Axelos, the global home of ITIL® and PRINCE2® certifications, needed a complete digital transformation. Its website served users in more than 200 countries but had serious usability and accessibility gaps. I led the UX/UI redesign, from research and information architecture to a WCAG 2.1 AA design system.
Overview
Axelos owns the world’s most widely used best-practice frameworks, including ITIL®, PRINCE2®, MSP® and AgileSHIFT®. The site is where professionals, organisations and training partners learn about these certifications, compare them and find a way to get certified.
The old site packed in too much content, buried product value and offered no clear path to enrolment, all while needing to meet strict UK Government accessibility standards.
The challenge
Approach
Clear organisation, visual hierarchy, shorter sections and obvious calls to action.
Explain what makes each certification useful, with strong visuals and real stories.
Simpler journeys, great mobile experience, plain language and A/B testing.
Design process
A collaborative, iterative process that moved from understanding the client to a documented, reusable component library.
Clarify the client’s objectives and what they hope to achieve.
Audit the existing site for strengths, weaknesses and gaps.
Map where users enter and how they reach key tasks.
Lay out structure first, without colours or images.
Add realistic interactions that mimic the final product.
Build a library of reusable components with usage notes.
Stakeholders
UK Government stakeholders, as co-owners of Axelos, required strict accessibility compliance. Marketing wanted visually rich, animation-heavy pages.
I proposed progressive enhancement: every core function fully accessible, with optional animation that respects reduced-motion preferences. Both sides approved, and the site passed WCAG AA on its first audit.
Audience
Roles
Timeline
Iterative phases over about 15 weeks: stakeholder alignment and discovery, then research and validation, then wireframes and high-fidelity design refined through reviews and testing. The final phase covered handoff, accessibility validation and build support.
Research
Interviews, open card sorting and task analysis showed that the site’s structure reflected internal taxonomy, not how users think.
Navigation categories reflected internal taxonomy, so users hesitated and explored several sections before finding anything.
Design impact: restructured the IA around users’ mental models, which led directly to card sorting.
Participants grouped content by what they wanted to do (learn, apply, download) rather than by CMS feature.
Design impact: navigation and content grouped around user goals, with less internal jargon.
Users avoided deep hierarchies and finished tasks faster when filters were available early.
Design impact: reduced category depth and promoted high-value filters.
Different names for the same thing caused second-guessing and rechecking.
Design impact: standardised terms across navigation, content and filters.
Market
Axelos competes with other certification bodies directly and with online learning platforms indirectly. I assessed each across six dimensions.
PeopleCert and APMG International offer overlapping IT and project-management certifications, including ITIL and PRINCE2.
Coursera, Udemy and LinkedIn Learning offer flexible individual courses that compete for the same learners.
Define
Two personas captured the main tension: an individual professional choosing a certification, and an organisational buyer planning one at scale.
Sarah manages IT operations and service delivery at a mid-sized tech firm. She aligns IT processes with business goals and is exploring ITIL® certification to raise her team’s efficiency and credibility.
Analytical, goal-oriented and pragmatic. Values clarity, structure and growth.
James oversees professional development across a large public-sector organisation. He is evaluating PRINCE2® and MSP® to standardise project delivery and upskill internal teams.
Strategic, collaborative and detail-focused. Values credibility and stakeholder alignment.
Journey
Eight touchpoints decide whether a visitor becomes a certified professional. Each one got a clear improvement target.
| Touchpoint | User type | Importance | Current pain points | Improvement opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage | All (entry point) | Critical | Unclear value proposition, confusing navigation | Clear hero message, role-based pathways |
| Certification pathway pages | Professionals (consideration) | Critical | Complex structure, unclear progression | Visual roadmap, clear level descriptions |
| Course details & pricing | All (decision maker) | Critical | Hidden pricing, unclear inclusions | Transparent pricing, comparison tool |
| Enrolment process | All (action) | Critical | Multi-step form, unclear next steps | Streamlined checkout, progress indicator |
| Learning platform access | Learners (post-purchase) | High | Login issues, unclear interface | Single sign-on, intuitive dashboard |
| Support resources | Learners (ongoing) | High | Hard to find help, slow response | Contextual help, live chat, FAQ |
| Exam booking | Certified candidates | High | Limited availability, complicated process | Easy scheduling, multiple options |
| Credential verification | Certified professionals | High | Slow verification, unclear process | Digital credentials, quick verification |
Recommendations
Recommendations were prioritised by impact on conversion and accessibility, and each came with an expected impact we could measure.
Priority 1 · Critical improvements
Issue: Users don’t immediately understand what Axelos does.
Issue: Certification pathways are confusing and hard to visualise.
Issue: Pricing is unclear and hard to compare.
Priority 2 · Feature enhancements
Current state: Multi-step form process.
Current state: Unclear next steps after enrolment.
Current state: Limited community engagement.
Priority 3 · Design polish & accessibility
Current state: Optimise for mobile users on the go.
Current state: Accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.
Low-fidelity wireframes
Each greyscale wireframe follows the layout of its final screen block for block: the same header, hero, content rhythm and footer. Stakeholders signed off structure, content order and accessibility notes before any brand styling.
Design
A clean, editorial visual language with Axelos crimson and teal accents, diagonal image crops and generous white space.
Rationale
Each major decision traces back to a research finding and a measurable outcome.
| Design area | Rationale | Key decision | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research-led approach | Users faced discoverability and navigation challenges | Anchored decisions in research, usability testing and card sorting | Decisions reflect real behaviour, not assumptions |
| Information architecture | Navigation was the main source of friction | Open card sorting for discovery, closed for validation; simpler hierarchy | Better findability and faster orientation |
| Goal-driven navigation | Users arrive with clear goals | Flows from goal → discovery → refinement → action | Lower cognitive load, smoother journeys |
| Task flow design | Complex flows caused hesitation and drop-off | Progressive disclosure and step-by-step task flows | More task completion and confidence |
| Consistency | Inconsistent patterns created uncertainty | Standardised layouts, interactions and action placement | Predictable interactions, fewer errors |
| Filters & refinement | Users relied on filters more than deep navigation | Elevated high-value filters, reduced category depth | Faster narrowing and decisions |
| Accessibility & compliance | Platform had to be inclusive and compliant | Designed to UK GDS guidelines and WCAG 2.1 AA | Accessible and legally compliant |
| Scalability | Design had to support future growth | Modular components and scalable IA | Future-ready, lower maintenance cost |
Principles
Proven UX laws guided decisions where research alone didn’t settle the choice.
Applied: Navigation, page layouts and interactions follow established content-platform conventions.
Impact: Shorter learning curve, more confidence.
Applied: Smart defaults and filters move complexity from users into the system.
Impact: Powerful functionality without overwhelming users.
Applied: High-frequency actions and key CTAs made larger and placed consistently.
Impact: Faster tasks, fewer interaction errors.
Applied: Fewer visible options, grouped content and progressive disclosure.
Impact: Faster orientation, fewer abandoned paths.
Applied: Content chunked into meaningful groups with simpler hierarchies.
Impact: Better comprehension, smoother navigation.
Applied: A clean, structured, distraction-free UI with consistent type and spacing.
Impact: Higher perceived usability and professionalism.
Results
Results of the UX audit and GDS-standard redesign, for a platform serving 50,000+ users across 15 countries.
Course journey metrics
| Metric | Before | After | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course page to enrolment CTR | 10% | 18% | +80% relative |
| Time to decide | 72 hours | 24 hours | 3× faster decisions |
| Price-related drop-off | 20% | 8% | −60% price objections |
Closing
Questions or feedback? I’d love to hear them: yogeshmalikbe@gmail.com