Improving User Experience for a Global Networking Platform

IEEE Collabratec,® a robust professional networking and collaboration platform for IEEE and the global technical community, offers an extraordinary breadth of resources, tools, and opportunities. From technical communities and events to research and career development, the platform delivers immense value. However, its richness also created a challenge: with so much to offer, important features were sometimes difficult to discover. Users often needed to know exactly where to look to find what they needed. For newcomers especially, the depth of content could feel overwhelming. While the value was there, it wasn’t always immediately visible. IEEE partnered with D2 Creative to reimagine the platform’s navigation and user experience. Our mission: simplify discovery, clarify pathways to key tools and services, and better align the experience with the diverse needs of IEEE’s global community. Our collaborative efforts resulted in the successful implementation of the platform’s upgraded navigation and refresh. At its heart was the new mega menu, a beacon guiding users through the platform’s offerings. Now, networking and collaboration tools are more prominent. Complementing this, we added a highly visible search bar, empowering users to swiftly locate the precise content they sought. We also introduced the myCT Navigation Bar, which offers quick access to tools and features related to users’ participation on Collabratec, ensuring an efficient and personalized experience. We introduced three new primary navigation tabs—Discover, Connect, and Collaborate—to simplify how users access key platform features. The Discover tab offers a gateway to a multitude of IEEE services and puts users just clicks away from communities, events, and literature. The Connect tab opens doors to a vibrant networking community within IEEE. Here, users can engage with fellow IEEE members, volunteers, and authors to collaborate and exchange ideas. Finally, the Collaborate tab allows users to create and manage workspaces with a single click, streamlining shared file editing, task management, and access to valuable career services. D2 and IEEE’s commitment to continuous improvement means that work on IEEE Collabratec’s site refresh and navigation will continue, with additional releases driven by user feedback.