Overview
Background
Role: Researcher + UI/UX Designer
The Digital Scholarship Centre (DSC) is a research and teaching facility for faculty, students, and staff at the University of Alberta. As a hub for turning ideas into academic activity, the DSC is a welcoming space that lowers barriers to entry for those wishing to become more digitally fluent in their approach to research, learning, and scholarly communication practices.
Using the human-centered design process helped our team develop this solution: a web app. The 2 main goals we wanted to focus on include creating a better booking experience and encouraging more people to interact with the technology in the space.
Design Question
How might we encourage established, up-and-coming researchers to utilize the technology provided by the Digital Scholarship Centre (DSC)?
Pain Points
• Lack of brand awareness
• Technology and services not utilized to their fullest potential
• Booking experience is confusing
User Statements
As a staff member/librarian, I want the space to be used for scholarly research and collaboration so that the technology is used to supplement scholarly research.
As a student who wants to partake in scholarly research, I want to be able to use the space for research and collaborate with my peers to improve my work.
As a student who wants to study, I want a quiet space with more accessible seating, so that I am able to get my work done quickly with fewer distractions.
Process
Initial style tile
Rough sketches
Mind mapping
Rough user flow ideation
Rough user flow ideation (continued)
Wireframes
Refresh to Branding
We wanted to give the current DSC colour palette a refresh and make it more approachable and friendly. The addition of blue compliments the yellow and is used as an accent colour. The colour yellow is already associated with the DSC, therefore we wanted to build from that recognition.
Log in + homepage user flow
Role of Gamification
Our web app integrates gamification, the addition of gaining badges equals access to more rooms/technology. This also gives students the feeling of being a part of something and pushes them to want to learn more about the various technologies so they can get more badges. This will create a larger turn out to workshops and give the DSC staff a break when it comes to people asking about how to use the technology.
Earning a badge user flow
Improved Booking Experience
We wanted to ensure that students would feel welcome and enjoy their booking experience. Students aren’t the only beneficiaries; the staff will also have an easier time approving bookings as they will know whether or not a student has taken a workshop, and if they have not then the staff can guide them to the workshop sign-up.
Booking equipment user flow