4 easy steps to design your own Jira Service Desk Customer Portal

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People tend to stick to first impressions even in business. Especially when it comes to ITSM platforms, such as Jira Service Desk, where usually customers come across a generic layout. And this isn't how we leave a good first impression on a business customer who seeks help with a problem they came across using our services. We may think that looks aren't important, though in business that's what matters the most - the look and feel of the portal the users visit. It's not like we would go for a face-to-face business meeting dressed in sweatsuit. ITSM platform is a place where our customers meet our brand, so we should dress it up the best we can and try to provide them with user experience similar to one they get from their favorite brands. That's why we should always remember about making the most out of the customization possibilities provided, for example, by Jira Service Desk. 

Native design possibilities of Jira Service Desk

With new Jira Service Desk Server update, we get greater designing possibilities. From version 4.1 onwards, the Help Center and Customer Portal changed their look. So now, we're able to create a Service Desk that's resembling more our brand style, and the interface is more like the one we have on Cloud instances. Okay, a nice banner and Cloud-like interface make a big difference in comparison to the previous versions, but what if someone wants to make really advanced changes in the look and feel of the portal? With the 4.2 version of the Service Desk, we get access to the source code of the software, allowing for implementing the most advanced in-house modifications to the software. Even though we get the chance to make some elaborate customizations to the software, we need to involve our developers in the procedure. Still, if we don't need some complex setup, we can go for a basic layout offered natively.

Even with more customization possibilities added to the newest version of Jira Service Desk, Customer Portal doesn't change that much

Service Desk project as advanced design studio

Yet, we still can get more advanced setup without digging into Jira Service Desk's source code. There's a number of apps available on Atlassian Marketplace that extend the native design customizations and give us the possibility to introducing more sophisticated look to the portal. One of such apps is Theme Extension for Jira Service Desk which enables us to take the service desk to the next level by changing a number of UI elements on the Customer Portal. Let's not forget that once the app is installed, we can access it from every Service Desk project on our Server instance. Meaning that as Jira project admins we're able to make all the changes to our portal which speeds up the customization process.

4 easy steps to design Jira Service Desk Customer Portal

Theme Extension for Jira Service Desk enables us to edit the Customer Portal by adding Cards theme to the default Jira Service Desk setup. To make some changes in the UI design of the portal, we need to go to the Project Settings of the selected Service Desk project. From there, we:

1. Go to Theme Extension Configuration and select Cards theme.
2. Apply one of the ready-made theme styles or create the new one.
3. On the live preview, click on the both top and bottom background, welcome text, search and navigation bar, and one of the cards to edit these elements.
4. Change the default card style by clicking the icon on the left, under the request types group view, and choose one out of the six styles. We can also customize each card separately by clicking on them and changing the background and font colors. To change the size of the cards, use the slider on the right.

We can also create custom cards with company details, invitation for an event, links to external documentation or social media  channels. This is the only place where we need to use a few lines of HTML code. Once we're all set and done, we can save our theme  and publish it.

A clear user interface makes a happy customer

Apps like Theme Extension for Jira Service Desk give us the power to make necessary and more advanced modifications to the portal. Just by following an easy four-step process, we can create a unique Customer Portal with clearer, simpler and more intuitive user interface, which significantly changes how user interacts with our Service Desk. 

If you’d like to learn more about Theme Extension for Jira Service Desk Server, read more about the app on the Community:

• Become the Andy Warhol of your Customer Portal
• How to improve customer's journey through Jira Service Desk Server, pt.1: Help Center
• Using cards in advanced Jira Service Desk themes