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The Ancestry Story



The Starting Point


I worked with the product team to do an exploratory redesign with the goal of simplifying a complex experience. I started with research, including an analysis of the “next page” analytics data, to glean existing usage patterns.  



The data revealed that there was no “happy path,” or primary flow, from view to view.


Information Design


I decided to approach the simplification by reducing the overall number of views/modes, moving as many functions as possible into non-modal overlays. An overall reworking of the navigation into fewer views (with other views grouped one level down) drove the proposal for a new information design.


I created some sample redesigns for the proposed top-level views, and some ideas for how the views would work on desktop and mobile.




Although the approach was not adopted wholesale, several aspects were implemented, including a persistent sidebar for details, a contextual bottom bar, a “quick view” in the tree, and breadcrumbs for site orientation.