Overview
A Strategic, Scalable SharePoint Design Process
Our SharePoint design process isn’t just about building pages, it’s about creating digital workplace experiences that solve business problems, align with your brand, and empower your teams.
Whether you’re refreshing a homepage or rolling out a full SharePoint intranet, our process is flexible, consultative, and built around your business goals.
The Four-Stage SharePoint Design Process
Every successful SharePoint solution starts with understanding.
We begin by immersing ourselves in your business context, people, and current digital landscape.
What this stage includes:
- Stakeholder interviews and workshops to gather goals, use cases, and challenges
- Technical discovery of your Microsoft 365 and SharePoint environment
- Desk research to audit existing Information Architecture (IA) and content structures
- Success criteria definition and problem framing across key teams
- Accessibility guidance and best practices to ensure inclusive design from the outset
Outcome: A shared vision, a defined scope, and a roadmap aligned with business objectives. Built on a foundations of accessibility, usability and strategic clarity.
Using insights from Discovery, we craft design concepts that balance creativity, usability, and governance.
What this stage includes:
- Homepage and departmental layout workshops with key stakeholders
- Iterative wireframes and clickable prototypes to visualise designs where appropriate. We also use static mock-ups depending on project scope and stakeholder needs
- Co-created content strategies to align messaging and user needs
- SharePoint-ready templates designed to scale across business units
- Accessibility best practices embedded throughout design to ensure inclusive experiences for all users
Outcome: A set of flexible, branded design assets tailored to real user needs. Ready to be built, scaled and adopted across your organisation.
What this stage includes:
- Functional SharePoint sites with core content pages
- Demo and preview environments. We showcase default SharePoint experiences, and where relevant, enhanced experiences if you wish to elevate your SharePoint using Beacon
- Seamless integration of Microsoft 365 tools like Viva, Copilot, and Power Platform
- Best-practice configuration for performance, governance, and UX
Outcome: A fully realised SharePoint site, ready for testing, feedback, and deployment.
What this stage includes:
- UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and sign-off with stakeholders
- Deployment into your Microsoft 365 tenant, often using Azure DevOps where appropriate
- Content owner training and documentation for ongoing management
- Post-launch support to drive adoption, measure success, and refine based on insights
Outcome: A continuously evolving SharePoint environment. Ready to support your teams and grow with your business.
Proven Success from Real-World Clients
7 Day Intranet Transformation
A brand-aligned design refresh for financial services firm TP ICAP.
Empowering Higher Education Comms
A new branded intranet with custom page templates for the University of Leeds.
Award Winning Intranet
Storming success as the Met Office sets the standard for accessible collaboration for 2,000+ employees.
Bauer Media Group set out to create a personalised intranet experience that truly works for every employee.
In this 60 second overview, see how we brought that vision to life using SharePoint and Beacon.
Video created by our friends at The Surgery
Ready to Start Your SharePoint Design Journey?
Whether you’re at the idea stage or looking to redesign an existing intranet, we’ll meet you where you are. Our structured yet flexible process gives you clarity, confidence, and a solution that works.
Why Our Design Process Works
Collaborative by Design
We work with your teams to co-create solutions—not deliver them in isolation.
Scalable & Governed
Our templates and governance models ensure sustainability beyond launch.
Flexible to Fit
We adapt to your ways of working, tech stack, and change roadmap.
Optimised for Engagement
Accessible designs, and people-first content strategy-built in.
FAQs
Got questions? We’ve answered some of the common ones here. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, drop us a note.
What is Silicon Reef’s SharePoint design process?
We begin by discovering how your teams work, what content and workflows are critical, and what challenges exist. From there, we design wireframes, prototypes, and visual concepts that combine usability, brand identity, and Microsoft 365 best practices. Every step ensures the intranet is intuitive, accessible, and tailored to your organisation’s needs.
How do you involve employees in the design process?
At Silicon Reef, we conduct workshops, interviews, and user testing sessions with both technical and non-technical staff. This helps us understand real-world workflows and pain points, ensuring the design is practical, engaging, and adoption-ready from day one.
How does the process balance creativity with governance and technical requirements?
Silicon Reef integrates governance, accessibility, and Microsoft 365 compliance into every design decision. This way, intranets look polished and creative while remaining sustainable, secure, and easy to maintain across the organisation.
How long does the SharePoint design process take?
For smaller teams, initial wireframes and templates can be delivered quickly, while larger enterprise projects may require more discovery, testing, and iteration. Silicon Reef provides clear milestones and collaborative checkpoints, ensuring transparency and alignment at every stage.
What are the key outcomes of following Silicon Reef’s design process?
Teams benefit from faster information access, clearer navigation, and better employee engagement. Beyond aesthetics, Silicon Reef’s process ensures intranets are scalable, maintainable, and designed to evolve as organisational needs change.
Send us a message
Whether you’ve got a Microsoft 365 project in mind or just want to learn more, we’d love to hear from you.