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NJ State Parks Services
Finding information on the NJ State Park Service website shouldn’t be an adventure of its own.
Our goal was to reorganize the site’s structure so visitors can quickly access park hours, maps, activities, and everything they need without getting lost in cluttered menus.
via Rutgers Information Architecture Course
Project Overview
Visitors rely on the New Jersey State Park Service website to explore trails, historic sites, marinas, and outdoor activities. But the original structure made all of that surprisingly hard to find. Navigation felt overwhelming, labels were unclear, and key information was buried beneath dense menus.
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As part of a semester-long Information Architecture project, my team and I evaluated how users were navigating the site and redesigned the structure to create clearer labels, simpler pathways, and a more intuitive overall experience.
My Role
Helped evaluate the site’s structure using heuristic reviews and accessibility tools like WAVE.
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Worked with my team to gather user insights through surveys and persona development.
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Participated in card sorting sessions and reorganized the sitemap to reflect real user mental models better.
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Ran multiple rounds of IA testing, including tree tests, first-click tests, and navigation stress tests, to pinpoint where users were getting lost.
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Contributed to redesigning the sitemap and creating early wireframes that illustrated clearer navigation paths.
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Synthesized findings into actionable IA recommendations that improved clarity, hierarchy, and overall usability.
Tools Used
The Process
Here’s how we approached understanding the website’s challenges and redesigning its structure.
Understanding Our Users
We started by learning who actually uses the NJ State Parks website and what they need most when planning outdoor trips. Through surveys and persona development, we uncovered three core user groups: nature enthusiasts, educators, and casual explorers, all looking for quick, clear, and mobile-friendly information.
Analyzing the Current Landscape
We took a close look at similar platforms, including New York State Parks and VisitNJ, to understand how other public websites organize information. This helped us spot opportunities for clearer labels, better filters, and more intuitive navigation patterns.
Understanding Our Users
We started by learning who actually uses the NJ State Parks website and what they need most when planning outdoor trips. Through surveys and persona development, we uncovered three core user groups: nature enthusiasts, educators, and casual explorers, all looking for quick, clear, and mobile-friendly information.
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Mapping the Existing Content
To understand the site’s complexity, we created a complete sitemap of all pages and drop-down menus. This made problem areas instantly clear, especially the overwhelming 40–50-item mega menus under Parks & Forests and Historic Sites.
Reimagining the Structure Through Wireframes
Before proposing any redesigns, we created low-fidelity wireframes of the current New Jersey State Park Service website. These diagnostic wireframes helped us focus on structure, hierarchy, and content placement without the distraction of colors or visuals.
By mapping out the existing layouts, we were able to see clearly:
The navigation takes up significant space and includes multiple layers of links.
Mega menus try to display too much information at once, making it difficult to scan.
Pages contain valuable content, but the lack of visual hierarchy makes it hard for users to find what’s essential.
Related programs, featured highlights, and informational content blend without clear separation.
Social links and footer sections are functional but visually underemphasized and lack personality.
These findings confirmed that while the site includes plenty of helpful information, the structure feels overwhelming, and simplifying the layout would create a more intuitive, user-friendly experience.
Evaluating the Site Through First-Click Testing
To understand how intuitively users could find essential information, we ran a First-Click Test using the Lyssna platform. Participants were asked to complete nine common tasks, such as finding fishing spots, locating hiking trails, or discovering where to book a tour, while we tracked where they clicked first, how long it took, and how clear the task felt.
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Across most tasks, users struggled to identify the right starting point, often navigating to unrelated sections or external links. Activity-based tasks (like golfing, boating, or hiking) were especially challenging, with many users relying on trial and error rather than clear labels. This confirmed that several areas of the site lacked intuitive labeling and needed structural simplification.
Please click where you can find the mailing address of the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection State Park Service
Please click on a location where you can go fishing.
Please click on a location that has information about hiking trails.
Please click where you can find the mailing address of the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection State Park Service
Key Findings
Activity tasks were confusing: 60–80% of users clicked the wrong section first.
Labels weren’t clear: Sections such as Historic Sites, Programs & Events, and Parks & Forests didn’t align with user expectations.
Users took long paths: Many tasks took over 1 minute to complete.
Maps felt easier: When icons were available, users gravitated toward them.
Only simple tasks felt intuitive: Finding the mailing address and searching by zip code were the only quick wins.
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Overall, the First-Click Test highlighted a key problem: users weren’t sure where information lived. The site has plenty of content, but the structure and labeling made it hard to find. These insights directly shaped how we approached reorganizing the navigation and rewriting major menu labels.
Testing Navigation Clarity Through a Stress Test
To understand how clearly users could interpret the website’s layout at a glance, we ran a Navigation Stress Test. Participants were asked to mark up a screenshot of a park subpage, identifying the page title, site name, major sections, subpages, off-site links, and the path back to the homepage. This helped us evaluate how intuitive the site’s structure felt without clicking or exploring further.
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Most users were able to recognize major elements (like page titles and site names). Still, they struggled with deeper hierarchy tasks, especially understanding how to move up a level or differentiate internal vs. external links. These patterns revealed where the site’s structure is working, and where clearer hierarchy or labeling would reduce confusion.
Key Findings
Users easily identified high-level content such as the page title and the site name, strong indicators that the top-level hierarchy is visually clear.
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Navigation labels were understood, but hierarchy wasn’t. Many users marked the correct navigation category but struggled to identify what “level” the page belonged to.
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Going “up one level” was confusing. Some used breadcrumbs, others returned to the main menu, showing inconsistency in how the site communicates its structure.
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Internal vs external links weren’t obvious. Most users correctly marked “Related Links” as off-site, but many hesitated or misinterpreted other linked elements.
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Home navigation was straightforward. Everyone correctly identified the homepage button, suggesting that top-level navigation is strong but mid-level navigation needs work.
Evaluating the Interface Through Heuristic Analysis
To understand how well the NJ State Parks website supports intuitive, user-friendly interactions, we ran a Heuristic Evaluation using Nielsen & Molich’s 10 usability heuristics. Four evaluators explored the site and rated each heuristic on a 0–4 severity scale, noting areas that felt smooth, confusing, or inconsistent.
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Overall, the site performed well in clarity and language, but several patterns pointed to opportunities for cleaner hierarchy, better grouping, and improved user control.
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Key Findings
What's Working
Minor Issues
Users always knew where they were thanks to clear breadcrumbs and strong system-status cues.
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Language felt natural and human, aligning well with real-world terminology.
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Consistency across pages, labels, layouts, and patterns helped the site feel predictable and easy to learn.
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Recognition over recall worked well, with options visible rather than hidden.
Error Prevention was limited. Users rarely saw helpful prompts or guardrails.
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The efficiency of use could be improved; large lists (e.g., parks by region) felt overwhelming.
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Aesthetic & Minimalist Design was split: some users liked the clean look, others felt there was too much information on some pages.
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Help & Documentation lacked modern support features such as search, FAQs, and a chatbot.
Needs Attention
User Control & Freedom had the most mixed responses. Some users struggled to recover from mistakes, such as navigating out of deep pages (e.g., Camping Reservations) without a clear path back.
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Recovery from errors was unclear because users rarely encountered any, suggesting the site may not communicate problems well when they do occur.
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Help & Documentation scored inconsistently due to limited support features and occasionally broken links.
Overall Insights
The Heuristic Evaluation revealed that the site is clean, friendly, and generally well-structured, but offers several opportunities to enhance user control, simplify dense content areas, and improve support systems. These findings helped us prioritize improvements for the redesign, especially around: grouping information more efficiently, reducing visual overload, adding clearer navigation exits, and enhancing support for lost or confused users
Understanding How Users Group Content
To evaluate whether the website’s current labels matched users’ mental models, we ran a closed Card Sort using Optimal Workshop. Participants sorted 33 cards, each representing a piece of site content, into six existing categories from the NJ State Park Service navigation menu (Home, Parks & Forests, Historic Sites, Marinas, Programs & Events, Get Involved).
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We tested with 6 participants, each completing the sort asynchronously on their own devices.
Key
Bolded category: The majority of participants sorted the card into (excluding ties).
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Green row: All 6 participants sorted the card into the same category.
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Yellow row: 5 out of 6 participants sorted the card into the same category.
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White row: 4 or fewer participants sorted the card into the same category.
Results
Only 8 out of 33 cards (24%) were consistently sorted the same way by all participants.
This means 76% of content did not match user expectations, revealing major misalignment between the site's labels and how people naturally categorize park information.
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Common issues included:
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Activity-related cards caused confusion
(e.g., Hunting & Fishing, Bird Watching, Picnicking, Golf Courses)
Users weren’t sure if these belonged under Parks & Forests, Programs & Events, Marinas, or Home.
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Cards related to communication or updates floated between categories
(e.g., Facebook, News Releases, Reminders from NJ State Park Police)
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Users wanted new categories
Many suggested adding Activities, Recreation, or a Social Media grouping.
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A few cards didn’t fit anywhere well
(e.g., Golf Courses, Private Events, List of Marinas)
Insights That Stood Out
Participants had the most alignment on:
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FAQs
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Volunteer
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List of NJ State Parks
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Lists of historical locations
(These consistently fell where expected.)
Participants struggled most with:
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Activities like camping, hiking, fishing
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Content with overlapping themes
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Items that could logically belong to 2+ places
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Items tied to subpages rather than categories
Recommendations
Move Camping Reservations under Parks & Forests
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5 out of 6 participants sorted it there.
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Users see camping as a park activity, not a standalone category.
Reorganize fishing + hunting
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Put hunting under Parks & Forests
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Put fishing under Marinas
Participants consistently separated the two.
Rename “Get Involved” to “Contact Us”
Participants often confuse Get Involved with general contact information.​
A new Contact Us category could include:
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volunteer
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employment
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contact info
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inquiries
Move FAQs to the top navigation
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Participants repeatedly said it was hard to find.
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All six recommended surfacing it more clearly.
Add an “Activities” category
This would group:
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hiking
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boating
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camping
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fishing
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picnicking
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bird watching
This was the most common user request.
Evaluating Our Updated Navigation Through a Recommendation Tree Test
We ran a Recommendation Tree Test to validate our updated navigation structure and see whether the new labels aligned better with users’ expectations. This test helped us compare performance against the original tree test.​
Participants completed six scenario-based tasks (e.g., finding boating access, booking a campsite, contacting the park). We measured success rate, directness, navigation path, and clarity/ease ratings.
Key Findings
Golfing and Contact Information had the highest success and directness; users found these labels intuitive.
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Boating and Birthday/Event Planning performed better than before, but still caused some hesitation.
Camping vs. Camping Reservations and Historic Sites vs. Tours & Exhibits were often mistaken for one another.
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User feedback: Most participants rated the clarity and ease between 4.0 – 4.5/5, indicating overall improvement.
Updated Sitemap
After analyzing the results from our card sort and recommendation tree test, we redesigned the sitemap to create a more transparent, more intuitive structure. Our goal was to:
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Reduce overlap between categories
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Improve clarity for key tasks (e.g., camping reservations, boating access, contact info)
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Group similar content together so users don’t have to guess where information lives
Updated Wireframes
Using insights from all three tests, we rebuilt the key pages to reflect the improved navigation and labeling system. These updated wireframes focus on:
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Clearer labels (e.g., Golfing, Contact Information, Camping Reservations)
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Reduced cognitive load through reorganized sections
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Improved pathways to high-priority tasks like booking, planning, and contacting
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Stronger alignment with users' mental models revealed in tree test results
First-Click Test
(Redesigned Wireframes)
After refining our sitemap and wireframes, we ran a second round of First-Click Testing to see whether our redesign improved navigation clarity and task success.
We tested 8 realistic tasks, ranging from finding locations for activities like fishing or birdwatching to locating contact information to finding seasonal jobs. Each task used our redesigned homepage wireframe with updated labeling and expanded drop-downs.
We analyzed:
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Click accuracy
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Time to click
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Heatmaps + click clusters
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Follow-up clarity & ease ratings
This helped us evaluate where the redesign succeeded and where users still hesitated.
Key Findings
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Intuitive doesn’t always mean accurate.
Even when users felt the redesigned website was easier to navigate, accuracy didn’t always improve. This taught me that a design can look clean and feel simple, but still lack the cues users need to make decisions confidently.
Labels matter more than we think.
Tiny wording changes had a significant impact. Broad parent categories, such as “Activities,” were selected more often than specific sub-options. Clear, descriptive, action-oriented labels go a long way in supporting wayfinding.
User behavior exposes gaps designers can’t see.
Outlier clicks, hesitation, or repeated wrong choices showed exactly where our structure wasn’t doing enough. User actions reveal friction points far more honestly than assumptions do.
Visual hierarchy supports navigation.
Participants often chose categories that looked important or were visually prominent, even if they weren’t correct. This reinforced how much UI layout influences user paths, even before the content does.
Small IA improvements can create big wins.
The new “Seasonal Jobs” task showed how a simple label relocation can dramatically improve clarity, confidence, and task speed. Incremental changes can be just as impactful as major redesigns.
Our Top Recommendations
Final Reflections
Working on this redesign showed me just how transformative clear information architecture can be for a user’s experience, especially on a site as large and content-heavy as the New Jersey State Park Service. Breaking down the navigation, reorganizing labels, and testing each update helped me see how even small structural shifts can make a huge difference in how confidently users move through a website.
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This project also taught me the importance of designing for real user behavior, not just what seems logical on paper. Through multiple rounds of testing, I learned how valuable honest user feedback is, both when it validates a decision and when it challenges one. It pushed me to think more critically, ask better questions, and translate complex findings into clear, actionable recommendations for the NJ State Park Service team.
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Most of all, this project reminded me why I love UX design. Extraordinary experiences aren’t created in one perfect pass; they’re shaped through curiosity, iteration, and a willingness to listen.