SharePoint: Modern Intranet Design Ideas

Key insights

• SharePoint modern experience
  Dougie shows how the modern experience gives designers more control to build clean, mobile-friendly intranets that feel current.
  Use modern pages and web parts to make sites look polished and easy to use.
• Purpose-built layouts
  The examples favor role-based pages like news hubs, knowledge centers, task dashboards, and frontline pages to match real user needs.
  Design for the user’s daily tasks — not a one-size-fits-all homepage.
• Flexible sections
  Flexible sections replace rigid, boxy layouts so pages can breathe and flow visually.
  Mix section widths, backgrounds, and web parts to improve scanning and reduce friction for users.
• Section Design Ideas
  Microsoft’s page suggestions (Section Design Ideas) help choose layouts, images, and styling and act like a lightweight AI assistant for page design.
  Leverage these suggestions to speed up good-looking pages without deep design skills.
• Site templates
  Start from templates and curated examples (including vendor templates) to save time, keep branding consistent, and scale good design across many sites.
  Templates let teams adapt a polished base instead of building every page from scratch.
• Better employee experience
  Modern design and smarter layouts make content easier to find, increase engagement, and speed up page creation across the organization.
  Focus on usability, branding, and mobile support to turn an intranet from tolerated to useful.

Dougie Wood [MVP] recently published a YouTube video that challenges the idea that internal portals must look dated. In the clip he walks viewers through five standout SharePoint site designs and explains why modern intranets can be both attractive and practical. This article summarizes his key points and assesses the tradeoffs organizations face when redesigning their SharePoint intranet.

Overview of the Video

First, Dougie argues that the platform itself is rarely the problem; instead, the site design usually constrains outcomes. He highlights the modern experience in SharePoint as a primary enabler, noting that it gives designers more creative control than classic pages did. Consequently, well-designed pages can change how people engage with the intranet, moving from tolerance to active use.

Key Design Ideas Demonstrated

Dougie showcases specific patterns that make SharePoint sites feel fresh, including balanced homepages that combine news, tasks, and personalized content. He emphasizes the use of flexible sections to escape rigid layouts and create pages that breathe, which in turn improves findability and reduces friction. Moreover, he demonstrates how consistent branding and thoughtful templates make the entire site feel cohesive and professional.

In addition, the video highlights vendors and templates that accelerate design work, such as Origami Connect, and illustrates how ready-made components let teams start from a polished base rather than a blank canvas. Dougie also points out how modern web parts and layout suggestions help maintain visual balance while keeping pages functional. Thus, good design both looks appealing and supports daily work tasks.

Tools, Templates, and Microsoft Guidance

Dougie references Microsoft’s move toward template-driven, mobile-friendly intranets and notes resources that help organizations adopt best practices. He draws attention to site templates and the SharePoint design guidance that organizations can adapt to their own branding and content needs. As a result, teams can speed up rollout while maintaining consistency across the tenant.

Furthermore, Dougie shows how tools and templates reduce build time but warns that they are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Templates offer a strong starting point, however customization remains necessary to meet role-based needs or unique workflows. Therefore, combining pre-built designs with targeted customization usually yields the best balance between speed and relevance.

Tradeoffs and Adoption Challenges

Redesigning an intranet requires balancing aesthetics, performance, governance, and ongoing maintenance, and Dougie addresses these tradeoffs directly. For example, rich visuals and heavy web parts can improve engagement but may slow page load times on constrained networks, so teams must optimize images and web part choices. Similarly, heavy customization can deliver unique experiences but increases maintenance cost and can complicate future SharePoint updates.

Moreover, Dougie discusses the people side of change: no matter how polished a site looks, success depends on adoption and training. Strong UX and clear information architecture help users find content quickly, yet governance and content ownership remain essential to prevent stale pages. In short, design improvements should go hand in hand with governance, training, and a plan for ongoing content refresh.

Practical Takeaways for Teams

Dougie’s practical advice centers on starting with a clear purpose for each site and using flexible layouts to support that purpose. He recommends prioritizing role-based pages such as news hubs, knowledge hubs, and productivity dashboards so users see relevant content immediately. Consequently, teams should define scenarios first and then choose templates and web parts that support those scenarios.

Finally, Dougie encourages teams to iterate: begin with a strong template, test with real users, and refine based on feedback. He also offers services through his consultancy Task M for organizations that want hands-on help, while stressing that many improvements are achievable with built-in tools. Overall, the video presents a realistic roadmap: modern intranets can be beautiful and useful when design, governance, and user needs are balanced carefully.

Keywords

SharePoint intranet design, modern SharePoint intranet templates, SharePoint homepage examples, SharePoint branding best practices, responsive SharePoint intranet, SharePoint UX design tips, SharePoint communication site examples, Office 365 intranet design