Evolving our User Experience to Serve our Members

Written by:

Maryam Mohit, Director of Product. Maryam’s entire career has been focused on creating efficient, effective, and delightful online products. She was one of the earliest employees at Amazon and rose to Vice President of Site Development. After deciding to leave Amazon to spend time with her children, Maryam co-founded GemShare, a company that was dedicated to creating a “communal Rolodex” of trusted, personal recommendations.

Paco Vinoly, Vice President of Design. Paco has uncompromising standards and an eye for clean design and great user experience. He has served as Creative Director for Bank of America and CNET Networks before leading User Experience for the Yahoo! Media Group. After Yahoo!, Viñoly joined Whalerock to lead the team responsible for the digital business and large scale media partnerships with Microsoft, AOL, the NFL, and Procter & Gamble, among others. Most recently, Paco led the Brand Design team at Square.

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Today marks an important milestone in the evolution of Nextdoor’s design – the introduction of a new, cleaner, and more modern design for web and mobile, specifically created  to address the evolving ways our members use Nextdoor.

Since 2011, the number of people using Nextdoor to ask questions, stay informed, and exchange recommendations and advice has grown quickly. Today, over 75% of neighborhoods in the US are using Nextdoor, and we have rapidly expanding  international communities in the Netherlands, the U.K., and now Germany. Over the past five and a half years, as Nextdoor has evolved, our user experience hasn’t always kept pace. This meant that it was becoming harder to deliver the features our members desired within the constraints of the existing design. We knew we needed to make some changes so that we could better serve our members’ needs.

What’s new

Starting today, Nextdoor on the web is faster, more visually streamlined, and more consistent across devices. These updates provide the foundation for future improvements we’ll make as part of an ongoing dialog with our members.

• Speed: The new design loads 40% faster, and we know how important this is to our members.
• Cleaner design: Photos and text are larger and easier to read, and thanking a neighbor now comes with a friendly smile.
• Consistency: The layout and navigation now look and feel more cohesive on computers, phones, and tablets, making it easier to move between your laptop and mobile device.

The updated design also allowed us to update some things under the hood, so we can accelerate upcoming improvements to classifieds, recommendations, and other features members have been asking for.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Gmail

Change is hard. Let’s make improvements together.

We undertook this project knowing that change can be difficult, especially when members have come to rely on a Nextdoor as an integral communication platform for their neighborhoods. We’re incredibly grateful for the 6,000 plus feedback surveys we received from members and Neighborhood Leads as we have been testing the new design over the past few months. We read every response and have worked hard to both fix bugs, incorporate suggestions, and improve the member experience overall. And we will continue to do so!

We’re excited to share this update today and welcome your feedback. If you find a problem, or just want to tell us what you think about the new look, please let us know!

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Join your neighborhood on Nextdoor here.

Do you have a story about how you’ve used Nextdoor in your neighborhood? Let us know.