Designing Joy for Communities.
“I think one of the biggest things that were different for me building this community is having access to a brand team”
Rachael Silvano, Community Operations Manager at Zapier, shared this with me recently.
You see, I was waxing lyrical about how the Zapier Wizards Guild feels alive and full of energy and how it doesn’t conform to the norms.
Rather than the standard community online space, Zapier envisioned a niche space for their AI Wizards, folks who are pushing Zapier to the edge.
The design team at Zapier worked with Rachael to create these beautiful creations for the wizard avatars and the platform's design.
There’s joy and life in what they’re doing.
In our grown-up meetings about conversion rates, optimization, and onboarding, we can forget that community can be fun.
A place where little details bring a smile to your face.
Design and branding allow you to create those moments of joy for your members.
A beautifully designed postcard, avatar, email, certificate, Instagram post, onboarding flow, can all spark moments of joy.
I recently sat with our head of creative, Jacob, and showed him a landing page for an off-the-shelf community platform.
“Isn’t it sad that everything looks the same?” Jacob sighed.
The joy has been lost, and it’s easy to fall into a trap where everything is average and safe.
So, community leaders, step out.
Be bold.
Design the unexpected.
You can listen to my full chat with Rachael, over here: