Method

Challenge: The original HRP platform had significant usability challenges that made browsing and requesting packages inefficient and confusing. Additionally, the site structure could not accommodate new hospitality package structures introduced for the Milan 2026 Olympics.

Questions: How can we reduce complexity and improve clarity in the process of requesting Olympic hospitality packages? How can we translate complex package rules into an intuitive, user-friendly flow?

Goals:

1) Streamline the package request process

2) Improve transparency

3) Fix known pain points

4) Align the platform with Milan 2026 branding

Demographics: Corporate stakeholders with limited technical expertise but deep knowledge of hospitality packages.

Discovery & Research

I began by conducting a thorough review of the platform and engaging key stakeholders:

• Stakeholder Interviews: Met with the Product Manager (PM) to understand business goals, constraints, and key performance indicators (KPIs). We aligned on launch feasibility and scope.

• Context Gathering: Investigated the end-to-end user journey, reviewed past user research, and documented known pain points.

Key Insights:

• The information architecture was unclear, hindering users from efficiently locating relevant hospitality packages.

• Package request workflows were fragmented, leading to user confusion.

• Backend approval processes were opaque, leading to user confusion when a requested package turned out to be unavailable.

• Users could only view three packages at a time, requiring excessive clicks to navigate through options.

• Request limits were not clearly communicated.

Strategy and Planning

Although the initial ask was to reskin the site and fix "low-hanging" issues, my design partner and I recommended a holistic redesign to better address user pain points and support new business requirements. Together with the PM, we prioritized features, defined a project roadmap, and set realistic milestones.

Design Execution

The design execution began with a complete overhaul of the platform’s information architecture to enhance discoverability and streamline the request process. Collaborating closely with my design partner, we mapped out user flows that guided users through browsing, selecting, and requesting hospitality packages. This comprehensive reorganization addressed pain points related to navigation and package visibility. We then developed a design system rooted in Milan 2026 Olympic branding, leveraging elements from our e-commerce platform to ensure consistency. Foundational components, such as navigation patterns, card layouts, and form elements, provided a scalable framework for future iterations.

We started with the homepage, recognizing its pivotal role in shaping the user experience across the portal. This design laid the structural and visual groundwork, emphasizing intuitive navigation and clear request organization. With the homepage solidified, we advanced to crafting the Create Request process, focusing on simplification and step-by-step guidance. This streamlined approach significantly reduced redundancy. Finally, we worked on secondary pages, delivering a holistic and consistent user interface throughout the platform.

Collaboration

Collaboration was a core element of the project’s success. My design partner and I worked closely, continuously iterating on each other’s ideas and refining solutions together. We established a design dashboard to manage tasks, document design decisions, and track progress transparently. Additionally, we held biweekly design syncs with the Product Manager and business analyst, ensuring alignment, addressing challenges promptly, and incorporating valuable feedback. Daily meetings with engineers helped us clarify technical constraints, resolve implementation questions, and stay aligned on development progress. This cross-functional partnership was key to delivering a robust and user-centered platform.

We faced limitations that prevented us from creating an ideal end-to-end experience:

• Payment Integration: Ideally, users would complete package purchases directly within HRP. Due to technical dependencies, we had to rely on an external platform for invoicing and payment. This caused asynchronous status updates, leading to delayed visibility into payment completion within the portal.

• Manual Status Updates: Payment statuses required manual entry, which impacted the real-time accuracy of request tracking.

42% Increase in Task Success Rate: The redesigned platform improved users' ability to submit hospitality requests efficiently.

This project reinforced the importance of challenging initial assumptions when addressing legacy design. By proposing a full redesign instead of a simple reskin, we delivered a solution that aligned with evolving business needs while enhancing the user experience. Future improvements would include deeper platform integration for real-time payment processing.