[Webinar] Three of the biggest community design mistakes (and how to fix them)

Discover three of the most costly community design mistakes that could be sabotaging your engagement rates—and more importantly, how to fix them.

Meet our guest speakers:

Brenda Olalde, Head of Design, Hivebrite

Brenda Olalde

Head of Design, Hivebrite

Allie Bhutani

Allie Bhutani

Global Marketing Brand and Content Director at Hivebrite

Enhance your community’s design and impact

Key discussion points include:

  • The crucial role of user design in community success
  • How to optimize your platform for both community managers and members
  • Why aesthetics matter more than you think in driving adoption
  • Emerging design trends shaping the future of community building

The basics of online community design

What is online community design?

Online community design is the strategic process of creating digital spaces that facilitate meaningful connections and engagement among members.

It goes way beyond aesthetics—it’s about crafting an experience that reflects your community’s purpose, identity, and values while ensuring functionality and ease of use.

As discussed in the webinar, first impressions are crucial. Good community design should:

  • Reflect the community’s purpose through visuals and imagery
  • Maintain brand consistency across all touchpoints
  • Create a sense of familiarity and trust
  • Guide users through their community journey effectively

Guiding principles when designing or redesigning an online community

1. Focus on clear purpose and value proposition

  • Keep messaging concise and benefits-focused
  • Break information into digestible sections
  • Use visuals and icons to support key messages
  • Make the value proposition immediately clear

2. Prioritize user experience

  • Design for different user journeys (first-time vs. returning visitors)
  • Consider attention spans at different stages
  • Create clear hierarchies of information
  • Limit navigation to 5-6 main tabs for easier browsing

3. Phase feature implementation

  • Consider the community lifecycle stages:
    • Inception: Focus on features related to user activation
    • Establishment: Prioritize features for retention
    • Maturity: Consider features that foster organic engagement
    • Mitosis: Keep community scalability in mind when activating features

4. Maintain consistency

  • Follow brand guidelines
  • Ensure visual consistency across all pages
  • Create templates for recurring content types
  • Use consistent terminology throughout—all while avoiding jargon

How you can apply these principles

Start with strategy:

  • Define clear objectives for each page and section
  • Map out user journeys
  • Identify key actions for different user types
  • Create content hierarchies

Implement gradually:

  • Begin with core features aligned to immediate needs
  • Add functionality as the community matures
  • Test and gather feedback before expanding
  • Focus on quality over quantity

Gather user feedback:

  • Conduct regular member surveys
  • Use card sorting exercises for navigation
  • Implement feedback channels
  • Monitor analytics for user behavior insights

Watch the webinar for more design tips!

Common mistakes to avoid

Overloading information:

  • Cramming too much content on landing pages
  • Complex navigation structures
  • Overwhelming new users with features

Top tips:

  • Clearly highlight the community’s mission and benefits to showcase its value to all members.
  • Keep your main navigation to a max of 5-6 main tabs.
  • Use sub tabs and group items by purpose.

Neglecting mobile design:

  • Not optimizing for smaller screens
  • Inconsistent responsive design
  • Poor notification management

Top tips:

  • Prioritize content hierarchy even more strictly on mobile since there’s limited screen space
  • Be strategic with mobile notifications

Activating too many features:

  • Launching all features simultaneously
  • Not considering the community lifecycle
  • Lacking strategic feature rollout

Top tips:

  • Employ a phased approach for feature rollout.
  • Launch core features that align with current community needs.

Using internal jargon:

  • Not speaking users’ language
  • Assuming familiarity with terminology
  • Inconsistent naming conventions

Top tip:

  • Survey your users to understand their terminology

How Hivebrite helps customers (re)design their online community

Through our design services, Hivebrite helps communities:

  • Simplify navigation structures
  • Create effective user journeys
  • Implement gamification strategies thoughtfully
  • Balance aesthetics with functionality
  • Maintain brand consistency
  • Optimize for mobile experiences

Discover more here.

Explore our webinar hub for upcoming and on-demand sessions to elevate your community-building skills.

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