Redesign Concept of Brooklyn Public Library [Desktop site]
Overview
Summer is the most awaited time of the year. People plan their vacation way in advance. If you have not decided yet then don’t worry Brooklyn Public Library has so many different suggetions for you to utilize your summer. I am Niyanta Sevak and I work for an agency and our client is Brooklyn Public Library. They want us to redesign their website.
Project Overview
Our client gave us an archetype for parents who want to find activities for their children and keep them busy during summer. Library has so many different events, classes and activities during summer. This project was combination of team work and solo work. In initial stage we worked in team and did initial research then-after we decided to work independantly and come up with different designs so, we can choose best of them or combine some of the better features.
My role
UX Designer
Timeframe
2 weeks
Limitations, Parameters, Resources, and Materials
I was given an opportunity to redesign the better navigation system so that user can flow easily and find useful resources within limited timeframe of 2 weeks. Firstly, we decided to take screener survey and tried to find what parents think about summer activities for their kids. To find the existing website work well among people or not we took usability test using existing website and gave them 3 scenarios and tasks to complete. We found that all users were frustrated after using existing navigation and at the end they used search bar to find the task. Based on that usability insights we came up with our problem statement.
Problem Statement
Summer is most important time for family and parents want to utilize their kids summer time. They need to find useful resources but their problem is confusing navigation system. So, our problem statement is.
How might we help parents to save their time and find useful resources with clear and easy navigation system that helps them to find summer activities for their kids during vacation.
More User Research on Existing Website
After screener survey and usability test with existing system we conducted card sorting technique to find out how users think to find different features in navigation system. We did 2 round of card sorting- one was open card sort other was the close card sort. To get more information about Brooklyn Public Library we did Business Model Canvas to get knowledge about their Key Values, Key Partners, Mission, Goal, Budget and other such information. There were so many different competitors in the the market so, first we used competitive matrix to find which competitors were directly related to our client and which were indirect. With those direct and indirect competitors we used competitive and comparative feature analysis respectively. To get idea about their website layout we have used Heuristic Evaluation Method which helped us to find how navigation systems are findable or not, the color combination they used on site that matched with colorblindness categories or not and other such information.
Usability Test & Card Sorting Insights
As per our archetype to find activities for kids we gave users 3 scenarios and tasks and we found that in existing website users tried to find the tasks but all of them used indirect path and at the end they used search bar to complete the tasks. In that first test the success rate was only 50%. Then after I designed new navigation design and used the insight of card sorting method. I made Mid-Fi wireframe and prototype. After new design I took another round of usability test and this time success rate increased by 100% and almost every users used direct path to the tasks. Even in my second round of close card sorting with new navigation the failure rate decreased by 34%.
Sketches
Prototype: Final Prototype( BKPL)
Reflection
In this project I learnt open and close card sorting techniques, heuristic evaluations, business model canvas, competitive matrix, competitive and comparative feature analysis. In future, I will update my design into Hi-Fi prototype and conduct a usability test and iterate the design if we will find any problem. We will develop a new layout of website which give us a better and easy navigation flow for users.
