User Experience Designer
FROM PROBLEM TO PROTOTYPE
SETTING
This project was done in relation to a design course at Aarhus University. Along with two other students, Melisa and Simon, we were asked to design a product that supported creative processes. We had heard that the public library was doing a project with IDEO on how to integrate design thinking into the development of libraries. We went to a workshop and got some insights into the challenges and needs of the library. We also did some observations at the library coupled with short interviews with the library users.
QUESTIONS
Back at the office, we started creating questions. One of the problems was that the users didn't know that their input and ideas was welcomed by the library and that they wanted to include the users more into the development of the library. During our observations, we discovered that the only way for the users to express their ideas and thoughts was through a feedback box that was placed in a corner where nobody would pass. We chose the question: “how might we engage the users better in the development of the library?”
BRAINSTORMING AND PROTOTYPING
The question was the basis of the brainstorming session. We decided on a series of UX goals that functioned as constraints. This focused the brainstorm session further and also helped the creative process. When the table was filled with ideas, we used the method affinity diagramming to arrange and sort the ideas. This allowed us to choose the three best ideas, which we mocked up in our office as lo-fi prototypes. This allowed us to interact with them and evaluate their strenghts and weaknesses. We settled on one of the ideas.
USER TESTING
The next step was a user testing. We recreated the prototype in a more polished version in the hall of the library. Everybody who entered the library would see our prototype. We invited users to try the prototype and interviewed them afterwards.
