Way-finding UX Research & Design
PROBLEM
Undergraduate students who have just started university find it difficult to navigate their way to their next class within buildings. Because of this, our research objective is to increase the feasibility of discovery and way-finding in a building within the University of Sydney. For the purposes of this research, we would like to focus on Fisher Library. Fisher Library has high volumes of students coming into the library, usually in order to study or socialise.
My Role
Ideation, UX research, user evaluations.
Group Members
Dilli Leoni, Jesslyn Harianto.
RESEARCH
The methodologies we used to gather data includes questionnaires, interviews, and observation.
The questionnaires compromised of both open and closed questions, and we distributed it to University of Sydney student, in which we ended up receiving more than 60 responses altogether.
For the interviews, we conducted a random guerrilla testing around the Fisher Library, with no particular segmentation of age or gender. We interviewed a total of 10 people at the site.
To support our interview and questionnaires, we also observed the behaviour of students who visit the Fisher Library. One of the methods is space mapping, in which we tracked the movement of students as they make their journey into Fisher Library.
FINDINGS
The results from the questionnaires showed that almost 60% of students rely on the signs for navigation purposes, but there is still a high percentage of students who self-browse and require assistance from a friend.
One of the hypothesis on why people self-browse is that they might not discover the signs in the first place, which is evident in the interview results.
Based on the interviews, we found that all interviewees were confused of the navigation system in Fisher Library when they first arrived. This is due to the confusing floor levels, as well as the low discoverability and low visibility of navigation signs with small text.
From this, we were able to deduce that the user's needs involved gaining more clarity on the floor level they are on, increase the discoverability of navigation signs, and have the signs placed in more locations around the library so that they no longer need extra assistance.
From space mapping, we managed to observe the variety of reasons people choose to come to Fisher Library, which includes to study, use the facilities (e.g. toilets, bubblers, etc.), and use the resources (e.g. books, computers, etc.). We also discovered people found it hard to find particular books, which led them to the information desk. The information desk is used quite frequently, indicating the unclarity of the navigation system. Computers were also commonly used by users at the library. Levels 2-4 were the floors that were mostly occupied. Even people who wanted to use those floors quickly discovered that they were too full, so some of them chose to exit the library instead.
Afterwards, an affinity diagram was used to synthesise our interview transcripts and formulate ideas on concepts based on our data. From this, we decided to focus on making the signs more discoverable and understandable, ensuring people can find their way to a certain location inside the library as well as find their way out, and increasing the effectiveness of signs so that people will rely less on manual assistance from their peers or from their memory.
IDEATION
By conducting the scenarios and storyboards method, it allowed the process to be deeply considered using storytelling and it also provided insight of how the proposed solution would be used in real life.
The ideation we came up with was a technologically enhanced sign that allowed users of the library to quickly and easily find an available spot within the space. I was personally inspired by the concept of parking lot lights, which guides cars to vacant spaces.
USER EVALUATION
The prototype we made using black cardboard paper and cut-out pieces of paper to create the arrows, numbers and lights. The methods used were the think-aloud method, and the post-experience questionnaire.
The think-aloud method allows us to grasp user evaluation during their experience with utilising the prototype for a given task. We separated the results into strengths and weaknesses. The strengths include how people were able to notice the prototype, successfully completing the given tasks, and how the users developed familiarity as they function similar to the already existing parking lot lights. The weaknesses include the prototype's labelling in terms of what the signs are used for, the arrows being more clearly directed, and how people were unsure about how the system worked as they didn’t realise that sensors are used.
The post-experience questionnaire allows participants of the think-aloud method to recall all their thoughts and feelings about the experience, which they did not get a chance to mention during the think-aloud method. From this, we found that 100% of participants noticed the sign, were able to use them correctly and thought that it was useful. Over 58% claimed that they would utilise the signs to find an available study space and over 70% of users agree that the signs are easy to use in helping them find an available space. The results show that users generally have positive opinions toward the design, but they still think that the design possesses minor flaws and has room for further improvement.
THE FINAL DESIGN
After receiving feedback from the user evaluations, we decided to make some improvements to the design. These enhancements include placing “AVAILABLE SPACE” as the heading to increase the clarity of the purpose of the signs, adding switches on top of the sensors to allow users to reserve their spot if they need to go for a short period of time but will come back (e.g. bathroom, printing, etc.), creating the cube-structured design to avoid misunderstandings of where the arrows are pointing, and adding instructions on the desks and walls to ensure users understand how the system works.
OUTCOMES
This way-finding design would allow users of Fisher Library to quickly and easily find available space. Users will no longer waste their time trying to find a place to study, only to exit after not being able to find free space. This project has allowed myself to learn the processes of design thinking, UX research, and it has also provided myself the opportunity to learn how to start from a problem, to designing a solution for that problem within a team setting.
