Work
Library Mobile App
The Challenge
How do you promote all the programs, services, and benefits of a modern public library?
Client
My Roles
Teammates
Timeline
Concept Project for Public LIbraries
Project Mgr, Lead UX Researcher, UX Designer
Natalie Woo and Tyler Gates
Dec 2023 / 2.5 Weeks Design Sprint
The Brief
The Brief
Revamp the user experience of a local library's app to showcase its diversified offerings.
Explore and present the range of items available for lending, along with programs and services offered.
Consider how the redesigned app can positively reshape the common perception of libraries, focusing on enhancing awareness about their varied services and programs.
Determine the target user(s) of this app.
Determine the Information Architecture for all services, programs, and benefits.
Create a search engine (concept) that doesn’t flood the user with tons of options.
Constraints
Choose a “local” library
Create a POC mobile or tablet app
Use iOS (HIG) or Android (Material Design)
Library app access is limited to card holders of that library
Tools
Figma and Figjam
Trello
Clockify
ZOOM
Fathom AI
SF Symbols and Fonts (Apple iOS HIG)
G Suite
Slack
Getting Started
With only 16 days to do this design project, we needed to get up and running FAST.
Deliverables
Public Library Offerings Analysis
Group Trello Board
Clockify Workspace
Project Time Estimates
The team kicked off the project on 12/6/23 by assigning tasks to each other. Given my consulting background, I volunteered to do the project management role and prioritized putting together a project plan, while the rest of the team focused on researching major libraries in the US and their avant-garde library offerings and services.
My first step was to break the project down into seven (7) phases [ADD PROCESS IMAGE BELOW showing the 7 phases], each with a detailed list of activities (created as Trello cards), and each activity with embedded checklists, start dates, and due dates. The phases were as follows: Startup, Research, Synthesis, Design, Prototype, Test, and Present.
To be able to track our time, I set up a Clockify board, assigning a unique project number for every activity, which worked great for timesheets.
Once I completed these tasks, we met as a team too color code each Trello card to track who would lead that activity, and then added members to each card, signifying which team members would be involved.
Digging In
When's the last time you checked out your local public library's website? Chances are it's a bit dated.
Deliverables
Research Plan / User Interview Questions
Library Offerings Landscape
Competitive/Comparative Analysis (Design)
User Interview Videos, Summaries and Transcripts
Online Survey
Public libraries have a lot in common in their digital efforts. Most don't have the funding or staff to invest in their online presence or in creating and managing mobile applications. Thus, a lot of library websites are pretty clunky.
We searched dozens of public library websites and narrowed down our list to eight (8) that seemed to be best in class. Of those eight, LAPL stood out for its breadth of offerings, its multiple media labs and maker spaces, and its other non-traditional library offerings (e.g., memory labs). Those attributes plus a welcoming design aesthetic led us to choose LAPL for our project.
We noted that LAPL's mobile app (above right) was not as thoughtfully designed as their website and seemed to have limited functionality. We suspect that most libraries that have a mobile app pay a vendor to host their content on the vendor's white label app. This would count for the differences in design aesthetic.
Competitive Analysis
We also started benchmarking the designs and functionality of other library applications, looking for patterns and heuristics around how users access library services. Three of the best we found were the New York public library, San Diego PL, and the Libby app, a fan favorite.
User Research
I planned the initial user research phase of the project, identifying the research objectives, key decisions to be made, and an initial set of questions for our initital interview targets: "library gurus" (people who work at libraries) and current library users.
As the team learned, I continued to update the research plan, sharpening its focus and attempting to keep the team on the same page while we all moved forward with interviews.
Stakeholder Interviews
Two days after we kicked off the project, I interviewed a philanthropy director who works closely with Denver Public Library (DPL). We did a deep dive into how DPL was investing in counseling resources and other services, and how they had just launched a mobile app. Subsequently, I conducted three interview with DPL employees
Later sharing this initial interview with the team, we finalized four types of users to interview: library users, non-users, library gurus, and people who is passionate about making things, either physically or digitally.
User Interviews
The team interviewed eleven (11) potentially users with a good cross-section of passionate library users, non-users, and makers, the latter to get feedback LAPL's media labs and other "avant guard" library offerings.
My primary tool for documenting user interviews was ZOOM paired with Fathom AI, which generated a video recording, interview summary, and transcript of all my interviews.
Key Learnings
Perceptions of libraries stratify across generational lines: older users tended to be more passionate about libraries while younger users perceived them as being outdated and old-fashioned.
Users who were passionate about libraries tended to have formative childhood experiences around libraries that have stayed with them throughout their adulthood.
Even those who perceived libraries as being outdated were intrigued and a little excited about non-traditional services like media labs and borrowing power tools.
Not (yet) Ready for Design
Given the scope of the project, it was important to get a variety of viewpoints, which left us with A LOT of data that needed to be synthesized quickly.
Deliverables
User Insights and themes(Affinity Mapping)
Personas
Problem and Solution Statements
Feature Prioritization
Site Map
Affinity Mapping
In preparation for a Figjam session, each of us converted our notes into virtual stickies as well as summarized the key learnings that would be most helpful for crafting personas later (see above).
Next, each team member assembled their own user data into clusters of I-statements, e.g., "I love exercising my creativity" and "I'm now aware of what libraries offer"), Then through two marathon ZOOM sessions, the team did multiple iterations of combining (and breaking apart) I-statements to build clusters of overall themes. We did this until we we felt like the themes were actionable for persona development.
In total, we developed over 60 different themes.
Persona Development
The key now was to determine which theme or dimension would help us most differentiate two or more personas. We focused on identifying attitudes and behaviors that could help us segment users into distinct consumer targets.
To do this, we tried multiple combinations of continuums on X and Y axes, and then mapped each of the interviewees on the resultant graph to see where we might have user clusters.
The continuum from library skeptic to library enthusiast worked well as a differentiator and became the Y-axis.
After trying out various other dimensions, we chose a continuum of spending more time consuming media (books, videos, etc.) to spending more time creating and making as our X-axis.
This final persona matrix resulted in two different clusters: one, a library enthusiast user who still used the library for accessing media (mostly borrowing ebooks and audiobooks), and two, a "maker" user who was open to using libraries if creative tools were available (think media labs, 3D printers, borrowing power tools). We named them Katrina and Carson.
We decided not to create a third persona for those users who were more skeptical of libraries. Based on our research and past experience, marketing to highly skeptical library users would not be a wise investment for LAPL.
NEEDS
Always wants to have a digital book on hand
Wants to be more informed on her local library resources
Will always support library funding.
PAINS
Gets confused with the process and apps involved with getting ebooks onto her kindle
Waiting for the book she wants to read
Hates waiting for the next book to come out in a series
BEHAVIORS
Avid reader. Her biggest hobby
Consumes video content, esp Netflix
Primarily uses the library’s website to access ebooks (kindle) or audiobook
Exposed her child at an early age to libraries
ATTITUDES/ BELIEFS
Passionate about libraries and the services they provide, especially for underprivileged people
Wants to learn more about her library services
Loves the convenience of being able to access and store many books on her Kindle
Problem and Solution Statements
Now that we had well defined personas in Katrina and Cameron, it was time to formulate their problem statements.
Katrina
Katrina needs a better way to discover how to engage with her new local library because she just moved to the city and doesn’t know how to get more involved.
Carson
Carson, a recent college grad, needs access to a cost-friendly recording space because he no longer has access to his college music production studio and he doesn't have the funds to buy his own equipment.
Solution Statement
Create a new mobile app for LAPL that provides a personalized user experience that promotes relevant services and programs based on the unique needs and interests of the user.
Feature Prioritization
To kick things off, we decided that this mobile app would encompass ALL offerings of the LAPL. (alternatively, we considered an app solely focused on the library's media labs.) Given the importance of providing a customized experience to their users, this approach seemed more in the spirit of the brief.
With that decision made, the team came up with a large list of possible mobile app features:
Information arch and navigation Improvements
Personalization and custom notifications
Phone-based library orientation
Digital memberships incl. media labs
Booking reservations for resources and spaces
Homepage spotlights
Integration with Libby, Kanopy, and Hoopla
Search experience
Octavia Lab redesign
Persistent access to video “how to” content
Events
Improve access
Integration with 3D virtual spaces
What’s popular in the library (e.g., IG scroll)
Next, we did a Moscow analysis of these features, and came up with the following must's, should's, could's, and wont's.
Site Map
The final step before we could begin our designs was reimagining the information architecture for the entire LA Public Library. This was obviously no small task so we needed to limit the scope of what we would touch. One of my teammates initiated this process by downloading the current site map for the LAPL (and it is massive!).
Then through a series of collaborative card sorting exercises, we came up with the following site mat that we would use for initial sketches and wireframes.
Starting Design
Deliverables
Design System (HIG)
Design Studio
Sketches
Lo-fi wireframes
Sketching
These are the experiences and designs we honed over the course of four days:
Online eCard application and registration
First login experience stub
Profile setup, used in the personalization of the app
Reserving materials
Reserving time at Octavia Media Lab
Home screen
Profile screen
Events screen
Once we were sketching we realized that the global navigation from our site map draft would not provide a efficient user experience because it would involve too many clicks. We needed a direct way of accessing more of the libraries content, plus easy access to the entire site map.
You can see how we started integrating new navigation in the screens below, including the addition of a new row of nav below the permanent search bar and the hamburger menu in the bottom nav.
Home screen
This homepage sketch shows an Instagram-like feed of popular library offerings
Hamburger Overlay
Shows a list of favorites and then a series of buttons for direct access to library offerings
Media Studio
In this sketch, we envisioned showing a 3D model of the media lab (Matterport)
Design Inspiration
We drew inspiration from these mobile apps for our need to express multiple levels of navigation. Both peloton.com and opentable.com helped us formulate how we would use up to three levels of navigation in the app. We also drew inspiration from Amazon.com for the hamburger menu overlay.
Peloton
Amazon
OpenTable
Design Iteration
As we moved from sketching into wireframes, we iterated quickly, testing with users on a daily basis.
Wireframing and Testing
We had a compressed timeframe to get user feedback and progress our designs for the final presentation. User testing occurred over a span for four (4) days. As such, we conducted user testing over a span of four days, with the first test done on a combination of sketches and simple lo-fi wireframes, and the last test done on a high-fidelity mockup.
MId-fidelity wireframes for three of the priority experiences can be seen in the carousel below.
Deliverables
Lo-Mid Fi Prototype
User Testing Summaries
Recommended Design Changes
User Feedback
Functionality
Setting up a home branch location is important
Users use library names not addresses for their favorite location
Events filer - need 1. age group, 2. location, and 3. and obv date
Users like to see their reading/ loan history
Make personalization optional with default opt out
The difference between library Card and eCard was not clear
Make the eCard registration one scrollable form
Design
Drop the saturation on the background for increased contrast
Increase side margins in general on the app
Increase “white space” on the homepage among all of the images
Increase the legibility of text overlays on homepage images
Users liked the library card icon overlay on the homepage, but need a way to spotlight it so users can see it
Hi-Fi Mockup Prototype
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© Robert Eisenbach 2024