Individual Project
Yuet Ming Wong
Sector
Education
Duration
3.5 months
Jan - Apr 21
Tools
Procreate
Photoshop
Fusion 360
Keyshot
G-suites
Academic library has always been an important space for university students. With the advancement of technology and rising trend of information digitalization, the function of library space has move passed as just book storage. Some said it should be a “community hub” of the school. However, the pandemic COVID-19 happened in 2019 has changed how students use the space drastically. What kind of furniture system could utilize the space and allow academic library to plan for the future under this ever-changing environment?
The Problem
Mobi is a set of aesthetically playful systematic furniture that allows interchangeable work mode between individual/collaboration works and enhance flexible spatial planning with the consideration of both students and facilitator.
The Solution
Design Process
“Bad libraries build collections,
Good libraries build services,
Great libraries build communities.”
- R. David Lankes (Professor of Librarianship at the University of Texas at Austin)
Background Research
Research
With that question in mind, 7 semi-structured interviews were conducted with UofT students. Their responses were summarized and grouped into an affinity diagram with similar themes.
Three important pain points were found:
1. Scattered Information Channel
Existing information is scattered across social medias and official school website. It is hard to find the clubs that students are interested in and what those clubs do.
User Interview
The Club Fair which is held once a year at the beginning of fall semester seems to be the most useful resource. Once students missed it, they don’t know where else to look information for.
2. Lack of Access
3. No Communication Bridge
Club organizers/leaderships often felt busy or unsure about responding to a student who they know nothing about. As a result, most students who tried to reach out don’t hear back and don’t know how to get involved.
In order to understand the current landscape of the academic library space, extensive background research regarding the design trend for academic library space was conducted.
The Insider Magazine “The future of libraries” and the Gensler research report “Future of the Academic Library” both suggested the same important insight:
The space has shifted from a collection-centric institution to a person-centric experience.
The value of today’s academic libraries goes far beyond access to books and resources.
The main focus is about how well users can use the academic library space.
However, according to the same Gensler report, a contradiction was found here:
Empathize
After analyzing the qualitative and quantitative research data, the user persona:
Mia the One Person Show, was created to further emphasize with the user group.
User Persona
We identified that Mia needs a way to:
find useful clubs information that she is interested in.
contact and communicate with the drama clubs leadership.
participate in drama clubs activities.
Even social butterfly like Mia is having a hard time to find a community and get involved in clubs at UofT. To better understand her pain points, a journey map of how Mia currently tries to join a drama club was created.
Because of the scattered source of information and lack of communication channel, Mia found it extremely difficult to get involved with a club after missing the club fair. She felt left out and disconnected eventually gave up on drama clubs because of the confusion.
As-Is User Journey
Define
1. A UofT student interested in clubs can find useful information about clubs without going to the Club Fair, at any time, from anywhere.
2. A UofT student who wants to join a club can find a club which they are interested in joining that is also interested in them.
3. A UofT student who wants to develop a fruitful life outside of academics can discover new hobbies that they never even considered in the past.
3 main design goals are identified after analyzing Mia’s journey to join a club:
Design Goal
Ideate
With the 3 goals, countless amount of brainstorming and ideations were done. The ideas were dot-voted among the team based on impact and feasibility. There are 3 popular ideas that we decided to take it to the next level and further develop the concept as an app.
Big Ideas
1. Digital Club Fair
Run around with your little characters like Club Penguin. There’s a sense of exploration like in a real club fair. Similar clubs are grouped together.
Check a time and place and see what activities are going on that you can attend. Sometimes you have a random gap between classes that can fit something in. It is an event based approach to club involvement.
2. Whatever’s Going On
You just swipe through club profiles. Navigate through a lot of options very quickly. There will be engaging and digestible profiles that you can go through to understand what a club is
3. Club Dating App
The 3 big ideas were integrated into Mia’s journey of trying to join a drama club. In Mia’s new journey, she is able to communicate and found a drama clubs that she belongs quickly and smoothly. In addition, she even found a new passion after joining a nearby event. This time, Mia is fulfilled and connected.
