How to Design a SharePoint Site

Like building anything in the digital world, designing a SharePoint site requires careful consideration and innovative creativity. So, where do you begin?

You can find several resources that will provide you with loads of information on How to Design a SharePoint Site, but that doesn't make designing any easier! In this article, we will point you in the right direction and introduce some tools that will help you design the best intranet sites for your organization.

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How to Make a Good SharePoint Site | Basic Stages

There are three key stages in SharePoint site design - Plan, Design and Implement. Each one is a consolidation of many activities and is intertwined, (as you may need to go back and forth to make iterative adjustments). With that being said, effectively planning your site contents is arguably the most important step. The more time you spend planning, the less time implementing the design will take.

Planning

This is where you start! Planning involves collecting data, setting goals, defining requirements, and managing stakeholders. You need to have a clear understanding of the specific requirements and expectations in order to outline the needs of your organization. You must also know the project’s limitations and boundaries. Equipped with this information, you'll be ready to start articulating exactly what you need as a base structure and departmental pages.

Designing

starts with putting together all the data gathered from the planning stage and building the components of the site. You can start with an outline, gradually build toward a site prototype, and implement it in a staging environment. Considering all the aspects that would make a good SharePoint site and ensuring that they fit with the needs of your stakeholders, you can curate and organize content, add attention-grabbing and engaging elements, and be consistent with brand identity. It is noteworthy to state that the SharePoint intranet solutions you use to build your site pages are essential in helping you get to the desired result in a fast and efficient manner.

Implementing

Depending on how long you took during the planning and design stages, this may be the easiest part of your process (assuming you're using ShortPoint. Gather your materials and start watching your designs take shape!

Top 5 Internal SharePoint Site Examples for your HR SharePoint Sites

Designing Interactive SharePoint Sites

What makes a good SharePoint site? The answer mostly depends on what your end users require from your intranet. However, we list a few properties that are considered must-haves when designing interactive SharePoint sites. Most, if not all, are ingredients to a truly effective and engaging intranet site. For some reference, here are some SharePoint intranet design examples from ShortPoint that you can use!

Expert-Designed Intranet Designs

HR SharePoint site example for Homepage

Whatever purpose your intranet may have, one thing is for sure, you will have a good amount of content to share with your end users. Making sure your intranet contains relevant and useful information for your users makes it a valuable resource that they would want to interact with and access at any time.

Internal SharePoint site example for company policy

Catching your user’s attention requires having a well-thought-out design. You can use a variety of media or just make the color and fonts pop! Want to get more creative? Insert dynamic elements and content to engage your viewers!

SharePoint Communication site example for news

You can also encourage interaction by adding interactive elements to your site pages. Buttons, links, and action icons are just some of the elements that users naturally gravitate to. Place them where users can intuitively interact with them and ensure that they work as expected.

HR SharePoint site example for documents

Provide access to different parts of your SharePoint site, other useful resources, and frequently used applications by building seamless navigation. This is very important, so that users can easily access other important aspects of the site and applications that they may need.

Internal SharePoint site example for knowledge base

Make your intranet site the hub for all information and relevant tools of your workforce. Integrate that daily report, document library, calendar, and many others that your users will engage with regularly. There are SharePoint intranet solutions that can help you integrate more tools into your intranet. Get inspired with ShortPoint!

Internal SharePoint site example for knowledge base

All the bells and whistles on your site will be useless if the page’s load time is slow. Always apply best practices for optimum page performance as you design your intranet sites.

Internal SharePoint site example for knowledge base

Consider how your SharePoint pages will look on mobile devices. Ensure that your site designs are responsive and display well on any device that your users are using.

Internal SharePoint site example for knowledge base

Implement best practices for web accessibility. This makes your intranet accessible to all, including persons with disabilities.

ShortPoint Can Help You Design Your SharePoint Intranet Sites

ShortPoint is one of the best SharePoint intranet solutions you can find that allows you to easily and beautifully design intranet sites for your organization. It has all the features that can inspire you through the planning stage, help you breeze through designing, and wow your stakeholders in implementing your new intranets.
Build you intranet site with ShortPoint now by downloading a FREE 15-Day Trial.

ShortPoint provides you with:

  • a powerful add-on that covers everything and anything you need to build your SharePoint intranet
  • a wide selection of SharePoint intranet designs that are easy to customize
  • the best intranet design interface with over 60 Design Elements
  • a Theme Builder that makes it easy to apply your branding guidelines
  • a Connect feature that allows you to integrate Microsoft 365 and external resources
  • and, an AI-powered Accessibility tool to ensure your site is fully accessible to all users

Request for a trial or talk to our product experts to know more. Bring ShortPoint to your organization and your SharePoint intranet sites will never look the same again.Do you need the help of an expert intranet architect to build your SharePoint intranet site? Connect with our Professional Services team to know more about how we can build your intranet site in a short period of time.

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