User Centered Design

David LindahlDirector of Digital Library Initiatives

University of Rochester Libraries

Agenda

Common Usability Issues User Centered Design

RolesActivities

Technologies

Common Usability Issues

Priorities Search Interfaces Technology revealed Authentication

What is User Centered Design?

Create “usable” user interface Reduce need for teaching, help, and manuals Uncover and address unmet needs Follow a process

skill sets responsibilities artifacts testing Iterative

What do we believe?

Web design:a job for librariansnot committee workcross-disciplinary workrequires ongoing commitment

Website is for doing, not teaching Library technologies are not inherently

user-centered

Design by Committee

Committee

User Centered Design Process

Design Usability

ContentContent Content

Who (skills and experience)

Content

DesignUsability

• Librarians• Staff

• User interface design• Visual design• Web design standards

• Usability Testing Methods

Responsibilities: Content

Manage overall project Provide progress reports Select products, work with

vendors Research the possibilities

Define key tasks Raise issues

Content

Content

Tasks Key Tasks

Task: What did the user come to your website to try and accomplish?

Find a book by keyword, author, or name Find articles by topic or citation Find course reserves Find a journal by title Find non-book material Find remote access instructions* Renew my materials Check my fines Find hours

Responsibilities: Design

Create designs Initial design prototype in response

to key tasks defined by content Subsequent iterations – response

to issues and usability

Document issues and respond Create site style guidelines

Design

Design Iterations

Iteration 1 Iteration 3

Design Iterations

Iteration 37 Iteration 116

Design Iterations

Iteration 126 Iteration 188

Issue-Response Table

Issue Response

1 Staff: Why are just links Rush Rhees and Carlson on the home page, there are 11 river campus libraries you know!

2 Staff: I think there should be an area of the site that will let students check out books, and look up their due dates and fine, etc.

3 Staff: I don’t like the color.

4 Usability: Testing showed that in the “Search for Books” section, users didn’t understand the terms “Subject Heading” and “Call Number”. Those who did understand the terms didn’t find them particularly useful.

5 Usability: The picture on dominates the most important real estate on the page. Also, the title of the image is nearly invisible.

6 Usability: In “Search for Books” users didn’t realize that the radio buttons could be clicked to change the kind of search they were doing

Style Guidelines

Page Editors’ Checklist

Responsibilities: Usability

Choose appropriate test Perform tests Report results back to

design and content Guide key task process

Usability

Jeffrey Rubin, Handbook of Usability Testing (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994).

Select appropriate test

Mental model

Focus group Card sort

Cognitive walk-

throughHeuristic

Paper prototype

Assessment

Mental models

“Benchmark”Work practiceContextual inquiry

Real users visit other library sites.

Real users show how they do their work on your site.

Find a book on affirmative action.Renew your books.

Are you writing a paper? Show me how you find material.

Did you visit the library website today? Show me what you did there.

Card sortReal users shuffle cards into meaningful piles and give the piles meaningful labels.

HoursInterlibrary LoanDVDs

Focus groups

Real users talk about about their library website activity.

What do you like about the library site?

What do you do on the site?

Cognitive walk-through or Heuristic

Experts interact with our prototype – Find a book on affirmative action.Experts apply a checklist of heuristics to our prototype.

Sample: Recognition rather than recall. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another.

Paper prototype

Real users interact with paper. A human being plays “computer”.

Find a book on affirmative action.Renew your books.

Assessment“Classic” testing

Real users complete tasks on a prototype.

Find a book on affirmative action. Renew your books.

What is needed?

Commitment from library administration Staff Support Time Resources

Staff time New staff Technology Training

LITA Regional Institutes: http://tinyurl.com/o34q9

Create a usability group

Train on usability techniques: card sort, mental model/key task creation, heuristic, and assessment

PracticeTestingWriting up findings

Create the design role

One or two people maximum People who work very well together Begin work on page structure, site

organization and hierarchy, site template Create site style guidelines draft Create an issue-response process with

document templates

Create one or more content groups

Brainstorm content group charge Select group members (don’t include people

who are in the design or content groups, they already have a defined role in the process)

Select a time period – group should disband at the end

Set goals (two design iterations and rounds of testing, or 3 out of 5 test subjects – undergrads - able to find an article without help)

How

1. Content group – defines key tasks (guided by usability group) for the site of for the section

2. Design group – creates a design that supports accomplishing the key tasks (gives to usability)

3. Usability group tests the design with users, based on the key tasks

4. Deliver design/wireframe and usability results to content group

5. Content Group - Identify additional content group issues

6. Deliver content group issues and usability results to design group for next iteration (iterate, don’t debate)

7. Go to step 3

Technologies

Researcher Pages GUF = Getting Users to Full-text CUIPID = Catalog User Interface for

Prototyping and Iterative Development

Researcher Pages

Researcher Pages

GUF

OpenURL Resolver created at Rochester Replaces link menu Works with databases, and metasearch Automatically takes the user to the best

available resource (one of these): Full-text online (in HTML or PDF) Catalog record (for items available in print) Interlibrary loan pre-filled-in request form

CUIPID 3