Lessons to learn from LinkedIn Redesign
This is not a redesign post. I think there have been enough redesigns of popular social platforms and I believe I can’t offer any breakthrough UX changes without having the full context of how a system works. Instead, I am pointing at the areas where their own take at redesign did not do well and suggesting lessons we can learn from those mistakes.
Lesson 1: Don’t confuse the user
It sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to get it wrong. You should try your best to not mess with your user’s mind and then you should try some more.
LinkedIn breaks this rule by doing a simple thing — they don’t keep their notifications consistent. Let’s say I have 5 unread notifications and 3 tabs open. I clear all notifs in tab 1, close it and move to tab 2. But, wait! The notifs are still there! The status doesn’t automatically reflect to other tabs for at least 30 seconds. I’m sure keeping notifications in sync isn’t too hard to implement, considering it has been around for a while and people experience it everyday on Facebook.
Another example is in the updating the number of connections. While it’s too much to expect the numbers to be updated in realtime, they should at least be updated when a new page is clicked. LinkedIn lags here. Unless you do a hard refresh, you will see different numbers at different pages. I had a tab open for a couple of hours and in the meantime a few people I had sent connect requests to had accepted my requests. So the number of connections went up, but were displayed only on the notifications page. There was mismatch again leading to confusion. Confusion can lead to minor annoyance or major frustration if encountered frequently, which is something you don’t want your users to feel. Be logical, be consistent.
Lesson 2: Don’t miss out on providing the context
Another obvious rule, but often overlooked. Context is important for the user to understand the content and then act upon it.
With the redesign, LinkedIn has put the numbers around a user upfront and they are always displayed on the feed. While the intent is nice, the execution lacks detail. It says “Who’s viewed your profile” but doesn’t say since when. The number could mean anything for the user.
Users need context because we want them to act on this information. Just putting a number on the front doesn’t work alone, you need to equip user to take action. In this case, a lesser number would prompt user to be more active on the platform, but there should also be a reference to compare the profile views to. If the number is consistent or going up, it means the user is on the right course, but if the number is going down, they would need to increase their activity to attract more views. One way to redo it is to add reference to a timeframe in past, and possibly a link with guides to improve the profile views.
Lesson 3: Do set the right expectations
When moving between different sections of an interface, set the right expectations for the user to understand what they will face next. It is important to ease them into completing subsequent tasks.
LinkedIn has a strange interaction when you view your endorsements from notifications. When I click on a notification saying X has endorsed me, I am taken to my profile and then shown a modal with the details of who has endorsed me and which skills they have endorsed. As an addition, the modal also displays any pending endorsements that I have not added to my own profile and then suggests profiles and skills of my connections that I can endorse. Since the background of the modal is my profile, my expectation is that the I’ll stay on my profile when I dismiss the modal. But to my surprise, I am taken back to the notifications page from where I started.
The background switch makes me feel disoriented and confused. Not only do I feel lost, I am also not sure where I was and what I’m supposed to do next. This is exactly why you need to make sure that you set the right expectations.
A lot has been said about the LinkedIn redesign. I understand how big a project this must’ve been for the company and how easy it is to miss a few points here and there. After all, we’re all human. Although, when you redesign, you must be aware of all flows and directions a user can take and you have to pay attention to the edge cases. This is what makes or breaks your experience.
