Navigating Travel Health Information
Information Architecture
Timeline
October 2023 - December 2023
Role
Information Architect
Team
Solo
Overview
Travellers often struggle to find reliable and accessible health information before embarking on trips. My task for this coursework project was to design a web-based information environment that simplifies the process of finding travel vaccines, medications, and health tests through an intuitive Information Architecture (IA) framework. The aim was to create a system where users can easily discover the necessary health precautions for their destination.
Challenge
The existing platforms, like GOV.UK and the CDC, had a wealth of data but lacked user-centric navigation. Travellers needed an easy way to search for health requirements without knowing their exact destination. The challenge was two-fold:
To design a solution that helps users browse health precautions without being overwhelmed by complex medical data.
To maintain focus within the domain by eliminating unnecessary boundary objects, ensuring clarity.
Solution
I created a knowledge and information repository to help people who travel to various countries often. This travel clinic website provides the users with the vaccines, medicines, medical tests required to travel to destinations that are classified using faceted navigation.
Domain Model
I began with semi-structured interviews with three domain experts in order to create a domain model. This model would form the foundation of what information was most important to the platform Their insights revealed that most users find it difficult to navigate large datasets or complex terminology around vaccinations and health risks. I also analysed competitor websites (GOV.UK, CDC) to study how diseases are classified and presented.
One unexpected insight was the lack of faceted navigation systems in these environments. Users wanted a way to browse travel clinic locations based on their needs, without having a destination in mind already. This gap formed the foundation of my solution.
Sitemap
The sitemap was designed to organize this information into a structured, hierarchical flow. Through tree tests, I discovered that users often reached their destination through different paths—some found content through the homepage, others via links. This finding informed the creation of cross-links between content pages.
Peer feedback highlighted the need to avoid over-detailing, particularly in page sections. To address this, I prioritised region selection for narrowing down choices, then used faceted navigation for further filtering. Feedback loops were crucial here, continuously refining the IA model. Using identification or reference numbers for each entity provided a clearer hierarchy and more flexibility in linking pages. This presented the groundwork for an organised production process which was beneficial for referencing in the subsequent diagrams.
User Journey
I used the user journey to structure the flow of the website and frame up my initial ideas about the interaction. It was designed to provide an intuitive flow without a prescriptive task, focusing on two primary sections: “Destinations” and “Services.” In early versions, I kept tasks broad to allow for multiple exploration paths. However, feedback suggested adding context (like air quality concerns) to refine the filtering experience and match users' real-world expectations.
A key insight here was the importance of a re-finding mechanism that allows saving and revisiting information. By incorporating a "bookmarked destinations" feature, I allowed users to save preferred destinations for future reference, adding a layer of flexibility to the user journey.
Wireframes
When creating the wireframes, I opted for high detail in not only the layout, but also the content in order to ensure usability testing participants fully understood the interaction flows. I incorporated real content early, avoiding placeholder text to reflect real-world space usage and give a more accurate feel for the layout.
Navigation aids like the Table of Contents, contextual cross-links, and breadcrumbs were integrated to support hierarchical navigation, ensuring users could easily retrace their steps. The visual approach with “breaklines” around content ensured clarity and flexibility in design, making it easier to incorporate updates and adjustments.
Evaluation & Key Learnings
I conducted remote moderated usability tests with two participants to evaluate the design’s effectiveness in supporting navigation and information discovery.
The tasks focused on:
W1: Find the risk severity in Sri Lanka
Neither of the participants were able to find the risk severity value on the card layout since all the destination information was shown in the form of icon and not text. These icons were not clear enough for the users to understand what they represented. Hence the revised version has all the information in text format for increased clarity.
W2: Try to learn more about the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine
The users eventually used the embedded cross-link to Japanese Encephalitis but one of the participants’ first instinct was to look for vaccines in the global navigation bar. When asked what they were expecting to be listed there, they said a page that lists all the vaccinations would have been easier to complete the task. Even though interaction cannot be depicted very well through wireframes, a potential way to improve the wireframes would be to show the drop-down menu of one of the global navigation elements would look like when hovered over.
What Didn’t Work
Icons used to represent destination data were too abstract, leading to confusion during testing. A lesson learned was to avoid relying solely on visual elements without complementary text. Additionally, participants expected a more prominent global vaccine listing, pushing me to rethink the primary navigation's structure.
Unexpected Insights
I discovered that users preferred quick summaries with the option to dive deeper, rather than being immediately confronted with all the data at once. This insight directly informed the final wireframe revisions, allowing me to balance depth with simplicity.
Final Solution: A User-Centered Navigation System
The final website offers travelers a clear, navigable path to vital health information. By implementing faceted navigation, cross-links, and an intuitive structure, users can now easily discover vaccines, medicines, and health precautions based on their needs.
If further development were to occur, I would focus on enhancing the "bookmarked destinations" feature to allow more filtering options within saved data. Additionally, tracking user behaviour through analytics would optimise the layout by refining the ordering of navigation elements and facets.