Squarespace Forum

The previous forum, Squarespace Answers, existed on a very outdated platform with very few features and little engagement.

We decided to migrate both Squarespace Answers and the private Circle Forum, for expert users, into a new platform.

Goal

Create a one-stop shop for anything outside the scope of existing support options, while the Circle Forum continues to privately support the Circle member community.

Limitations

Designs had to be based on what’s possible on the Invision Community forum platform. Invision’s engineering team would be handling the initial set up and implementation. We only had a few months to set up the new platform and migrate everything over from the old forum.

Success Metrics

We hypothesized that with the updated forum designs we’d see an overall increase in activity across both forums.

Forum Designs

Quickly put together design system inspired design specs for the Invision Community team, based on Community team feedback.

Final Design

Launched in the Summer 2021 to rave reviews from Circle members, who are typically active in both forums. Although I no longer have access to these metrics, compared to the previous forum “Answers” this new one immediately saw 1,000 more views and 100s more posts weekly.

Forum (as of 12/2024)

What I learned

• When working with a third party provider who’s unfamiliar with the design system, it’s incredibly important to be very thorough and explicit.
• With multi-department stakeholders and different owners of content, it’s important to define who the primary decision makers are.
• It’s important to set clear timelines.