Make your Patreon easier for fans to explore (and easier to stick with)

Growing your Patreon is exciting. That said, as the number of posts you publish grows, it can be harder to navigate your body of work. Your Patreon can become cluttered, making it harder for members to find what matters (and for you to highlight your best work).

One way to fix this is to start thinking about your Patreon like a designed experience, not just a feed of posts.

That’s what designer, illustrator, and educator Jimbo of Shoutbam did. Using a design thinking mindset (focusing on how people actually experience and move through his page), Jimbo made a series of small, intentional changes that made his Patreon feel clearer, more engaging, and easier to explore.

Jimbo also used Patreon’s updated creator page* to make his design ideas possible. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our help center article about the updated creator page or explore your own editor at patreon.com/customize.

*Some features mentioned are available on Patreon’s updated creator page. Learn more about it in Patreon’s help center article.

The challenge: growth can create complexity

As your Patreon grows, it’s easy for things to get a bit crowded, harder to find what you’re looking for, or even to know where to start!

• New members might be unsure where to begin.

• Great work gets buried under newer posts.

• Everything feels important, which makes it harder to choose what to engage with.

Jimbo calls this “the Netflix problem”: lots of good options, but somehow harder to press play.

When members aren’t sure how to engage, they’re more likely to quietly step away. For creators, that can feel tough, especially when you don’t know why someone stopped engaging with your work or what could have made their experience better.

Lessons from Jimbo: design the experience intentionally

Jimbo started looking at his Patreon from a member’s point of view.

If someone lands here for the first time, what do they see? And what do they do next?

From there, he made a few focused changes.

1. Prioritize clarity over volume

It’s easy to think, “If I give my members more, they’ll get more value.”

But from members’ perspectives, more can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Instead of creating more, Jimbo focused on making his existing catalog of work easier to navigate.

What this looked like:

• Organizing posts into clear sections, more like a library and less like a storage unit.

  • On Patreon, this can look like using Collections to group related posts or series.

• Highlighting where to start so new members don’t have to guess.

  • For example, using a pinned or featured post to guide first-time visitors.

• Using layout and visuals to guide what people notice first.

  • Like featuring key posts or Collections so your most important work is front and center.

⚡Try this:

Create a pinned or featured “Start here” collection or a post that includes:

• A few of your best or most representative posts, unlocked so free and non-members can get a taste of your work

• Something recent, so members see what’s active now

• A simple explanation of what they’ll get as a member

If someone new lands on your page, this should answer “What do I do next?” in about five seconds. Check out this example of Shoutbam’s “Start Here” post.

2. Design for your members, not just your work

A small mindset shift makes a big difference, from “what do I want to share?” to “how can I bring my members into this?”

Jimbo looked for simple ways to make his process more participatory, not just something to watch, but something to be part of.

What this looked like:

• Asking members for input on ideas or decisions (like voting in a poll or commenting on a post on which direction to take a piece).

• Creating easy, low-effort ways for members to respond or engage.

• Finding ways to include members in the creation process.

For example, Jimbo started one lettering series by sharing early ideas and asking members to vote on which direction he should take. He then built those choices into the tutorials and posts that followed, so members could see their input reflected in the final work.

He expanded the idea further by inviting members to submit their initials, which he incorporated into lettering pieces, tutorials, videos, and eventually a full class on monograms.

Instead of a one-time interaction, the series became an ongoing collaboration. Members didn’t just see the finished work, they helped shape it along the way.

Read the story from Jimbo himself in this Shoutbam post.

⚡Try this:

Turn one idea into a short, connected series:

• Start by asking your members a simple question (e.g. “Which version should I develop next?”).

• Use those responses to shape your next post.

• Then call it out so members can see how they influenced what you made.

3. Guide members through the space

Jimbo uses a simple way to think about this: Your Patreon is like a home.

If someone walked in, how would they move through it?

• The porch → First impression

  Your banner, visuals, and a welcome video can set the tone. Think: “Do I feel invited in?”

• The front door → Where to begin

  A clear “Start here” helps members feel oriented right away.

• The hallway → A quick look around

  Think: “Can I see what’s available without digging?”

• The living room → Where people stay

  Your core, ongoing work. The reason members keep coming back.

• The deeper rooms → Optional exploration

  More in-depth or niche material for members who want to go further.

When this flow is clear, members don’t have to think too hard. They can just follow the path you’ve created.

⚡Try this:

Ask a friend, collaborator, or member to open your Patreon and talk through what they would click.

If they pause or say “I am not sure where to start,” you’ve found your first opportunity to improve.

The result: a more intuitive and engaging experience means stronger retention

After making these changes, Jimbo’s Patreon became:

• Easier to navigate from the start

• More likely to lead members to explore multiple posts

• More engaging, with members participating more often

When people can quickly find what they are looking for and discover more along the way, they are more likely to stick around.

And over time, that is what builds a more sustainable membership.

3 takeaways to remember

You don’t need to redesign everything at once. Start with a few small shifts:

1. Make it easy for fans to know where to go within seconds of landing on your page.

2. Have a host mindset: guide your fans through your page using tools like custom tabs, pinned posts, and featured collections.

3. Consider what you can redesign or recreate rather than adding more. Clarity can often be more important to retention than volume.

As you’re making these changes, Patreon’s updated creator page can help bring them to life. It gives you more ways to organize your work, highlight what matters most, and shape how your page feels for your members.

When you design your Patreon with your members’ experience in mind, it becomes easier for people to explore, connect, and come back again and again.

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