It All Started With a Need for Change.

The client, an international airline company, approached me with a significant challenge: their website’s Information Architecture (IA) had become outdated, inefficient, and challenging to scale as new products were launched. As the sole Senior UX Designer and Strategist on this project, I was entrusted with completely reimagining the platform’s IA to create a scalable, flexible, and user-friendly solution.

This project was about more than restructuring the website—it was about solving real problems for the business and its users.

Understanding the Challenge

The first step was defining the project goals and understanding the client's vision. Through stakeholder interviews, I gained insights into their expectations, business objectives, and the pain points users were experiencing. My goal was clear: deliver a robust IA that could handle the company’s growing product offerings while enhancing user navigation and experience.

A Comprehensive Approach

I devised and executed a structured process with multiple stages designed to ensure the final IA met business needs and user expectations.

1. User Research

I conducted in-depth research to evaluate the existing IA, user behaviour, and audience needs. This included analyzing:

User data and behavioural patterns.
Customer feedback to uncover pain points.
Competitor analysis to benchmark best practices in the aviation industry.

2. Content Audit

I performed a complete content inventory to assess the current website. This audit identified:

Valuable content to retain.
Outdated or irrelevant material to remove.
Gaps in content that needed to be addressed to support future product launches.

3. Card Sorting & Personas Development

I led card sorting workshops, engaging real users and internal stakeholders to understand how they categorized and prioritized content. These insights were essential in creating a logical and intuitive structure.

From this research, I developed personas to guide design decisions.

4. Benchmarking

I conducted a thorough benchmarking exercise to identify industry best practices. This helped me design an IA framework aligned with user expectations while keeping the airline company ahead of competitors.

5. Content Strategy

Once the groundwork was laid, I created a comprehensive content strategy to define how content would be structured, maintained, and tested. This included timelines for user testing and workshops to ensure the strategy aligned with user needs.

Building the New Information Architecture

With the research complete, I began crafting the new IA, addressing two critical aspects:

Flexibility: I designed a modular IA framework that accommodates new content, products, and features as the company’s offerings grew.
Scalability: The framework incorporated a robust taxonomy and navigation structure that could handle an expanding number of categories and subcategories without overwhelming users.

Wireframing

I translated the IA framework into detailed wireframes that visualized the new structure. These wireframes:

Represented the new scalable IA in action.
Provided clarity to developers and stakeholders, ensuring alignment across teams.

Navigation Design

I designed the entire navigation system, including:

Menus for easy content access.
Breadcrumbs to enhance wayfinding.
Search functionality for quick access to content.

Testing and Iteration

Testing was critical to ensuring the success of this project.

I created interactive prototypes to test the IA with users.
Through continuous user testing, I gathered feedback, identified areas for improvement, and iterated on the design to effectively meet user needs.

Documentation and Collaboration

To facilitate a smooth implementation, I created comprehensive documentation that served as the single source of truth for all teams. This included:

Sitemaps, content models, and navigation patterns.
Acceptance criteria for developers, UI designers, testers, and marketers.

Launching and Monitoring

After launching the redesigned IA, I integrated analytics tools to monitor user behaviour and track its performance. Analyzing this data, I identified opportunities for future improvements to keep the platform aligned with user needs.

The Outcome

This project was a testament to the impact of thoughtful, user-focused IA design.

Challenges faced: Balancing scalability and flexibility while maintaining an intuitive user experience.
Solution delivered: A robust, scalable IA that allows clients to seamlessly expand their offerings while ensuring users can easily find what they need.
Impact: A modernized platform that improved user satisfaction and supported the company’s continuous growth.

This project was a rewarding experience. It showcased my ability to independently lead large-scale UX challenges, from initial research to implementation and post-launch monitoring. It reinforced my belief that great design starts with a deep understanding of the user and ends with delivering meaningful, lasting solutions.

Information Architecture

It All Started With a Need for Change.

This project was about more than restructuring the website—it was about solving real problems for the business and its users.

Understanding the Challenge

A Comprehensive Approach

I devised and executed a structured process with multiple stages designed to ensure the final IA met business needs and user expectations.

1. User Research

I conducted in-depth research to evaluate the existing IA, user behaviour, and audience needs. This included analyzing:

User data and behavioural patterns.

Customer feedback to uncover pain points.

Competitor analysis to benchmark best practices in the aviation industry.

2. Content Audit

I performed a complete content inventory to assess the current website. This audit identified:

Valuable content to retain.

Outdated or irrelevant material to remove.

Gaps in content that needed to be addressed to support future product launches.

3. Card Sorting & Personas Development

I led card sorting workshops, engaging real users and internal stakeholders to understand how they categorized and prioritized content. These insights were essential in creating a logical and intuitive structure.

From this research, I developed personas to guide design decisions.

4. Benchmarking

I conducted a thorough benchmarking exercise to identify industry best practices. This helped me design an IA framework aligned with user expectations while keeping the airline company ahead of competitors.

5. Content Strategy

Once the groundwork was laid, I created a comprehensive content strategy to define how content would be structured, maintained, and tested. This included timelines for user testing and workshops to ensure the strategy aligned with user needs.

Building the New Information Architecture

With the research complete, I began crafting the new IA, addressing two critical aspects:

Flexibility: I designed a modular IA framework that accommodates new content, products, and features as the company’s offerings grew.

Scalability: The framework incorporated a robust taxonomy and navigation structure that could handle an expanding number of categories and subcategories without overwhelming users.

Wireframing

I translated the IA framework into detailed wireframes that visualized the new structure. These wireframes:

Represented the new scalable IA in action.

Provided clarity to developers and stakeholders, ensuring alignment across teams.

Navigation Design

I designed the entire navigation system, including:

Menus for easy content access.

Breadcrumbs to enhance wayfinding.

Search functionality for quick access to content.

Testing and Iteration

Testing was critical to ensuring the success of this project.

I created interactive prototypes to test the IA with users.

Through continuous user testing, I gathered feedback, identified areas for improvement, and iterated on the design to effectively meet user needs.

Documentation and Collaboration

To facilitate a smooth implementation, I created comprehensive documentation that served as the single source of truth for all teams. This included:

Sitemaps, content models, and navigation patterns.

Acceptance criteria for developers, UI designers, testers, and marketers.

Launching and Monitoring

After launching the redesigned IA, I integrated analytics tools to monitor user behaviour and track its performance. Analyzing this data, I identified opportunities for future improvements to keep the platform aligned with user needs.

The Outcome

This project was a testament to the impact of thoughtful, user-focused IA design.

Challenges faced: Balancing scalability and flexibility while maintaining an intuitive user experience.

Solution delivered: A robust, scalable IA that allows clients to seamlessly expand their offerings while ensuring users can easily find what they need.

Impact: A modernized platform that improved user satisfaction and supported the company’s continuous growth.