Yahoo! Network Map

Challenge: Find recurrent patterns in user behavior across the Yahoo! network to help define a set of rules for implementing a new Yahoo! logo.

  • Early Sketches: Examples of some rough early sketches and explorations of visual design systems.

  • Concepts: Working through various conceptual models for presenting the information helped the team land on the right display to illustrate the most information in the clearest way possible.

  • Graphical Style Explorations: Our team refined the early sketches into various explorations of the information graphical style. Each style was weighed for its capability to express the large amount of information that needed to be expressed as well as its relevance to the final branding evaluation.

  • Network Diagram: The Yahoo! network site diagram was a beautiful 12 foot long poster that was proudly hung in every building. Prior to this project, Yahoo! employees had never seen a full picture of the entire network.

  • Final Diagram Detail: Each and every property of the Yahoo! domestic network was carefully audited and the final diagram was created. The metadata for each property was incorporated in the design early on in the process.

Solution

Document their entire network and develop a system of rules defining how the existing and new branding would logically manifest and coexist throughout the network. This was a daunting task since Yahoo! had never fully documented its network. Documentation included a full site audit as well as data analysis from hundreds of pages of traffic logs to understand how people were entering the network, leaving the network and what they were visiting while on the Yahoo! network.