When Expedia needed a new design to support changes in their cruise business, they asked me to optimize the existing site map, design a new set of page templates and design a new home page for the cruise section of Expedia.com.

I worked in collaboration with the business stakeholders, content strategist, user experience researchers and visual designers to meet the goals of simplifying the site map, reducing the number of page templates and improving the information design and visibility of offers and deals – whatever else I needed to do to make significant improvements in the user experience that would increase bookings had their support.

The result was a design that successfully improved the user experience and optimized content delivery, reducing the cost of development and maintenance of the site. In addition, the simplified site map allows the customer to reach an informed decision faster, increasing the number of booking opportunities.

Information Architecture

I produced a site map that illustrates the user goals and the paths through the site to achieve those goals. At a glance, the site map functioned to demonstrate why the user would pursue a specific path, what content they would view and the page templates required to display the content.

This type of site map proved to be an effective tool for management, design and development because it communicates how the needs of the customer are being addressed and illustrates where sale opportunities exist along each path. Development clearly appreciated the ability to audit the number and application of page templates in order to assess the level of development effort.

Incorporating user goals into the site map makes the process of organizing content and defining flows for a site easier to design and validate. Applying a user-centered method to produce site maps is a good design practice.

The new page designs were influced by customer personas and eye tracking studies to focus the user's attention on content above the fold and motivate them to explore the content below the fold. I include eye tracking paths and the location of the page fold in wireframes to keep these factors in focus throughout the design process.

The way a user scans the page is influenced by the grid design and the content itself. The dashed blue lines mark the eye tracking paths of two customer personas. The place where the two paths intersect the same area of the page is the 'Hot Spot'. The 'Hot Spot' indicates that the potential of both customer personas viewing the same content is high. My wireframes inform the visual designer on where and how to weight and place content to produce the best user experience and realize a return for the business.

Using personas and eye tracking studies to inform my information architecture decisions produced meaningful and usable page designs that strengthened the brand value.

Annotated wireframes helped describe the information architecture and interaction design recommendations to the development team.

As seen in the grid, the light blue modules mark areas of the page where the user is expected to spend the most time viewing content before taking some action. Grey modules mark areas where the user will spend the least amount of time viewing content or will completely ignore. White modules and areas where light blue is fading to white are neutral and viewing time will depend on the relevancy of the content to the user's need, interest and willingness to explore.