EBSCO
vitalizes the niche of academic researchers who want convenient and precise means of researching
Duration
Jun 2024 ~ Aug 2024
Role
Product Designer
For
Project Management and UXR&D team
Collaborators
David Oliva, Jiaxi Y. Wendee Fiorillo, Sarah Lambe, Ryan Walter
Overview
EBSCO: Energizing the niche of researchers seeking convenient, precise research tools.
Personalizing opportunities for interfaces of EBSCO’s academic journal searching tool for users with varying levels of research purposes
My Role
Product Design Intern
As a PM intern in UXD team, I was in charge of revitalizing user interfaces of EBSCO products with UX designers and researchers mainly while communicating with many senior product managers at EBSCO information services.
HIGH LEVEL PROBLEM / CHALLENGE
Lack of PUI opportunities in EBSCO products
EIS Discovery and EBSCO Host were well established platforms with chances of personalization for specialized user groups. I was assigned with a prompt to discover spaces for improvements and suggest UI designs to the UXD team.
High Level Problem / Challenge
Lack of PUIs* in EBSCO Host and EDS for different user personas
Users Level: Offer basic and advanced modes, switchable through user settings
Market Level: tailor interfaces to specific markets like K-12, public libraries, college and medical institutions
Why is this an important problem to address?
Research enthusiasts want a narrow search result through specific filters
Research enthusiasts do not want mental load of remembering what and where filters are for each search
Research enthusiasts account for large percentage of users on EBSCO Host and EDS
FINAL DESIGN
Saving Icon
Next to the newly updated filter space, I added a bookmark icon to suggest that a filter set can be chosen and saved for later uses
FINAL DESIGN
Dropdown filter set choosing
For easeir accessbility of filters, I added a dropdown meny with radio buttons to allow users to select from pre-saved filtersets from the searching page
FINAL DESIGN
Filters from saved search
I updated the design for the search page that opens up when a user chooses a page from the dashboard. It shows history of what searched have been made with what filters in the past. Users can select a filter set that has been used in the past search to save it for later uses.
FINAL DESIGN
Editing a saved filter set
I added a pop up window to allow users to edit names and usage descriptions for filters on every page.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Understanding
EBSCO Researchers
EBSCO Users consisted of three groups depending on the varying intensity and purposes of academic researches they carry out.
Eric: EFFICIENCY SEEKER
MOTIVATION
value efficiency and expect academic search engines to work like other digital tools.
Emma: RESEARCH ENTHUSIAST
MOTIVATION
Gain expertise in the field and refine research skills
Paula: POWER RESEARCHER
MOTIVATION
need top content and strong tools. Their research is vital to their livelihood.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Customer Journey Maps
After understanding the target research persona for this project, I decided to look at user journeys in EBSCO products to understand potential points of intervention. What stood out was the non linear search method of research enthusiasts that opened possibilities of exploring different personalization UIs in different pages for a smooth end to end user experience with a lot of use cases in mind.
Research Enthusiast
Research Enthusiast
Selecting contents
Determine content types
Discover related contents
Evaluate contents
Determine source credibility
Finalize selection
Locate resources
Access items
Non Linear Approach
EFFICIENCY SEEKER
Identify resources
Locate resources
validate resources
Access resources
PRIMARY RESEARCH / THINK ALOUD
Participants Demographics
With the motivation to delve deeper into understanding the pain points of research enthusiasts, the think aloud studies mainly consisted the demographics of research enthusiasts along with some efficiency seeker users.
N
RE1
RE2
RE3
RE4
RE5
RE6
Role
Undergrad Research Assistant
3rd or 4th year at 4 year institution
3rd or 4th year at 4 year institution
Associate professor at 4 year institution
New grad with full-time corporate job
New grad with full-time corporate job
N
ES1
ES2
Role
Undergrad Research Assistant
3rd or 4th year at 4 year institution
8 interviewees
6 Research enthusiasts
2 Efficiency seekers
undergrads, professors, new grads
SYNTHESIS
Overlaps between insights from all research
The overlaps between the insights gathered from secondary and primary were the followings:
Issues with discoverability and usability of filter UIs in the smart filter section and filter panel
Issues with navigability because modifying query searching from the advanced search page and the result page is cumbersome
SYNTHESIS
Narrowing the problems
Narrowing the overlaps from research boiled down to two problems
Issues with discoverability and usability of filter UIs in the smart filter section and filter panel
Issues with navigability because modifying query searching from the advanced search page and the result page is cumbersome
How might we...
Personalize the smart filters in the search to put useful filters upfront to enable easy filtering and navigating for research enthusiasts?
Allow users to access these personalized filters readily while maintaining a smooth search experience?
Make suggestion of keywords or terms useful for searching a certain topic customizable for research enthusiasts?
ITERATION 2 LOW FIDELITY SKETCHING FB1 END-END
End to end User Experience / Flow chart
Before making any designs on Figma, I decided to draw out how the current EBSCO product works and where else apart from filters and search bars I could implement new PUIs. Here I received an advice to focus on creating a full cycle of user journey from start to finish without any vague stops and weak connection points in between.
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Implementing Thesaurus
In an attempt to automate the process of narrowing down choices of filters for displaying results precisely selected for users’ research intentions. I experimented with implementing a thesaurus where users begin with the widest filter set and move onto choosing filters from narrower sets that are automatically suggested by the EBSCO algorithm. This was revoked due to issues with development facing the level of complexity on the product’s end.
Answering...
How might we make suggestion of keywords or terms useful for searching a certain topic customizable for research enthusiasts?
*Thesaurus when toggle is on
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Making a default set of filters
In case users do not choose a filter set, I have built a default option that automatically gets selected. This default filter set appears in the advanced page for users who do not have a particular set of filters chosen for their search experiences. It also accounts for an event when a filter set is not chosen accidently from My Preferences page or the Advanced search page.
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Drop down from the advanced search page
This UI ennables users to be able to access personalized filters from right beneath the search bar so that quicker and easier searching is possilbe.
Answering...
How might we allow users to access these personalized filters readily while maintaining a smooth search experience?
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Iterating on the save icon design
There were many attempts to improve the design for saving icon. After receiving multiple feedbacks from the team, I changed the icon from a plus sign to a disk sign to a bookmark icon for a trendier and more intuitive choice.
Answering...
How might we personalize the smart filters in the search to put useful filters upfront to research enthusiasts from different markets for easier filtering and navigability?
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Adding an option to save a filter set
Adding a choice to save a filter set from a pop up menu from search history page enabled a faster way to suggest to the users what filter sets are useful to be saved quickly
Answering...
How might we personalize the smart filters in the search to put useful filters upfront to research enthusiasts from different markets for easier filtering and navigability?
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Distinguishing chips vs dropdowns
In an attempt to revitalize each filter design within a filter set, it was important to distinguish between a chip and a dropdown since some filters were not discrete values but also categories that contains many other values.
Answering...
How might we personalize the smart filters in the search to put useful filters upfront to research enthusiasts from different markets for easier filtering and navigability?
eBooks
Dropdown - category saved
VS
eBooks
Chip - value saved
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Toasts
I attempted using toast messages to inform users about the actions that they are taking while interactign with the interfaces
*Toast
EXPERIMENTATION 2
Message
To guide users to next actions when moving to a separate page, I used a message that contains a link for users to realize that clicking it will lead to a different page for a continued journey within the product.
*System messaging
Prototyping
Prototyping End to End experience
With the feedback provided in multiple design sessions where I presented snippets of my demo, I realized that a complete prototype visualizing an end to end experience with brief explanations was important.
FINAL DESIGN
Easily accessible smart filters using dropdown
FINAL DESIGN
My Preferences Page
FINAL DESIGN
Saving from search history
FINAL DESIGN
Saving a filter set from advanced page
