You are asked to restructure the navigation of a large website with hundreds of pages. How do you approach it?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Content audit and analytics on what is used
• Understand user tasks and mental models
• Open card sort to explore groupings
• Draft structure and test it with tree testing
• Iterate, then validate labels and navigation in prototypes

Model answer

I begin with a content audit to see what exists, what is outdated and what can be merged or removed, combined with analytics and search logs to see what people actually look for. I talk with stakeholders about business priorities and with users about their top tasks. Next I run an open card sort with representative content to learn how users group and name topics. From that, I draft one or two candidate structures, and I test them with tree testing using realistic tasks, measuring success and where people go wrong. I iterate on labels and groupings until the key tasks score well. Then I design the navigation itself, the menus, breadcrumbs and search, and test it in a clickable prototype. Finally I plan redirects and governance so the structure stays healthy.

More medium UI/UX Designer questions

• You have only one week to design a new feature. How do you include user research?
• A stakeholder gives feedback on your design that you disagree with. How do you handle it?
• How do you measure whether a design change was successful?
• Why are empty, loading and error states important, and how do you design them?
• An engineer says your design will take three times longer to build than planned. What do you do?
• How do you plan and run user interviews for a new feature?
• A team wants a custom styled dropdown instead of the native select. How do you make sure it is accessible?
• How do you turn research findings into design decisions the team actually acts on?
• How do you run a design critique session that is useful rather than a debate about taste?