Ticket Booking PLatform
IRCTC - Ticket Booking Platform
This project was completed as part of my Information Architecture coursework, where I worked in a team of three students to evaluate and redesign the information architecture of the IRCTC website, one of India’s most widely used railway booking platforms.
I focused on information architecture analysis, navigation evaluation, and sitemap redesign, with the goal of improving task clarity, content structure, and findability for both new and returning users.
Timeline
8 weeks, from research and evaluation to sitemap redesign and wireframing.
Background
IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) serves millions of users who rely on the platform to book train tickets, check schedules, order meals, and manage travel-related services.
Despite its importance, the website suffers from cluttered navigation, poor information hierarchy, and inconsistent labeling, making it difficult for users to locate high-frequency tasks such as ticket cancellation, booking status, and group reservations. These issues increase cognitive load and negatively impact task efficiency, particularly for first-time and infrequent users.
This section outlines how the information architecture was evaluated, restructured, and validated to improve navigation clarity and task findability.
Research & Planning
We began by analyzing the existing IRCTC website to identify navigation clutter, unclear hierarchy, and difficult-to-find actions such as ticket cancellation and group booking.
Through heuristic analysis and content inventory, we mapped existing content and prioritized key user tasks, revealing structural inconsistencies that contributed to increased cognitive load and task failure.
Design & Prototyping
Using card sorting and tree testing, we evaluated how users naturally grouped content and navigated toward common goals.
Insights from these studies informed a revised sitemap with clearer category groupings, simplified navigation paths, and stronger prioritization of high-frequency actions.
Implementation
The redesigned information architecture was translated into wireframes, focusing on critical flows such as ticket cancellation and customer support.
Wireframes emphasized reduced navigation depth, clearer labeling, and improved visibility of primary actions to support faster task completion.
Testing & Optimization
Tree testing results revealed significant findability issues in the original structure, particularly for ticket cancellation and group booking.
Based on these findings, we iterated on the sitemap and navigation hierarchy to improve task success rates and reduce time to completion.
The solution focused on restructuring the IRCTC website’s information architecture to improve navigation clarity, task findability, and overall usability for high-frequency user actions.
Improved Navigation Structure
Content was reorganized into clearer, well-defined categories to reduce clutter and cognitive load, making it easier for users to understand where to begin and how to move through the site.
Simplified Key Tasks
High-priority actions such as ticket booking, cancellation, and customer support were surfaced more prominently within the navigation, reducing the effort required to locate and complete critical tasks.
Clear Information Hierarchy
A revised sitemap and supporting wireframes were designed to surface essential information earlier, minimize unnecessary navigation steps, and establish a consistent hierarchy across the site.
Evaluation and testing indicated that the redesigned information architecture improved task findability and reduced navigation complexity for key user flows.
Better Findability of Core Tasks
Users were able to locate high-priority actions such as ticket booking, cancellation, and customer support more quickly within the revised navigation structure, suggesting clearer category labeling and hierarchy.
Reduced Navigation Complexity
The simplified sitemap and navigation structure reduced unnecessary steps, allowing users to move through the site with fewer clicks and less hesitation during task completion.
Validated IA Decisions
Tree testing and usability evaluation supported the effectiveness of the redesigned structure, confirming that the revised information architecture better aligned with users’ expectations and mental models.