Design and content. Content and design. It’s impossible (and stupid) to argue over which one is more important than the other - which should come first, which is more difficult or “strategic.” They need each other to provide context, meaning, information, and instruction in any user experience (UX).

Despite this screamingly obvious interdependence in any online user experience, the two sit at opposite ends of the proverbial totem pole. Up top: design. This is “where the magic happens.” It’s a mysterious process, one in which art and science come together to create intuitive interfaces, compelling visuals, and flow. Superior design skills are perceived as rare and precious. Design is hard.

The design of intranets has been in the forefront of my thinking recently. I’ve been writing hard on our next book, which is specifically on intranet design (180 pages done, just three chapters to go!). This week’s Intranet Leadership Forum workshop in Melbourne also had a session on the design of the intranet homepage (always contentious!).

Working through our collection of intranet screenshots, I’m struck by how pedestrian many intranet homepages are. Despite huge advances in technology, and our growing knowledge as intranet professionals, little has changed on most homepages.

This report reviews the designs and usability of ten intranets that were chosen from a much larger number of nominated designs. The report is richly illustrated with 198 full-color screenshots, giving readers the unique opportunity to see good intranet designs that are usually hidden behind a firewall.

The 10 winning intranets are:

* Enbridge, Inc., a leader in energy transportation and distribution in North America (Canada) * GE, a diversified technology, media, and financial services company (US) * Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a nonprofit medical research organization (US) * Huron Consulting Group, a consulting company (US) * Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA Center that manages robotic spacecraft exploration of Earth, the solar system, and the universe (US) * The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization managing four federally funded research and development centers (US) * SCANA Corp., a Fortune 500 energy-based holding company (US) * Trend Micro, Inc., a leader in Internet content security (Japan) * URS Corporation, a leading provider of engineering, construction, and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies (US) * Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Walmart), a retailer with more than 8,000 retail units under 53 different banners in 15 countries (US)

This web page also contains a long list of best practices.

TOP TIPS: 10 ways to secure buy-in for your intranet Are you finding obtaining buy-in from your organization a trickier process than anticipated? Recognizing your compelling content, refreshing design and finding a “champion” are some of the factors that can persuade senior executives to release resources.

When trying to make improvements to the intranet system, intranet managers may encounter a number of hurdles: trying to persuade senior managers...

We’ve all heard the argument: if we can save staff 2 minutes a day looking for information on the intranet, we can multiply this out by the number of staff and the days in the year to get a huge productivity benefit. This can then be used to justify the intranet redevelopment, and to demonstrate the benefits of improving intranet usability.

The time saved can be multiplied by the average staff salary, to get dollar savings of millions of dollars