The brief stated that ‘Libraries are a Community Hub’. Libraries are taking on a new role as the Digital Age has changed so many aspects of entertainment for people. Now the role of the library is to be a space for a diverse population. Our team was tasked with designing a product that will strengthen the relationship between the library and members of the community. We needed to research, discover, and define the needs of the community to find a product that ould accomplish this task. To start we would conduct exploratory research, find meaning by synthesizing the data from the research, and communicate our observations. From there we would practice ideation techniques, create prototypes, test, and iterate until we had the makings of a product that would help libraries maintain the role of a community hub.
The first step was to conduct subject matter expert (SME) interviews. For my SME interview, I met with a local library branch manager in Peoria IL. Jamie was able to tell me about services they provide and how people utilized the library to meet personal goals. She told me she spends a lot of time helping people at the computer banks. She told me most of the time she receives positive feedback from visitors. Her biggest frustration was programs are promoted well. I found meeting with Julie to be informative. I was eager to get started on our project. I was already thinking of a solution; an app that promotes events and programs.
For our competitive analysis we looked at what other organizations were doing that might compete with libraries. The institutions we reviewed were in both the private and public sectors. We looked to see if they were vying for the same visitors that also frequent libraries. Our team researched a variety of these organizations to see what they were doing keep people coming back and how technology was being utilized to assist in this process. We researched museums, township events, sporting camps, educational camps, and park districts. We even looked at churches as indirect competitors since they too provide space for the community.
We found that all of the direct competitors use technology with an online presence and provided downloadable apps. Competitor such as the Museum of Science and Industry were very involved in utilizing cutting edge technology. MakerLabs also used technology. We circled back and looked at how libraries were teaching new skills and becoming ‘entrepreneurial hubs’. We were starting to find answers to our question on how to make the library more relevant to communities. Instead of loaning books and being a place for entertainment, maybe the library could focus on more career service options.
After the interviews we synthesized the data through affinity diagraming. We did this remotely, online with a program called Miro. It was an interesting learning experience on how to effectively approach top-down organization and then bottom-up for creating higher level, overarching statements. Doing this as a group remotely made the process longer than I anticipated and it was difficult to see what everyone was doing in their little corners of screen. In the end we did a good job of synthesizing and organizing. We were able to move into our problem statement and design principles.
Our problem statement was, ‘Individuals needing career assistance, want a tool to meet with people who are willing to share their career interests and create a meaningful, intentional, and genuine connection in a welcoming space, in order to confidently move forward in a positive and purposeful direction.’ The accompanying design principles were Cultivate Relationships, Facilitate Learning, Fulfilling Experience, Empower Individuals, and Reputable. These helped to direct us to making a digital product that would support career services offered by the library. We felt this was an area that was somewhat underappreciated in comparison to other programs offered, such as children’s story times. We also thought this would be a great direction to start getting a section of the population to appreciate the library as a community meeting place.
To look at that population more closely, we developed some user personas to capture the behaviors and beliefs of those in need of free career services. Shaun represented the segment of the visitors who needs some direction in his life. He has been working in sales, but feels he needs a career change. He has an idea of what he wants to do, but need someone to mentor him through his journey. Marie represented another segment that turns to the library for help in her current career role. She utilizes the library to learn and train for her required certifications she needs for her job a s a social worker. She is a single mother on a fixed income, so the free career services at the library really help with her limited budget.
We developed some context scenarios to create snapshots on how the personas would use the app for the library’s career services. This informed us on how to develop the customer journey map. The customer journey tracks Shaun as he uses his home computer and smartphone to locate a local library branch, find a bus route, RSVP’s to a career building event at the library, network with other attendees, and then schedules for a future career event. This gave the team insight on how and why a digital product could help users with the library’s career services options.
We were introduced to the 6-8-5 sketching method during this phase of the project. The idea was to spend about 5 minutes on 6 – 8 sketches to develop concepts. While I was excited to get to draw, I didn’t feel I made much progress with this process. My focus was on creating a series of screens a user might flow through to find career events. The rest of the team thought the flow worked well. As we moved on in the project the events concept was eventually abandoned.
The paper prototypes provided to be more useful in helping developing my ideas. The concept I worked on focused on selecting a mentor through the app that individuals could meet with at the library. My paper prototypes were put into Marvel so the flow between pages could be tested. The results showed I needed to work on my visual hierarchy more, radio buttons needed to be rearranged to visually correspond with a mentor, and buttons were enlarged for better visibility.
Before we organized the app map, our team tested nine users in a card sorting activity using Opti Sort. Our profile content results showed that users grouped items with what we had in mind. Other areas, such as the discussion board, seemed to confuse users. We realized we needed be intentional about where this content should live to make sure easily accessible for users. In the end, we found what we needed to include and how best to organize it.
Following the app map, we created task flows in InVision. We did a good job of not only building out the main features, but also including the intermediary screens. However, we did focus on the optimal process, forgetting to develop responses if a user went through a less than optimal path. For example, what if a user couldn’t find a mentor near them? We needed to find ways to address the failed states and error handling components.
Just as I was getting comfortable in Sketch, we moved into Axure for our mid-fidelity prototypes. First glance at the events panel left me with the impression knowing JavaScript would have been very beneficial to utilize all the bells and whistles Axure had to offer. However, my prior experience with Action Scripting, I wasn’t completely overwhelmed. It didn’t take long for me to stitch my screens together in the program. Due to time constraints I went from point A to B quickly without really taking the software for a longer test drive.
We did have a workable prototype to test, but not everything was functioning. I think in a different scenario, where everything was functioning we would be able to see how a user might unintentionally use future products. I felt there were too many instructions that had to be spelled out before users could begin the test. I was curious to see if this is proper protocol. It seemed a poor combination of cognitive overload and restricting natural spontaneity within the product. This became even more evident when I was asked to perform a test on a remote user, where I failed to provide all the specifics prior. The user was unable to complete the task, which left me questioning how users would interact with the app without someone around to give specific instructions. We found including modals curtailed this situation.
Once we finished our usability testing, we made the necessary changes, such as adding the modal screens, to the Sketch file and annotated them. This was my first time to annotate my wireframes. I felt it wasn’t difficult, especially dividing the information between UI and UX specifications. I am looking forward to working more closely with a development team of software engineers to have a better understanding of what they will need in the final annotations. I did hear a software engineer instructor speak to the importance of annotations for him in his work experiences. It does sound like there may be some language barriers at first, but now that I’m aware of it, I will make it a point to keep it in mind for future projects.
It took a while to understand the card sorting to help organize the content in the app map. I think it had mostly to do with my preconceived notions of how I thought it should be arranged. I found I need to approach organizing content with a more open mind and focusing on the user’s expectations.
My skills in Sketch progressed during this project. My first exposure to Axure left me feeling competent, but knowing there was much more to learn. I certainly look forward to building out more complex and complete Axure prototypes in the future. I think this will allow for testing that requires less direction for users, which I believe in turn will give greater insight to usability.
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