1,255
Pages unified
All policy content navigable through a single coherent system, replacing four fragmented structures.
02 · Information Architecture
Redesigning Navigation for
1,255 Pages and 4 Million Visits
A global HR platform had a structural navigation problem nobody had formally identified. When a How-To Guides redesign required merging two content systems into one, an earlier IA initiative became the foundation for a platform-wide solution.
1,255
Pages unified
4M
Monthly visits
19
Languages
01
The Problem
Navigation that worked — until the content outgrew it
Policy pages had category navigation — content was organized and browsable within sections. Role-based access was already handled: perspectives ensured each user only saw content targeted to them. But there was no visible indicator of audience on the page itself. A manager reading a manager-only policy had no clear signal that the content was exclusive to them. An existing toggle could hide targeted content entirely, but nothing surfaced the audience at a glance. The solution added a clear eyebrow label above the policy title — making content targeting explicit without changing how access worked.
On mobile, the experience was more disjointed. Policy navigation lived inside the top hamburger menu — the same menu used for site-wide navigation. To reach policy-specific navigation, users had to scroll past the site nav first. The mechanism existed. Finding it reliably didn’t.
“Access was already right. Clarity and structure weren’t.”
How-To Guides had breadcrumb navigation — enough to trace back up the hierarchy, but no sidebar index of related pages. Moving between guides required full page changes. With a new internal tool driving a significant increase in How-To volume, breadcrumbs alone wouldn’t scale. The content was growing. The navigation model wasn’t built for it.
Four isolated sections — no shared navigation or taxonomy
02
The Discovery
Self-initiated
Prototyped early. Implemented when the need arrived.
The IA problem was identified, ideated, and presented as a potential enhancement — before a formal project existed. When a How-To Guides redesign later required merging two content platforms, the groundwork was a natural fit. Additional modifications enhanced the original idea further.
An early finding, waiting for the right moment
I mapped the existing content architecture independently — documenting how content types were siloed, where cross-linking failed, and what a unified taxonomy would need to support. The diagram that emerged was the first time the problem had been formally drawn. I brought it to stakeholders with a structural finding and a proposed solution attached. It was heard, and shelved.
The trigger came later: a How-To Guides redesign required merging How-To Guides content and policy pages into a single platform, unifying page formats and building a navigation system that could scale across both. The IA work done earlier became directly applicable — and the right moment to implement it had arrived.
With 30+ engineering tickets required in a single sprint to account for breakpoints, edge cases, and UI consistency, the design decisions needed to be precise. That kind of scope rewards having done the structural thinking in advance.
Anonymized audit map — content types and navigation gaps
03
The System
One platform, two content systems, one navigation model
The solution unified How-To Guides content and policy pages into a single platform — consistent page formats, a shared taxonomy, and a filterable navigation model that worked across both content types. Users can now filter by related topics without leaving the page. Content producers across both teams now have a single scalable system to build and maintain.
With 19 languages in scope, the navigation model could not depend on naming conventions or content-specific logic. Structure had to be semantic and language-agnostic — a constraint that shaped every system decision and made the design more rigorous, not more complicated.
The same content space — fragmented, then unified under one system
Filterable navigation — related topics and persistent sidebar index
Design constraints
- Language-agnostic structure
- 19 locales supported
- 1,255 pages in scope
- Maintainable by content producers
Navigation model
- Filter by related topics
- Persistent sidebar page index
- Audience labeling (eyebrow)
- Unified content taxonomy
04
The Impact
One system. One standard.
An early IA initiative that became the structural foundation for a platform-wide redesign — unifying two content systems across 1,255 pages, 4 million monthly visits, and 19 languages.
4M
Monthly visits
The scale of reach for an internal HR platform — navigation decisions felt by millions of employees globally.
19
Languages
Navigation architecture designed to be localization-ready from the start — semantic structure over language-specific logic.
30+
Engineering tickets
A single sprint scope to address all breakpoints, edge cases, and UI consistency across the unified platform.
The value of early thinking
The most useful thing about having done the IA work early was that when the How-To Guides redesign created the need for it, the thinking was already done. The initiative didn’t land immediately — but it was ready when the timing was right.
That kind of work — identifying a structural problem, proposing a solution, and maintaining the conviction to revisit it when the context shifts — is what lets cross-functional teams move faster when a large-scope project lands. Thirty-plus engineering tickets in a sprint is a lot less painful when the design decisions were made deliberately, not reactively.
Case study 03
Publication Design Application →