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LinkedIn Needs a New Design Now

By on March 26, 2012

Paint LinkedIn like one of your French Girls - The Anti-Social MediaLinkedIn is a total badass of a social network. LinkedIn does one thing and does it well, and tells the other social networks to fuck off.

But LinkedIn is starting to look like a dinosaur. It layout is cluttered and it looks old, like a house from Hoarders.

It’s design has nothing really going for it, or against it. There are a million features no one uses. The only people who have ever used them are “personal branding experts,” and it’s questionable how much they got out of them.

The biggest thing that bugs me about the profile design is it’s more disorganized then  five year old’s toy box . Everyone’s profile is like the world’s longest list of self-promotional crap. And if you’ve ever had more than one job, then it goes on forever. And ever. And Ever.

Don’t even get me started about people with a hundred recommendations.

So let’s fix it. LinkedIn, figure out a way to make our information relevant and easily accessible, but without looking like it’s going on forever and ever.

It can be done. Most people’s careers aren’t that interesting. Make things collapsable. Make users prioritize which information is useful to them. Figure it out before we all become inundated with overly long and boring professional profiles.

Otherwise we’ll all look like bunch of digital career hoarders, and I don’t want a TV crew from A&E going through that shit.

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16 Responses to LinkedIn Needs a New Design Now

  1. Dani March 26, 2012 at 9:40 am #

    helloooo! Yes LI is dated and just plain ugly. I know its supposed to be all business like but still, can a sister get something that doesn’t resemble trash on a wall?

    Have they not read that design is king ( as opposed to content )?

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 3:57 pm #

      Apparently they need a queer eye for the business-minded website.

  2. Andrew March 26, 2012 at 9:42 am #

    It’s called anchor tags.

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 3:58 pm #

      Woah! Don’t get all technical with the gizmos and electrodes!

  3. Debbie March 26, 2012 at 10:25 am #

    Hi Jay, Great Points. Hope someone is Listening (or Reading)
    In My Opinion (like that wasn’t a given) :)
    Do feel that WE the Users could do a Better Job.

    1. It is Not about US but about the Visitor / Reader
    2. We would not want to listen to someone at a Party Rant /Tell us ALL About Them (reason that we do Not need 100 Recommendations)
    3. Instead of being a Door to Door Salesman we need to be a Back Door Friend
    A lot of people joined LinkedIn as they knew they needed to but were unsure of what to do once they Arrived.
    Times have SO Changed (thank God) and today People want to know “How can You Help Me”?
    Until LinkedIn makes some changes there are Adjustments We can All make…………

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 4:01 pm #

      Are you saying I have to do work? Ugh!

      • Debbie March 26, 2012 at 6:48 pm #

        That is too funny Jay…….answer might be Yes :)

  4. Rommel March 26, 2012 at 11:06 am #

    Excellent point, Jay. (…and I’m quite reassured, I’ll admit)

    I was beginning to wonder if LinkedIn really is cluttered or if that short attention span epidemic finally hit me where it hurts.

    I was wondering the other day whether an integrated invoicing function would work well on LinkedIn for the self-employed demographic.

    Any comments, impressions, insults on this?

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 4:00 pm #

      I think LinkedIn is designed for search, rather than being seen. It’s resumes on SEO Steroids.

  5. Camilo Olea March 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm #

    No, no, no. You are not getting it, Jay. Don’t you see? LinkedIn is a “Social Network for Business” As in: everything must be gray and boring. Like businesses. I think.

    Seriously, yeah. The current design works beautifully… for 2004-2005. Maybe.

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 3:59 pm #

      I work in a business where we are allowed to wear color. It’s nice, but sometimes it hurts my eyes.

  6. Paul March 26, 2012 at 4:14 pm #

    LinkedIn seems to appeal to a type that really gets very little out of things visual. I’m sure they have thought about the way it looks. They may just keep it this way because it is important that the site doesn’t look like they care too much?

    • Jay March 26, 2012 at 5:46 pm #

      I don’t need a visually organized site, I need a site that is more readable and less chaotic.

  7. Belén March 29, 2012 at 3:47 pm #

    To be “serious” don’t need to be “bored”. And Linkedin trying to be serious has a really bored design. But i hope they changing this as soon as possible.

    From Spain…

    Belen

  8. Randall St. Germain March 31, 2012 at 9:32 pm #

    Speaking of redesign, nothing is worse than my LinkedIn profile. Need to spend some time there. So much Pinteresting, taking up all of my precious time. :)

  9. Magdoub July 19, 2012 at 3:26 pm #

    This is my comment on the New linkedin Design which was released today:
    http://ixd101.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/linkedins-new-design-the-facelift-of-death/
     
    I wish they made a better redesign.