basic grid structure. Each idea includes a title, author, photo, and excerpt. Users can sort ideas and also have the option to favorite, like, comment, and read more.

Iterations of IdeaZONE

Starting from the wireframe, I created a mid-fidelity prototype of IdeaZONE. Though the basic structure stayed consistent, the features of IdeaZONE began to take shape through these iterations.

Original design based on wireframe

Updated header and varying idea titles and authors

New “Add Idea” tile and varying idea photos and content

Refined filter and sort controls and addition of action labels

Redefined site header and width

Updated “Add Idea” illustration

Current Design Solution

IdeaZONE is intuitive: users can see a few ideas at a glance and scroll for more. The option to add an idea is featured prominently. In addition to filtering by “Saved Ideas”, “My Ideas”, and category, users can also sort ideas by newest, oldest, most likes, and most comments.

Next Steps

IdeaZONE is an effective way to share ideas at a glance, but it can certainly be improved. The “Add Idea” tile may be a bit too prominent and it does take up quite a bit of screen real estate. While it’s still important to encourage users to share ideas, there may be other options to consider that are not as large.

Additionally, IdeaZONE looks considerably better when each idea has a specifically chosen featured image, as shown in all of these mockups. A future iteration might require a featured image for each idea and offer suggested options for when a user does not want to upload one of their own.

IdeaZONE Sub-Pages

Idea Pages

Although IdeaZONE is the landing page for this section, most of the information for each idea is contained on its dedicated page. When users select an idea from the IdeaZONE, they will visit an Idea Page.

Idea Page Wireframe

In addition to the content shown on IdeaZONE, Idea Pages also include an idea summary and additional details. Comments are also visible on this screen.

The left column suggests related ideas and the right column includes resources associated with that idea.

Perhaps more important than the idea pages themselves is the process of adding a new idea.

Add a New Idea Flow

A title, excerpt, and summary are required for each idea. Users also have the option to edit an idea’s permalink, select categories, set a featured image, upload resources, and share links.

While writing an idea, users can preview their idea or save a draft. The IdeaZONE preview in the right column updates in real-time as a user makes edits. Additionally, users with the necessary permissions can change the author of an idea.

Empty State

After selecting “Add idea,” users are taken to this form to share information about their great idea.

In Progress

In addition to an idea’s description, users also have the option to upload resources share external links for each idea.

Final Idea Page

Once an idea is posted, all users can view its idea page. Authors also have the ability to edit posted ideas.

Reflection

IdeaZONE and its related pages include the bulk of the long-form content on AlumniAces.

My aim was to keep the “Add a New Idea” form straightforward with a minimal amount of required information. However, from reviewing user logs, I learned that visitors were primarily focused on browsing and consuming content rather than creating their own. Perhaps users are put off by the amount of content that is required to share their own ideas.

Ultimately, IdeaZONE may have been ahead of its time; perhaps this page should have served as a resource initially and only accepted user submissions once IdeaZONE had enough regular active users.