Duration: 6 Weeks
Team: 3 Interns + Client Team
My Role: Research, SharePoint Consultation, Information Architecture Support
Team: 3 Interns + Client Team
My Role: Research, SharePoint Consultation, Information Architecture Support
Project Overview
As part of a six-week client capstone, I collaborated with two fellow interns and the client team to redesign an internal SharePoint intranet. Our objective was to improve how employees discovered information, communicated across teams, and accessed company resources through a centralized and user-friendly digital workspace.
While the project was highly collaborative, my primary contributions focused on research and SharePoint expertise during the discovery and planning phases.
The Challenge
Employees struggled to locate important documents, navigate the existing site, and complete everyday tasks efficiently. Information was spread across multiple systems, leading employees to rely on manual workarounds and external tools instead of the intranet.
Our goal was to create a more intuitive information architecture that reduced friction and supported employees' daily workflows.
Our goal was to create a more intuitive information architecture that reduced friction and supported employees' daily workflows.
My Role
📚 Research | 💻 SharePoint | 🏗 Information Architecture | 🤝 Collaboration
My responsibilities included:
- Researching intranet best practices and employee experience platforms
- Applying SharePoint knowledge to evaluate platform capabilities
- Supporting information architecture discussions
- Contributing research findings that informed design decisions
- Collaborating with teammates and stakeholders throughout the project
My focus was ensuring that recommendations were both user-centered and technically feasible within the SharePoint environment.
Research Process
To establish a foundation for the redesign, I researched modern intranet design principles and analyzed how SharePoint features could better support employee workflows.
This research helped identify opportunities to improve navigation, search functionality, document organization, and overall usability.
This research helped identify opportunities to improve navigation, search functionality, document organization, and overall usability.
Key Research Findings
These findings informed the team's approach to restructuring the intranet.
Applying SharePoint Knowledge
My SharePoint knowledge helped connect research findings with practical platform capabilities.
Areas evaluated included:
- Document libraries
- Search functionality
- Role-based permissions
- Site navigation
- Communication sites
- Content organization
- Document management best practices
Areas evaluated included:
- Document libraries
- Search functionality
- Role-based permissions
- Site navigation
- Communication sites
- Content organization
- Document management best practices
This ensured the proposed solutions could be realistically implemented within the client's SharePoint environment.
Collaboration
Throughout the project, I worked alongside fellow interns and client stakeholders to review research findings, refine recommendations, and align technical possibilities with user needs.
The collaborative process emphasized clear communication, iterative feedback, and shared problem-solving.
The collaborative process emphasized clear communication, iterative feedback, and shared problem-solving.
Project Outcome
The project resulted in a redesigned intranet concept featuring:
- Improved information architecture
- Simplified navigation
- Better resource discoverability
- Role-based user experiences
- A scalable foundation for future SharePoint implementation
Although my teammates focused primarily on UX design and prototyping, my research and SharePoint expertise helped establish the groundwork that informed many of the project's early decisions.
Key Takeaways
This capstone reinforced the importance of combining user research with technical platform knowledge. I strengthened my skills in information architecture, SharePoint strategy, collaborative problem-solving, and communicating technical recommendations within a multidisciplinary team.
The experience demonstrated how thoughtful research can shape better digital experiences long before interface design begins.
The experience demonstrated how thoughtful research can shape better digital experiences long before interface design begins.