Overview
I worked on the redesign of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) intranet—an internal platform used daily by 75,000+ employees across multiple agencies, roles, and working environments.
The project supported MTA's transition to a new intranet platform, with goals to:
- →Improve information discoverability
- →Establish a consistent, scalable navigation system
- →Align the intranet with updated MTA branding
The redesigned navigation and homepage launched in Spring 2023 and are now used company-wide.
Role & Scope
I contributed across user research, information architecture, navigation design, and homepage redesign, working closely with product and engineering to balance usability, scale, and delivery constraints within a large organization.
Problem Space
Information everywhere—and nowhere.
The existing intranet had been in use for over 20 years. As the organization evolved, the platform became increasingly difficult to navigate:
- →Information was outdated, duplicated, or deeply buried
- →Navigation patterns varied across agencies
- →Visual design no longer reflected current MTA branding
Employees often struggled to locate essential resources—or were unaware those resources existed at all.
Research & Key Insights
To understand user needs, we conducted 20+ interviews with employees across different age groups and roles from multiple agencies. The goal was to learn how the intranet fits into their daily work and what they expect from the new version.
1. Information Everywhere and Nowhere
"You know what? It is today when I was talking to you I first realized there was this whole benefits section for the employees."
MTA's intranet contained so much information that employees got disoriented. Useful resources were hidden, and many never realized they existed. The new intranet should make information and resources more discoverable and accessible.
2. Varied Homepage Information Preferences
User 1: "I would say most of the stuff I really did not ever pay attention to. I mean, the only reason for me to use the site is to get my job done."
User 2: "The homepage has stayed the same forever. I would definitely want to know more about the most recent corporate news to get more involved."
Users diverged in how they used the intranet. "Minimalistic" users only clicked what they needed for work—common among field employees rarely at a computer. Others checked daily for updates and wanted to stay engaged with the company.
The homepage redesign needed to enhance work productivity for every employee while also cultivating a sense of corporate culture and pride.
Key Design Decisions
Standardizing information architecture across agencies
To reduce fragmentation and improve predictability, we redesigned the intranet's information architecture:
- →Reduced top-level navigation categories from 7 to 5
- →Established shared naming conventions and hierarchy
- →Prioritized frequently used resources based on research
This created a structure employees could rely on regardless of agency.
├─ Agencies │ ├─ MTA HQ, NYCT, LIRR... ├─ Construction Development └─ Departments ├─ Corporate Compliance...
├─ Benefits │ ├─ Organizations & Events... ├─ Career & Development │ ├─ Career Opportunities... └─ Employee Resource Groups ├─ Multi-Culture, Veterans...
├─ Productivity │ ├─ Kronos Forms, Slack... ├─ IT │ ├─ UPN Lookup, ServiceNow... └─ Workplace ├─ Building Engines...
├─ All-Agencies Policies │ ├─ Telework, IT Policies... └─ Code of Ethics ├─ Harassment Policy...
├─ Emergency Contacts ├─ Safety Training ├─ Incident Reporting └─ Security Guidelines
Selecting a navigation model that scales
We explored multiple navigation approaches to find one that could support large volumes of content while improving discoverability.
Option 1: Horizontal Global & Vertical Local Navigation
Pros
- • The list of sections under each category is always visible
- • Nested tree sidebar that could potentially accommodate 3rd level content
Cons
- • Extra space needed for the sidebar navigation
- • Extra clicks to open each section and page with accordion expand/collapse
Option 2: Mega Menu Navigation
Pros
- • No clicks needed to view both 1st & 2nd level information
- • Clear information hierarchy through typography and layout choices
Cons
- • Hover-to-show may lead to inaccuracies for users relying on a mouse
- • The visual presentation may become overwhelming when there are numerous sections and pages under each main category
Option 3: Horizontal Global & Local Navigation
Pros
- • Stacked horizontal navigation which minimizes eye & mouse movement
- • Users are accustomed to the dropdown pattern, as it was implemented in the original intranet
Cons
- • Hover-to-show may lead to inaccuracies for users relying on a mouse (more precision needs compared to the mega menu option)
- • Extra clicks to get to each section and page
Designing a homepage for different user needs
Rather than aggressive personalization, we designed a modular homepage that balanced:
- →Task-driven access
- →Agency-specific updates
- →Company-wide communication
This allowed flexibility while maintaining consistency and clarity.
Rescoping & Delivery
With limited engineering capacity and a fixed launch timeline, not all concepts could be implemented.
We used an impact–effort matrix to prioritize modules that delivered high user value while remaining feasible to ship.
The final homepage included:
A new module called Keep Track (for employee recognition) was also added to promote employee pride and build a sense of community. The modules kept on the home page addressed various levels of employee needs, including company-wide aspects through 'Top Stories' and 'Keep Track,' agency-specific information through 'Updates & Events,' and individual employee resources through customizable 'Quick Links.'
This ensured the launch addressed multiple layers of employee needs while staying realistic to deliver.
Outcome
- →New intranet navigation and homepage launched Spring 2023
- →Adopted across all MTA agencies
- →Improved consistency and information discoverability across the platform
Reflection
This project deepened my understanding of designing for large, diverse internal audiences. It reinforced that in internal tools, structural clarity often matters more than surface-level polish, and that consistency becomes a form of usability at scale.
It also strengthened my ability to advocate for less visible user groups, such as field employees, whose needs are easy to overlook in office-centric systems.
If I Were Extending This Today
If extended today, I'd use AI to reduce navigation friction, not to replace the underlying information architecture.
★Workflow-aware homepage composition
Instead of manually prioritizing static homepage modules, AI could assemble homepage content dynamically based on an individual's workflow—surfacing the most relevant links, updates, or actions at that moment, independent of agency-level segmentation.
The homepage becomes a contextual starting point, shaped by how people work rather than fixed content blocks.
★Intent-aware search for findability
Employees often know what they need to do, but not the exact internal terminology. Intent-aware search could map natural-language queries to existing resources, helping users reach the right destination even when labels or ownership are unclear.
★Lightweight navigational guidance across the intranet
Based on role, location, or recent activity, AI could surface adjacent or commonly paired resources—supporting "what should I look at next?" without introducing chat-based interfaces or automating core workflows.