Condense, Clarify, Construct: Three Key Steps to Increase User Engagement for a Library Landing Page
Timeline: 6 weeks (Mar 2024 - May 2024)
Team: Gerard Samson, Manvi Tandon, Rong Cheng
Roles: UX Researcher - Moderated user tests and synthesize actionable findings
The School of Visual Arts Library found that their users faced challenges in finding the resources and services they need. In an effort to increase usability and uncover why users are failed in finding content, our team conducted 12 eye-tracking eye studies on mobile and desktop. Through conducting the tests, we were able to design mockups that helped to illustrate that through condensing content, clarify confusing wording, consolidating sections helped to ultimately helped to resolve the page's biggest problem: it's endless scroll.
The Process:
Tools used to collect and analyze the data we were interested in to make the project successful
Tools used
Tobii Lab for Eyetracking
SUS Calculator
Data Types Analyzed
Heatmaps
Gaze Plots
Gaze Replay
User Quotes
Task Time Completion
System Usability Scale
Goals
Uncover why users may give up from using the SVA Library website
Through eye-tracking and retroactively asking questions about their eye-patterns, we aimed to evaluate usability issues within the landing page to better understand why users may end their times prematurely while using the site.
Create actionable recommendations with respect to constraints
After testing, we aimed to synthesize recommendations by redesigning the page for mobile and desktop. We aimed to stay within the constraints provided and be as faithful as to what design changes were possible based on the original site.
Our Recommendations: The Three Key Steps to Increase User Engagement
Before
After
Consolidate
12/12 participants found structure/IA doesn’t match their expectations
“By scrolling through many times I was able to complete this task. Maybe I got so accustomed to the sight”
We restructured certain information within sections to meet user expectations. For example we made it easier for users to differentiate between forms and services,
Clarify
8/12 participants found wording confusing and were unclear about the purpose of certain features
“I look at the top of the page to figure out what the page is about”
We set the intention of the page at the top. Headings, especially actionable headings like "Research + Discovery" guides users about possible actions they can take and thus reducing cognitive load.
Before
After
Condense:
12/12 of participants felt there was information overload
“certain things need to be condensed. It’s a lot of scrolling on mobile”
We collapsed the sections to minimize single scroll by almost 50%