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Shaker Network (‘Shaker’) is a digital management platform for Community Managers who run professional, alumni and entrepreneur associations. With Shaker, users can manage their members more efficiently with its all-in-one system, and help to foster engagement within their networks.
An all-in-one digital management platform for Community Managers
Worked with Shaker’s founder and staff to redesign their digital management platform empowering Community Managers to run their organizations intuitively and efficiently.
Role: Project Manager, UX/UI Designer (Freelance)
Duration: 3 weeks
Team: Within a team of four, I led a redesign of Shaker's landing page, onboarding flow, and core platform features for a more intuitive experience.
THE CHALLENGE
Community Managers need streamlined onboarding and clear communication of features to feel confident in its value and quickly master its functions.
IMPROVING SHAKER'S VALUE PROPOSITION
Following the launch of their new platform version, the client's brief allowed me to identify three key goals to
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Converting freemium users into paid subscribers
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Exploring the platform without needing a live demo / Streamlining onboarding so new users could sign up
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Building user confidence to ensure they feel secure and supported once they begin using Shaker
After synthesizing the research and getting started on the design process, I came up with four easily digestible pillars
of what Shaker does. This gudied the redesign of the homepage and platform features:
Manage your contacts of new and existing communities
Connect, host, and mentor within your community
Monetize with paid events, memberships or sponsorships
Integrate with favorite apps and engage contacts
where they are
THE RESEARCH
SCOPE OF WORK:
Research focused on holistically exploring Shaker as a company, as well as testing the existing user flow from the landing page and sign up page, to the onboarding experience and finally to adding contacts in the platform.
Three research methodologies were used for this design sprint:
The insights and design features lie in
the convergence of these methodologies
Competitive + Comparative
Analysis
Heuristic
Evaluation
Interviews + Testing Results
COMPETITIVE & COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Where Shaker lies within the industry landscape
STRENGHTS
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Navigational and organizational challenges
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Website doesn't clearly express differentiators from competitors enough to entice people to switch.
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Does not express the diverse utilities of the platform well enough to give people confidence in signing up.
WEAKNESSES
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Effectively communicates key offerings
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Valuable features
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Leads in contacting
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Leads in help functions
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Visually very professional
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Obvious call to actions
OPPORTUNITIES
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Overall website copy and word choice to be evaluated.
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Extract information out into
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Restructure pages for a more intuitive flow and clearer emphasis on key information.
THREATS
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Competitors with more multi-page layouts could make their information easier to digest.
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Competitors give more accessibility which may create a smoother user experience.
SWOT Analysis
USER INTERVIEWS + USABILITY TESTING
Understanding the existing site + platform
Initial user feedback included:
“I want the landing page to clearly explain who the platform is meant for, best use cases, and what ‘Powered by AI’ means.”
“I need clearer onboarding prompts, loading feedback, and secure login confirmation.”
“I was initially confused by the organization: labels and buttons weren’t clear, I couldn’t easily see the hierarchy between roles, and not being able to invite members in bulk was frustrating.”
TARGET AUDIENCE
Understanding the user
Maureen M.
“The Captain of Many Ships”
Maureen is the “The Captain of Many Ships” in charge of managing several teams with many different needs. While she is an expert in her field with a constantly growing company and ever changing team goals, she is not the most tech-savvy and sometimes struggles to keep track of the needs of every single person she is responsible for.
​42; Houston, TX
Team Manager at public health
non-profit “Guiding Hands”
How might we help a Community Manager like Maureen feel confident understanding the value of Shaker’s offerings and have her sign up?
Once onboarded, how might we help Maureen intuitively master its management functions, and foster engagement with her members?
Est. 2015
Guiding Hands
DESIGN
Figma board of completed scope of work (Homepage/Onboarding)
Figma board of completed scope of work (Platform)
REDESIGNING SHAKER’S LANDING PAGE
AND CREATING A STRATEGIC PRICING PAGE:
New version
DROPDOWN: Quick, 5-10 teaser videos on loop are housed on the landing page itself reflecting each of the four pillars introduced above.
Users were sometimes not sure what tools they would benefit from when joining the platform, so giving an immediate understanding of these key points was a top priority for our redesign. - ADD ARROW for other designs to the rifhgt
Old version
Homepage quick videos
In-depth demo
:REDESIGNING SHAKER’S SIGN-UP/ONBOARDING PAGES
Testing showed that signup was smooth overall, with only minor areas for improvement. We refined it by reducing clutter, adding email double-authentication, and introducing a loading screen for a more responsive experience.
IMPROVING THE ACTION OF CREATING A NEW COMMUNITY WITHIN THE PLATFORM:
We redesigned the community creation page as an overlay instead of a separate page, reducing whitespace, streamlining the flow, and getting users to the homepage faster while sparking curiosity.
:IMPROVED FEATURES CREATING AND ADDING CONTACTS WITHIN THE PLATFORM
​Navigation: Users struggled to navigate the Contacts page and understand button functions, so we improved layout clarity, emphasized key actions, and recommended subtle opt-in tooltips to support smoother community building.
Views and Roles: To make role management more intuitive, we made the Roles feature easier to find, added responsive confirmation popups, and integrated key actions like changing roles and sending invites directly into the Contacts page.
Updated version
Previous version - FIX SIZEING!!!
USABILITY TESTING (ROUND 2)
Testing the new prototype with potential Shaker members
Users quickly grasped Shaker’s purpose, found the landing page to be clear, and confidence-building, and navigated onboarding smoothly.
UNTESTED FEATURES
The main user flow spanned from homepage exploration to sign-up and adding contacts. We also introduced a new Pricing page—previously missing—to test how and when users look for pricing information.
With more time, we would have built the payment flow granting full access, but the new pricing page still effectively showcases the platform’s potential.
THE RESULT
Key implementations included refined signup and onboarding screens, new demo tutorials and pricing pages, and a redesigned Contacts experience—all prototyped in Figma using Shaker’s brand assets to boost clarity and user confidence.
THE RESULT
Key implementations included refined signup and onboarding screens, new demo tutorials and pricing pages, and a redesigned Contacts experience—all prototyped in Figma using Shaker’s brand assets to boost clarity and user confidence.
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