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Expert Traveller. 

Leading a scalable search and discovery redesign for a content-heavy, trust-led platform.

The Challenge.

The Times Expert Traveller site contained a wealth of high-quality travel content, but its trip pages lacked clear structure, search, and progression.

 

Users were spending significant time on pages while still exiting without taking action.

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I was brought in to work alongside The Times’ design team to reimagine the trip pages end-to-end, ensuring:

  • Visual and behavioural consistency with the wider Times ecosystem,

  • Clear information hierarchy across long-form, content-heavy pages,

  • A scalable template that could support multiple destinations and offers.

Strategy & Design.

This work was framed not as a visual refresh, but as a discovery and decision-making problem.

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Given that the majority of the project was delivered remotely, I prioritised tight collaboration and governance from the outset:

  • Led a discovery workshop to align on goals, constraints, timelines, and success criteria,

  • Established weekly cross-team check-ins,

  • Defined a clear sign-off and feedback process to ensure editorial, product, and design stakeholders remained aligned.

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This approach avoided late-stage rework and ensured the final solution integrated seamlessly into The Times’ broader platform.

Research, Analysis & Recommendations.

High-level Journey Analysis:

I conducted a full UI and journey analysis of The Times website, deliberately avoiding a siloed view of the trip pages.

 

The goal was to ensure any redesign:

  • Respected existing brand and editorial patterns,

  • Supported users moving between articles, inspiration, and trip selection,

  • Fit naturally into a wider end-to-end journey.

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I storyboarded key user journeys and touchpoints, mapping:

  • Entry points,

  • Decision moments,

  • Friction points and drop-offs.

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This process surfaced:

  • Missing or weak search functionality,

  • Redundant steps within the journey,

  • Components that increased cognitive load without adding value,

  • A lack of clear progression from browsing to decision.

Designing the New Experience.

Reducing cognitive load while increasing discoverability.

Landing Page and Templates:

I redesigned the trip landing page across devices and created a modular product page template that could be populated consistently across destinations and offers.

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The original pages were information-dense and unclear in terms of actions.

 

I addressed this by:

  • Breaking down each component and reassessing its purpose,

  • Reducing information density,

  • Chunking content into clear, scannable sections,

  • Rebuilding components to emphasise the most decision-critical information.

Search as a First-class Capability.

Journey mapping identified search as a critical missing capability.

 

I designed:

  • Embedded search within the landing experience,

  • A dedicated search results page to support deeper exploration.

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This shifted the experience from passive browsing to intent-driven discovery, allowing users to actively filter and compare options.

Impact:

  • Increased discoverability of relevant trips,

  • Reduced frustration for goal-oriented users,

  • Higher likelihood of users finding a suitable offer within fewer steps.

Addressing High Engagement but High Bounce.

Analytics showed high time-on-page paired with an unusually high bounce rate, indicating users were reading but not progressing.

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To address this, I:

  • Analysed interaction patterns to identify where users stalled,

  • Introduced sticky navigation elements surfacing key information such as pricing,

  • Designed a persistent helper widget offering live chat or a structured email form.

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These elements ensured support and next steps were always visible, particularly on long pages.

Pricing and Complex Content.

I led a full redesign of pricing tables, introducing:

  • Collapsible sections,

  • Dropdowns and carousels,

  • Progressive disclosure for large content blocks.

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This made complex pricing information easier to scan and compare, while preserving depth for users who needed it.

Impact:

  • Reduced cognitive overload on long-form pages,

  • Increased confidence when comparing options,

  • Better alignment between reading and decision-making.

The Solution:

The final solution delivered:

  • A clearer site architecture for trip discovery,

  • Consistent, scalable templates aligned with The Times’ brand system,

  • Improved search and filtering capabilities,

  • Support mechanisms integrated directly into the journey.

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As a result:

  • Users could more easily find, understand, and compare trips,

  • High engagement translated into clearer progression,

  • Bounce caused by uncertainty or overwhelm was reduced,

  • The trip's experience aligned more closely with the quality and trust of The Times’ editorial content.

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