What Architecture Teaches Us About Building Better Online Communities
Most community builders obsess over platforms, features, and aesthetics. But what if the real work happens before any of that?
What if the key to better online communities isn’t a new tool—but a better understanding of space?
That question sat at the heart of a recent episode of Talk About Your Community, where I had the pleasure of welcoming back Jillian Bejtlich, Sr. Community + Advocacy Program Manager at Calendly. Jillian had just delivered a standout presentation at the Led By Community Summit in London, and I wanted to dig deeper into an idea that immediately resonated with me:
What if we designed online communities the way architects design buildings?
As it turns out, when you start looking at communities through an architectural lens, everything changes.
Architecture Was the Plan—Community Was the Accident
Jillian’s path into community work is anything but typical—and that’s precisely why her perspective is so valuable.
“Community was an accident. Architecture was not,” she shared.
She studied architectural engineering, immersed herself in physics, materials, and structural systems, and later returned to school for interactive design technology—bridging the physical and digital worlds in a way few community professionals ever do.
That dual background gives her a rare fluency in both how spaces are built and how people behave inside them. And once she started working in community, she couldn’t unsee the parallels.
“Put me in any space—physical or digital—and I’m going to critique it,” she laughed.
“I can’t help myself.”
Honestly? Same.
Why Some Spaces Just Feel Right
We’ve all experienced it. You walk into a restaurant, a museum, or even a well-designed website and immediately think: This feels good.
As Jillian put it:
“You ever walk into a building or open a website and just go, ‘Huh… this feels good’? And then you stop and ask yourself—why?”
That emotional response isn’t accidental. It’s the result of intentional design decisions that guide behavior, reduce friction, and help people orient themselves.
I shared a story from a tour of a newly redesigned middle school near me. As we moved into a space designed for younger students, the colors softened, the ceiling opened up, and easily moveable furniture appeared. Without anyone saying a word, the entire group felt the shift. They visibly sighed in relief.
That’s architecture doing its job.
And online communities—whether we realize it or not—are doing the same thing.
The Four Architectural Principles Every Community Should Use
At the core of Jillian’s framework are four architectural principles that apply just as much to digital spaces as physical ones:
Flow
How people move through a space.
Bad flow leaves people lost, frustrated, or stuck. Jillian joked about being dumped into the middle of a multi-lane road in London while trying to find a bus stop—an experience many of us have replicated digitally without realizing it.
If people don’t know where to go next, they won’t go anywhere.
Boundaries
How spaces are divided and differentiated.
Changing colors, layouts, or functions signals that someone has entered a new “room.” In communities, boundaries help members understand expectations and context—without needing a rulebook.
Affordance
What actions a space makes possible.
Movable furniture invites collaboration. Clear calls to action invite participation. If your community doesn’t make it obvious how to engage, most people won’t.
Visibility & Hierarchy
What people see first—and what matters most.
“When you don’t know where to look, you feel lost,” Jillian explained.
“And lost people don’t engage.”
Good hierarchy is liberating. It reduces cognitive load and builds confidence.
Translating Buildings Into Digital Communities
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was mapping physical elements directly to digital ones:
Hallways → navigation menus, sidebars, breadcrumbs
Signage → onboarding prompts, pinned posts, welcome guides
Plazas → central discussion spaces or featured content areas
Visitor centers → onboarding experiences for newcomers
Jillian shared her love of a small visitor center in New Hampshire—a space she’s been walking into for nearly 40 years.
“You walk in, you know exactly what questions you can ask. You know where to go. It’s a launching point.”
That’s what onboarding should feel like.
Platforms Are Buildings—Choose Accordingly
Not all buildings serve the same purpose, and neither do platforms.
Jillian offered a refreshingly clear architectural take on popular community tools:
Reddit is a library—low barrier, high value, perfect for lurking.
Discord is a crowded pub—loud, real-time, chaotic, and social.
Purpose-built platforms (Circle, Higher Logic, Vanilla, Gainsight) are intentionally designed structures that guide behavior and journeys.
“You can make almost any platform work,” she noted,
“but you have to work with the building you’re in.”
Trying to force a Frank Lloyd Wright experience into a shopping mall rarely ends well.
Designing for Lurkers Is Good Architecture
One of the most important insights we landed on: lurkers aren’t a problem—they’re a design signal.
“If someone finds value just by being there, they’re more likely to engage later,” Jillian explained.
Libraries, museums, visitor centers—all of them support quiet participation. Communities should too.
The goal isn’t to force interaction. It’s to create a space where people want to stay.
Intentional Design Beats Pretty Design Every Time
If there’s one takeaway I hope community builders sit with, it’s this:
You are not just designing a website.
You are designing a place.
A place with flow—or friction.
With clarity—or confusion.
With intention—or chaos.
As Jillian put it:
“We get so wrapped up in colors, fonts, and padding. That’s not the important part.”
The important part is whether your community supports the behaviors and experiences you actually want to see.
So here’s the question Jillian left us with—and I’ll leave you with too:
If your community were a building, what kind of building would it be?
And more importantly… was that intentional?
If you want to nerd out more about community, architecture, or intentional design, I highly recommend connecting with Jillian Bejtlich on LinkedIn. And if this conversation sparked something for you, let’s keep talking—because the future of community depends on building better spaces, not just bigger ones.
ABOUT JILLIAN BEJTLICH
Jillian is a quirky, ambitious, and enthusiastic techie and community leader who is enamored with online communities and the complex data and psychological puzzles they present. She currently leads community at Calendly.
Jillian has spent her entire career working in and on communities of all sizes, in all industries, and of all types. She has extensive experience with all things community and innovation management including engagement, strategies, metrics, analysis, and interface (UI/UX). She prefers the hardest, ugliest, and most inglorious community challenges.
Jillian’s LinkedIn
The Community Nerd, Jillian’s excellent blog
Show Notes
Creating Spaces (4:00): Community was an accident, architecture was not for Jillian Bejtlich. She recounts the path to her current work. Todd introduces Jillian’s recent presentation at Led By Community Summit in London: Designed to Behave.
Architecture and Behavior (11:35): Architecture in more than just aesthetic design - making things pretty. Jillian’s presentation explores why design feels ‘good’ to humans. The four main architectural principles covered are: flow, boundaries, affordance, visibility & hierarchy.
Physical to Digital (24:26): How do you translate physical spaces to digital spaces? Jillian connects physical spaces to their online equivalent. Think along the lines of a public plaza being the homepage of a website and hallways being the navigation menu. You don’t want to be a Winchester house, where things are confusing and you find yourself stuck at a dead end.
Platform Architecture (38:58): Jillian mentions how ‘shopping mall’ design tries to attract everyone, but can be overwhelming. Another concept is to consider new member flow versus veteran members who are return visitors. Jillian explains the design and feel of a few platform sites, as well as a side note on lurkers before concluding the stream.
