Improved Engagement at London Libraries
Concept ideation for increasing the engagement of library visitors in London. The team's design philosophy focused on innovation and user-centricity, ensuring that every aspect of the product enhances the experience and simplifies the user journey. We meticulously processed the gained insights to identify opportunities for the libraries to implement to achieve their goal of increased engagement. By prioritising the needs and preferences of users, we ideated products that are practical and delightful to interact with.
Timeline
2023
Role
Project Manager UX Researcher UX Designer
Tools
Miro Qualtrics Figma
Problem
The team found one major opportunity that needed to be addressed; the current system does not have a clear discoverability process for the numerous weekly free events that the library of Woolwich hosts for its visitors.
Solution
The formulated solution was to implement a series of interactive Kiosk to be added throughout the library’s floor, as a system for library visitors to discover weekly events, learn more and register their interest.
My team and I created a blueprint to follow for the user research phase. Research began by doing some secondary research to understand the population of Woolwoich, and therefore the demographic of the Library's visitors. Research continues with some sessions at the Woolwich Library observing users interact with the different services; some o the observed users participated in individual interviews to learn more about individual needs. This exercise proved useful as it helped us understand the various needs and opportunities of the library and its users.
Persona
The team and I created a persona from the interviews with users and the subsequent empathy maps. We used this practice to encapsulate the characteristics of a typical user of the Woolwich Library. I used this persona throughout the conceptual and detailed design to inform decisions and make sure they aligned with the personas' behaviours.
Current user journeys helped us find the most appropriate solutions to the users’ needs and goals. We created this starting from the personas and further analysing the interviews we had with real users; current user journeys were also used as a comparison with future user journeys after the design of the solution was complete.
Three iterations of wireframes were conducted. An expert peer-review informed the second version of the wireframes, by highlighting potential improvements. The third iteration of wireframes was informed by the usability testings discussed below.
After completing a pilot for the Usability Testing, the team realised that due to the natural size of the screen, the user could not fully understand the product they were testing. The laptop screen was too small to include the entire digital product screen, and when zooming out, the text was too difficult to read for them to perform any reasonable action. For this reason, the team decided to create a version of paper prototypes to test with.
Research continues with some sessions at the Woolwich Library observing users interact with the different services; some of the observed users participated in individual interviews to learn more about individual needs. This exercise proved useful as it helped us understand the various needs and opportunities of the library and its users.