[ The challenge ]
Vasaloppet, the world's largest cross-country ski race (1.9 million participants since 1922), had a website packed with everything from history, race info, applications, news, weather updates but no clear focus on who the primary user was.
The site was hard to navigate, tried to serve both first-time participants needing guidance and elite skiers wanting quick race registration, and struggled with a "race mode" requirement to surface time-sensitive information (weather, parking, results) without breaking the structure.
[ What I did ]
- Facilitated workshops with stakeholders to define primary vs. secondary users
- Conducted content inventory and audit—sorting what to keep, remove, or create
- Clustered content into logical groups and carved out a clear structure
- Designed sitemap balancing flexibility with clear navigation hierarchy
- Designed wireframes for main pages prioritizing first-time participants while maintaining elite user shortcuts
- Took over the ongoing work with product design bades on the design library. For example the "race mode" solution with shortcuts and contextual information based on user needs without disrupting main structure
[ The solution ]
A navigation structure that guides newcomers through the experience while keeping quick paths for returning participants. Race mode surfaces critical real-time info (weather, traffic, results) through smart shortcuts that don't break the main site structure.
[ The outcome ]
First phase launched in time for winter races 2026. Tools to measure data has been implemented and a workshop for Q3 and Q4 is being planned.
The workshop is being created to investigate two things: first, to identify how the project has progressed so far (a retrospective). Second, to establish a plan based on the prioritized projects ("My Pages" and the application flow), in combination with items in the backlog, essential hygiene fixes (ensuring that development, structure, and design are aligned), and the continued design of the modules and blocks needed.
