Project duration

2 Weeks

Project team

Tadé Onipede | Project Manager
Shivani Gill | Interaction Designer

Primary persona

Julie Moore, 38 yr old mother
of two.

Background

Founded in 1942, the King County Library System is a public library system with 50 locations, a traveling library center, a mobile TechLab, the ABC Express children’s library van, circulates 22.4 millions items, and serves over 703,000 Washington patrons. Their headquarters are in Issaquah Washington and it is currently the busiest library system in the United States.

Objective

Once I analyzed the website and the native app, it was clear that there were many issues that needed to be addressed. This included: updating the user interface, simplifying user flow, establishing better tracking of holds, and fulfilling the user need for a quick and simple way to search and place ebooks on hold with clear notifications when ebooks are available.

Research
methodology

I applied five main methods of UX research—survey, field study, user interviews, affinity mapping, and usability testing—to explore and uncover the underlying issues and frustrations users were facing when using the King County Library Systems app.

Field Study

I started my research into the King County Library with field study. My goal was to understand how the library patrons use and interact with the library environment. This method allowed me to explore how patrons behaviors and experiences shaped their expectations of library services. One of my goals was to investigate how the management perceives the business goals.

Surveys & Interviews

My research strategy on this project was to first find and explore the scope of the user base. The goal was to cast a wide net through surveys posted on social media, Reddit, and Next Door. Once I had a wide user base I could narrow the scope of the users through follow-up interviews.

“I cast a wide net to explore the scope of our user base.”

Usability testing

I created task scenarios and conducted baseline usability testing on the current King County Library native app. This allowed me to establish and confirm user pain points, challenges, thoughts, and behaviors. Once our Interaction Designer applied our findings in prototype I conducted more usability testing to confirm our design choices were on track.

Surveys

I designed the surveys to establish a first round of screening and answer three important questions about KCLS App users:

• Who uses the KCLS app?

• What type of phone our users use?

• What are the most common reading apps that our users use?

Below is an example of some of the information I collected through the survey.

There were 83 responses to the survey and three important findings emerged.

What I discovered

1. Our 55% of our users have iPhones. This validated that we should start our app redesign for IOS first.

2. The top three most used reading apps were Overdrive, Libby, and Kindle.

3. Only 20.5% of the 83 individuals who answered the survey have the King County Library System app.

Recruiting users

The survey provided a first round of screening and seven individuals were willing to schedule follow-up phone and in-person interviews.

“I scheduled seven in-person and phone follow-up interviews.”

Bellevue
location

I approached the field research with an ethnographic lens. This allowed me to explore proxemics and conduct seven informal interviews.

The staff member at the main information desk explained the types of patrons that frequented the library. She explained the intention the library has to unify the experience across all 50 of its locations.

“The library’s goal is to unify the experience for its patrons across all 50 of its locations.”

Business goals

The three main business goals of the King County Library.

Free + Community + Accessibility

Free Free access to all users. The mission is to provide features, activities, and media/physical and digital for free.

Community
Community building focus and support.

Accessibility
It is available to everyone regardless of any disabilities or language preference.

Informal interviews

While I was walking around the library I stopped and spoke to five patrons using different parts of the facility.

1. One college student from the University of Washington.

2. Two mothers, each with two children, the first with children ages six and four years old, and the second with one teenage son, age 13 and a daughter age eleven.

3. One Father with his five-year-old son - he was reading out loud with him in a quiet corner.

4. One working professional

The mothers had more similar stories. They come to get books out of the library with their kids. one mother brought the kids to the library to do their homework. Both mothers also bring them for community events like the Summer Reading Programs.

Primary persona

I synthesized the characteristics of the users I interviewed and developed this persona. As KCLS has such a large and diverse user base, it would be very valuable to develop at least three more personas do represent other user needs.

Exploring the
user scenario

Now, that I created a primary persona I wanted to explore the emotional arc Julie would take before and after the update in the KCLS app. This was to assist in communicating her experience to stakeholders.

Storyboards

I created a storyboard illustrate Julie’s experience using the KCLS app. It starts with her cooking and listening to NPR. She hears about a book that she wants to read and opens the KCLS app to find it. She searches for one and a half hours before giving up because she is unable to find the hold button. In a few months, Julie's husband tells her that KCLS has an app update. She quickly downloads the new update and easily places the book on hold.

Hypothesis

We believe that by simplifying the process of placing an ebook on hold, we will minimize the effort and frustration of reserving an ebook. We will know this to be true when our usability test shows significant time reduction in the process.

Competitive analysis

I compared other library apps to identify the main features that each had. I explored the clarity and limitations within the basic user flows.

User flow diagram

I created a user flow diagram to best understand the decision path Julie would take for putting an e-book or a book on hold. This was created to help build out the navigation and establish where I should focus my redesign to the KCLS app within the time constraints.

New sitemap

Through the synthesis of my research it was clear that users mostly used the KCLS app to borrow e-books. I sketched out the original sitemap of the KCLS app to understand how it was laid out. I wanted to delve into the places where the app didn’t work, what could be streamlined or simplified, and what things might be important to keep.

I drew out the new sitemap based on the goals of the user and streamlined the user experience. I changed the names for the navigation to better alien with the users mental model and be intuitive.

Usability testing

To help explore new ideas for features, better understand users behaviors and to see what their unmet needs might be, I had five users perform three basic tasks scenarios.This also allowed me to set a baseline for user metrics.

All but one of the five users failed the download task. Most gave up early on in the process. Interestingly, when I asked about their experience, I was told that this was not a hard task and reassured me that KCLS had great services. 

First iteration

I conducted one round of usability testing with the lo-fi prototype created by the Interaction Designer. This gave us good feedback that we were on the right track with our new designs.

Sketches

After the team project was completed, I sketched out concepts for the redesign based on the synthesis of my research and user feedback to implement my own design solutions. Sketching allowed me to explore the concepts quickly.

Wireframes

Once I settled on the concepts I moved into Sketch to create digital wireframes and a click through prototype.

Style guide

Typography
I chose two typefaces with the goal of aligning the users mental model of reading and literature. I wanted it to be clear, and legible.

Color palette
For the hi-fi prototype, I derived a color palette from the KCLS brand colors which aligned with the users concept of education, learning, and knowledge. With an intent to elicit the thought of learning and community building. 

Icons
For the icon selection, I chose simple line based icons to align with the user feedback and clarity on a small screen. These icons needed to align to the users mental model and assist them finding what they need.

Hi-fi Prototype

My strategy for creating the hi-fi prototype included implementing user research and usability findings. As 55% of the users used iPhones I applied the principles of Apple Human Interface Guidelines, to explore design patterns and unify the overall shape language.

Next steps

Further usability testing
I would like to continue forward with more rounds of usability testing with the current flow. Then, build out the full app based on user needs. I feel that this will round out the app and make it more consistent and up to date.

Build out the rest of the app
It is important to build out the rest of the app. This means exploring other user flows and implementing other user needs and pain points. I will amend this project and redesign the wireframes based on my own interpretation of my user research.

Reflections

Information architecture
Throughout this process I learned a lot about the importance of information architecture and the its role in shaping the intuitive nature of an app or website design. This deepened understanding, helped me explore new applications of UX tools like affinity mapping, comparative and competitive analysis and card sorting.

Research budget
I think one of the most important things when starting a project is to establish the budget of the research. I spent over $100 out of pocket to compensate my users for their time and efforts.

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