Wiki: Custom Homepage
Client: AWS-Amazon Software Builder Experience | Project length: 3 months | Software: Figma
Research | 0 → 1 Feature | AI | Personalization
The Wiki team was modernizing its core pages to improve the user and Wiki developer experience. The homepage and search were the first to modernize. Research showed the current homepage was underutilized, and only served as an access point for search. I saw an opportunity to give users control of their knowledge discovery experience and surface a new way to engage with Sage+, the Knowledge Tech generative AI experience.
Design Impact
The Opportunity
Usage data showed that engineers came to the Wiki homepage and went straight to the search bar. The rest of the page, including cross-promoted team content, company-wide links, and announcements, was largely ignored. When the team began migrating to a new back end, it created an opportunity to rethink what the homepage could actually do for users.
A separate research project I had conducted on Wiki search had key findings for this redesign. Engineers said finding a page they knew existed or had recently visited was a frustrating experience. They had to refine keyword searches multiple times, or had originally found a page by following a link they couldn't retrace. Rediscovery was a real and recurring problem.
Connection to Sage+
At this point in the Sage+ rollout, only implicit AI experiences were available on Wiki. There was no way for users to explicitly interact with it. The homepage redesign gave me a natural place to offer this interaction type and expand Sage+ access to a surface engineers visited daily.
The Design
I designed a streamlined homepage that surfaced two key sections (Sage+ AI and Wiki tips) with the option to customize what was shown based on a widget system. Users could choose what appeared on their homepage, move widgets, remove them, or resize them based on their own working style. The full vision includes the following key six widgets:
Wiki homepage before and after
Full build – upcoming
Personalized experience
Recently viewed pages
Frequently viewed pages
Acronym search
Full widget customization and layout control
User Feedback
Wiki homepage - phase 2
Feedback on the full design concept was positive. The Quicklinks and Recently Visited widgets generated the most enthusiasm. Regarding Quicklinks, engineers immediately saw the benefit of having a personal, curated link collection to support the way they actually work, particularly when getting up to speed on something new. Users also asked for the ability to create their own custom widgets, which is being considered for future work.
What’s live and what’s coming
Phase 1 – Live
Foundational design
Generative AI widget (Sage+)
Lightweight Wiki Tips section
Quicklinks widget
+32% homepage retention
Sage+ annual answers goal met 3 months early