Best Practices for Designing an Intranet Homepage

A well-designed intranet homepage will help boost productivity, enhance collaboration, and strengthen company culture by making it easy for employees to find what they need—when they need it.

Whether you're looking for ideas or best practices for intranet homepage design, this blog post will help you optimize your digital workspace.

A successful intranet homepage must be designed with employees in mind, ensuring they can quickly access the information and tools they need to perform their daily tasks efficiently.

1. Understand employee personas and their typical intranet journeys.

2. Follow established web usability principles like F-pattern and Z-pattern scanning behaviors.

3. Implement role-based personalization to display relevant content and tools.

4. Offer subscription-based content and AI-driven recommendations to enhance personalization.

5. Allow employees to customize their homepage layout for a tailored experience, example: choose blocks for one 'zone' on the homepage.

An example of from a well-designed intranet homepage.

The primary function of an intranet homepage is to serve as a gateway to other areas. A well-structured, intuitive navigation system is crucial for effective intranet homepage design.

1. Use mega menus to display clear, organized dropdowns for easy browsing. We encourage using more visual designs for mega menus to emphasize corporate design.

2. Implement context-aware and permission-based navigation for a personalized experience, targeting navigation options for specific audiences will make life easier for end-users.

3. Feature quick-access links based on previous user patterns, as recent apps, my documents, and frequently visited pages.

4. Enable a 'Favorites' feature, allowing employees to bookmark essential resources as frequently visited processes, pages, or documents.

5. Expect to use various types of navigation across the solution, including current navigation, breadcrumb, directories, visual navigation, and more.

Learn more about intranet navigation in this blog post: 12 Great Intranet Navigation Examples.

An example from a well-designed intranet homepage.

A well-organized intranet homepage ensures quick access to critical updates without overwhelming users with clutter.  Strategic layout, contrasting design elements, and clear structure all contribute to an intuitive and engaging experience.

1. Prioritize company-wide announcements in high-visibility areas, corporate news at the top of the homepage is a classic example.

2. Use distinct sections to segment content effectively and improve readability. Organize the homepage into digestible sections using cards, tabs, colored backgrounds, or accordion menus to improve scanability.

3. Apply contrast, spacing, and typography to to create a clear hierarchy of information and highlight key information. Allow ample white space between sections and elements to prevent visual overload and improve readability.

4. Differentiate urgent messages using colored banners, icons, or notification alerts. If possible, display at the top of all intranet pages.

5. Allow for end-user personalization also in prominent positions on the intranet homepage, as recent apps or an action menu for common tasks.

An example from a well-designed intranet homepage.

A robust, well-optimized search function is essential for an effective intranet homepage design.

1. Make the search bar prominent and intuitive for quick access to resources. Provide both a quick search and an advanced search experience.

2. Organize search results into relevant categories (news, people, teamwork, etc.) with custom filters and refiners (location, department, product, etc) for efficiency.

3. Use AI-powered sematic search or search assistants to enhance user experience and deliver intelligent recommendations.

4. Monitor search analytics to identify trends and continuously refine search functionality. Allow users to provide search feedback to understand how to improve.

5. Implement federated search to provide unified access to business systems and multiple document repositories.

Learn more about intranet search by downloading this document: Mastering Intranet Search – the Comprehensive guide to a Great Search Experience.

An example from a well-designed intranet homepage.

A well-branded intranet homepage reinforces company culture, fosters employee engagement, and creates a cohesive digital workplace. The intranet should reflect the company’s visual identity, mission, and values—not just on the homepage, but throughout the entire platform.

1. Align intranet homepage design with corporate branding (logos, colors, typography).

2. Use visual storytelling to reflect company culture, values, and mission.

3. Maintain design consistency across all intranet pages for a seamless experience.

4. Plan for multi-brand or subsidiary integration where applicable.

5. Ensure branding updates can be made easily to accommodate future redesigns.

A modern intranet homepage should integrate seamlessly with the enterprise tools employees rely on daily.

1. Provide single sign-on (SSO) access to essential business applications like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and Jira.

2. Surface relevant content and actionable insights from connected systems to enhance efficiency.

3. Ensure to use a mobile app for your intranet, preferrably aligned with your design guidelines.

4. Optimize for multiple devices, including mobile and Microsoft Teams, to support hybrid work.

5. Utilize digital signage to display key intranet content in office common areas and remote locations.

Your intranet homepage is more than just a landing page—it’s a powerful tool that shapes how employees interact with company resources, collaborate with teams, and stay connected to your organization. By implementing these intranet homepage design best practices, you can create an intuitive, visually appealing, and user-centric homepage that:

✔ Prioritizes employee needs with a personalized experience.

✔ Offers clear navigation for quick and easy access to essential tools.

✔ Uses strong visual hierarchy to highlight key information without clutter.

✔ Optimizes search functionality so employees can find what they need instantly.

✔ Reinforces company culture through consistent branding and storytelling.

✔ Seamlessly integrates business applications for a unified digital experience.

A well-structured intranet homepage is not just a luxury—it’s an essential component of a modern, efficient workplace. By continuously refining your design based on employee needs and evolving business requirements, you can ensure that your intranet remains a valuable, high-impact resource that drives engagement and productivity. For further advice on how to make your intranet perform, please download this document: The Step-by-Step Guide to Intranet Success.

Now is the time to evaluate your intranet homepage—how does yours measure up? If you are ready to improve your intranet homepage, why not start with a 30-minute free consultancy with one of our experts? Book your session with an Omnia Coach using this link.