A key goal for the redesign of the UCSF Library website was to eliminate redundant and outdated content, streamlining the site to support the scanning-not-reading behavior users demonstrate on the web.
Because our patrons were visiting multiple pages across the site to get a complete picture of our resources, I knew our Computer Labs and Study Spaces pages were especially ripe for a rethink.
A key goal for the redesign of the UCSF Library website was to eliminate redundant and outdated content, streamlining the site to support the scanning-not-reading behavior users demonstrate on the web. Because our patrons were visiting multiple pages across the site to get a complete picture of our resources, I knew our Computer Labs and Study Spaces pages were especially ripe for a rethink.
I did a quantitative analysis of our Google Analytics data, both to figure out what our users already valued about the two existing pages, and to see if there were any interesting or unusual click patterns I might learn from. I turned up some interesting data, including the fact that the Study & Meeting Spaces page received 5 times the traffic as the Computer Labs page.
However, the really interesting finding was that 1/4 of the visitors to the Computer Labs page visited the Study Spaces page immediately after. Why? There are no links to Study Spaces from the Computer Labs page. Clearly, something was missing from the Computer Labs page.
Clearly, something was missing from the Computer Labs page
Clearly, something was missing from the Computer Labs page
Collapsing closely-related information into one page was a good impulse, but it resulted in a very long page with lots of information below the fold. Knowing that users would scroll-and-scan for relevant keywords, I used bullets, white space, sorting, and filtering so that users don't feel overwhelmed.
In the final round of testing, I dedicated one task to the Computer Labs page on our live site, switching away from my prototype. Once the task was finished, I casually asked if there was anything the tester had expected to see on the page that they were not seeing.
It turned out our dissatisfied Computer Labs page visitors weren't looking for pictures of our rooms after all; they simply wanted to know if a given space had printers and scanners. We'd called out this information on the Study Spaces page, but it was weirdly absent from the Computer Labs page. This insight validated my impulse to collapse the content into one page.
I also spent time after the test asking a) what matters to you about a space and b) what filters, if any, are missing from the new design. My final iteration incorporates lessons learned both from my task analyses and the Q&A that ended each test.
So what was missing from the Computer Labs page? Students were looking for printers & scanners
So what was missing from the Computer Labs page? Students were looking for printers & scanners
This almost-final iteration will go through another round of testing to ensure that the fully-functional interface is easy to use, and meets our users needs.