Quick guide
The Taipei Public Library App provides readers with a more convenient usage environment. The app, "iRead Taipei Public Library," offers features such as "Find Books," "Mobile Borrowing," "Personal Bookshelf," and "Mobile Library Card."Readers can use the "Find Books" feature to locate the items they wish to borrow and make reservations. The "Personal Bookshelf" feature helps users manage borrowing or reservation information, as well as renew loans or modify reservations. If a reserved book arrives but the user is unable to pick it up, they can extend the pickup deadline by two days through the app. Additionally, if readers forget to bring their physical library card, they can use the "Mobile Library Card" feature to log in with their account credentials and generate a barcode for borrowing books or picking up reserved items.
Currently, the user experience and functionality of the Taipei Public Library App need improvement. We plan to redesign the app, not only to enhance the existing experience but also to promote citizen participation in cultural activities through increased exposure to recent events, encourage reading habits, and enhance overall user satisfaction and convenience. We hope this redesign will better reflect the library's image and provide higher quality services to readers.
Week 1
We will analyse the current issues with the app, select suitable users for 2-3 interviews, and begin drafting wireframes. Additionally, we will prepare a proposal presentation for the first week to present to the design directors and collect feedback for initial design iterations.
Week 2
We will focus on detailed UI design and prepare a second proposal presentation. Finally, the design directors will evaluate the overall design and provide feedback.
Initially, I collaborated with the team to analyse the current issues of the app, summarising significant pain points that need to be addressed from the existing problems. We also gathered useful feedback during user interviews.
In this project, my team and I interviewed three users of the library app to gain insights into their usage scenarios and areas for optimisation. The interview results indicated that many users faced significant issues, including insufficient notifications about borrowing books, leading to forgetfulness about picking up and returning books. Additionally, we found that most users tend to passively receive event information, such as noticing event posters while picking up books at the library and being motivated to participate due to the poster content.
Discontinuous Borrowing Experience: Users find it difficult to obtain useful information and are unaware of event information and service functions.
How can we recommend useful information content to enhance the user borrowing experience and effectively promote more cultural activities and service functions?
With the "How Might We" (HMW) questions, my team and I brainstormed possible solutions. Here are the optimization directions we want to focus on
I focused on our solutions and created the first version of the wireframes. After drafting, I discussed them with the team and shared my thoughts with the design directors.
From the team and the design directors, I received valuable feedback, such as "The interaction on the homepage is too complex" and "The optimisation of the library card lacks clear highlights." In response to this feedback, I redesigned another version, which helped me quickly brainstorm and adjust the design during the early stages.
After entering the design phase, I also made some design optimizations. Below are the high-fidelity design drafts after the optimizations:
The recommended content is supplemented with book reviews to help users better understand the recommended books, increasing their willingness to borrow and bridging the gap between readers through shared insights to promote a reading culture.
We will recommend a "Return Books Shelf" based on the branches frequently visited by readers, providing a more convenient and exploratory borrowing experience, allowing readers to discover more interesting books.
We have optimised the presentation of event information, using cards to highlight key information and attract users' attention. Each event category is accompanied by a default visual poster, making the cards more vibrant and visually consistent. With categorised tags, readers can more easily find events that interest them, enhancing the overall user experience.
In this visual design optimisation, we followed three main principles: comfortable warm tones and rounded fonts to enhance the user experience; easily readable and concise cards to ensure effective communication of information; and consistent visual and interactive design to allow users to enjoy diverse borrowing services intuitively, ensuring that the library app is user-friendly and easy to navigate for everyone.
