Back to work

Case Study | Navigation Design

Simplifying Navigation Across a Complex Marketplace

I redesigned the navigation across app and web to reduce visual complexity, strengthen strategic destinations and create a clearer logged in experience.

ContextA growing marketplace with many products, services and competing entry points.

RoleSenior UX Designer responsible for information architecture, interaction concept and visual design.

ScopeiOS, Android, desktop web and mobile web.

CollaborationProduct managers, researchers, business stakeholders and engineering teams across all platforms.

TimelineCore concept and design phase in 2023, approximately three months alongside other product responsibilities.

Context

Many products. Many interests. One navigation.

A marketplace that had outgrown a simple menu

Over time, ImmoScout24 had grown from a property search platform into a broad ecosystem for renters, buyers, owners and property professionals.

The navigation had to represent search, selling, renting, financing, moving, personal services and several internal products. The existing system exposed many of these destinations directly, but it had also become visually dense and difficult to translate consistently across devices.

Before

Visibility was high, but the system was dense

The previous desktop navigation used layered menus that revealed many destinations on hover. This supported discovery because users could see a broad range of services without leaving the current page.

At the same time, the structure contained many levels, competing entry points and different patterns across desktop, mobile web and app.

Strategic Direction

Simplicity became the guiding principle

Management defined simplicity as the strategic direction for the redesign.

The challenge was not only to remove visible elements. The new system still had to represent a large product ecosystem, support commercial priorities and provide clear access across app and web.

My task was to translate this direction into a navigation model that remained understandable across platforms.

My Role

I designed the system from structure to interface

My official role was Senior UX Designer. I developed the navigation concept first for the apps and later extended it across desktop web and mobile web.

Information architecture

I structured destinations, grouped related services and defined the hierarchy across logged out and logged in states.

Interaction and visual design

I created the navigation patterns for iOS, Android, desktop web and mobile web.

Stakeholder alignment

I prepared decisions with product managers, researchers, business stakeholders and engineering teams.

Information Architecture

Reducing complexity required a new hierarchy

I used workshops and card sorting to group destinations, test labels and establish a structure that could work across different devices and user states.

The new hierarchy separated primary user journeys, strategic business actions and additional services.

The visible entry points were selected according to business impact and aligned with management.

Primary journeys first

Search related and owner related destinations remained easy to reach.

Strategic actions visible

Important business entry points received stronger placement in the main interface.

Additional services grouped

Lower priority destinations moved into a structured menu instead of competing for equal visibility.

Stakeholder Alignment

Every area was concerned about losing visibility

Navigation visibility had direct business implications. Product managers and stakeholders were concerned that moving their services behind a menu would reduce traffic and relevance.

The project therefore required more than interface design. It required a shared understanding of which destinations needed prominence and which could be supported through alternative entry points elsewhere in the product.

I worked with stakeholders to balance user orientation, business impact and the overall clarity of the platform.

User Need

A navigation that was easier to understand and less visually overloaded.

Business Need

Clear prominence for the areas with the greatest strategic impact.

Product Need

A structure that could remain coherent across app, web and logged in experiences.

the released navigation across iOS, Android, mobile web and desktop web — Released navigation across mobile web and desktop web

Logged In Experience

Turning a long menu into a clearer personal area

The previous logged in experience relied on long menus that mixed messages, saved searches, account settings, contracts and product services.

I reorganised these destinations into a clearer personal area with stronger grouping, simpler labels and more visible status information.

The new experience reduced visual overload and made the relationship between account functions and product services easier to understand.

Validation

Clarity and discovery were not the same thing

Researchers conducted usability testing on the new structure.

The findings showed that users understood the navigation and perceived the experience as clearer and less overloaded.

The A/B test showed a more complex result. Destinations moved behind the menu received less traffic, while the areas given greater prominence gained visibility and usage.

This distinction became one of the most important findings of the project.

Usability

Users understood the simplified structure.

Discovery

Hidden destinations were used less often.

Business Impact

Prominent areas gained stronger visibility.

Outcome

A released system with visible trade offs

The new navigation was released across iOS, Android, desktop web and mobile web.

The new logged in structure also became part of the released product and remained in use.

Some destinations lost traffic after moving behind the menu. Other areas gained more prominence, and teams developed additional integrations to recover visibility where needed.

The result was a clearer cross platform system that made strategic priorities more visible without pretending that simplification came without trade offs.

Release

Rolled out across app, desktop web and mobile web.

Product Impact

Created a more coherent navigation system across platforms.

Organisational Impact

Made the relationship between visibility, traffic and business priorities explicit.

Learning

A simpler interface is not automatically a simpler product

Navigation design does more than organise links.

It redistributes attention, access and business value across the product.

The project reinforced that removing visible options can improve clarity while also changing which parts of a marketplace users discover.

Explore another product story

AI Search ExperiencesView case study Creating a Rental Listing in 60 SecondsView case study

Contact

Let's talk product UX

Email Phone LinkedIn