2021 • user research, UI/UX design, prototyping
Solo Project
book
An app that allows busy students to intuitively find and secure library workspaces that fit their needs.
Overview
School libraries often have workspaces that serve as great study spots. During peak hours, however, finding an open space can be time and energy-consuming and detracts from what students actually need to focus on. In order to make finding a place to study less stressful and more intuitive, I conceptualized Book, a workspace reservation app for easy availability checking and booking in the MIT libraries.
User research
To build a better understanding of how students view workspaces in the university libraries and how they approach finding one, I conducted 5 one-on-one interviews with MIT students. When recruiting research participants, I was mindful of getting a diverse range in class years and frequency in which they use the libraries.
From the interviews, it became evident that students using library workspaces largely fell under one of three categories: 1. those doing individual work who prefer to sit alone, 2. those doing individual work who prefer to sit with friends, and 3. those doing group work. Several pain points also came to light, identified below.
Design decisions
From the pain points, I realized that a large source of frustration was not being able to find workspaces with specific features, such as the ability to accommodate a group or having a whiteboard, due to them already being occupied by students who weren’t using those features. It became clear that the issue wasn’t lack of workspaces, but poor allocation and visibility. With this in mind, I defined the goals and key features of the app.
Goal
Allow users to make informed decisions rather than blindly searching for open workspaces.
Feature
Check available workspaces for a given time, whether it’s “now” or in the future. Users can filter for certain preferences, such as noise level, solo or group workspace, whiteboard available, etc.
Goal
Give users peace of mind that there will be a workspace available when they need it.
Feature
Create bookings up to a week in advance for a workspace that matches the user’s needs. Users can either input their preferences and have Book find a workspace that’s available, or directly book a specific workspace if they already have one in mind.
Goal
Minimize booked-but-unoccupied workspaces.
Feature
Manage bookings easily and modify or cancel if needed, so that those workspaces can become available to other users who need it. Users will also be required to check-in, to reduce the impact of no-shows. After a certain amount of time passes without a check-in, the booking will be canceled by the system and the workspace will become available for other students. A reminder will be sent to the user before this happens.
From there, I sketched out a user flow of these features using low-fidelity wireframes.
Final Prototype
Check workspace availability
Whether you’re trying to decide which library to go to, have just arrived at one without a booking and want to know which desks are open, or you’re looking to create a future booking, you can do so from the Workspaces page.
Create a new booking
Specify what features you’re looking for in a workspace and Book will find you one that best matches your preferences.
View bookings and check-in
Once you’ve created bookings, you can track and manage them in the Bookings page. You can also check-in from this screen.
Logo and splash screen animation
I went for a play on words, given that Book is a workspace booking system in a setting filled with books. Formed by 7 lines, it's a simple logo with a unique feature - by shifting 2 lines, the book transforms into a desk.
