Libre

Elevating unemployed library patrons into confident job-ready candidates

Overview

Libre connects job-seekers to local employment, simplifies resume building, and prepares them for upcoming interviews. As a microsite built specifically for use at a public library computer, Libre maximizes short booking periods and information security.

Speculative Client

Chicago Public Library

Timeframe

6 weeks, divided into 6 sprints

Role

Together with team

Concept development from early market research to wireframes

Together with team

Synthesizing usability testing data, high fidelity wireframes

Responsibilities

Early market & needfinding research, Concept development, Information architecture, Wireframing & prototyping, Usability testing, Visual design

Tools

Miro, Sketch, Axure

background

The changing role of libraries

American public libraries are rapidly evolving beyond lending out books. Libraries have gone digital to keep up with the information age. And as public institutions, they’ve grown into local community hubs.

The library is a free resource accessible to everyone, but it’s especially critical to struggling individuals. For those who’ve lost their jobs to increasing automation or the economic recession, the library is in a unique position to help them get back on their feet.

our mission

How can the library help its job-seeking patrons regain confidence and find employment?

Provide emotional support
  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Integrate ongoing job seeking efforts
  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Simplify the job application process
  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Incorporate resources already available at the library

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

process

Research

Exploring the relationship between libraries and the unemployed

Over the course of a week, my team gathered insights about the library's relationship with job seekers.

Competitive Analysis

When it comes to free information and education, the library is the gold standard among its competitors. But its social services are lacking compared to similar providers.

more

Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Libraries are always adapting to the interests of their local communities. But librarians have their hands full with day-to-day responsibilities, so social services have lagged behind public needs.

more

User Interviews

Although looking for work is a thorny process, job seekers have found solace in the library’s peaceful environment.

more

Challenges

Approaching strangers for user interviews was tough.

Patrons didn’t want to talk to me, and some were outright hostile. I got turned down a lot, but eventually I had more success by being more flexible in my criteria. The interview sample set might not have been ideal, but I managed to gather the data I needed to continue.

My contribution

  • Set up the group’s spreadsheet and formulated points of comparison to analyze the competitive market
  • Wrote a competitive analysis brief that summarized patterns in data and identified areas of opportunity
  • Suggested the idea of focusing on social services based on early data-gathering results
  • Interviewed 1 of 7 subject matter experts
  • Sourced, interviewed, and took notes on 2 of 10 users

data synthesis

Distilling insights from our users

"I'm more than my resume, but I can't get recruiters to see that."

Goals
  • Find a job nearby
  • Create a good resume
  • Prepare for an interview
  • Keep track of his professional network
Motivations
  • Feel confident
  • Achieve financial independence
  • Protect personal privacy
Frustrations
  • Limited access to computers
  • Not sure what to expect

the problem

Library patrons looking for work are unfamiliar with the job preparation. Furthermore, the library is their only reliable access to a computer — in spite of their privacy concerns.

The solution

Job-seekers who depend on the library's computer services need a quick, secure way to organize their job search and prepare for interviews.

Challenges

Affinity diagramming was messy because we couldn’t communicate in person.

Our group often settled on practical, “good-enough” solutions. With the sprint deadlines, we didn’t have the luxury of debating over ideal methodology. Even trickier, our workflow was entirely virtual because we were scattered. Our insights could have been richer had we followed more rigorous processes.

The team scrapped our supplemental persona.

Our team initially chose to make 2 personas. We found ourselves pulled in different directions, so we chose to narrow down to one -- the one with more direct evidence. The nixed persona’s legacy still lived on though, and its emotional support elements made it into the final design.

My contribution

  • Collaborated with team members in two affinity diagramming sessions
  • Sorted data from interview insights
  • Developed secondary persona and corresponding journey map
  • Drafted problem statement with group to guide upcoming design concepts

Concept formulation

Design principles to guide early ideas

Hope
  • Level the playing field by equipping users with up-to-date knowledge about interviewing
Growth
  • Instill confidence by walking users through the job seeking process step-by-step
Speed
  • Simplify our users' tasks to accelerate their progress
Privacy
  • Respect our users' personal information by giving them the control to opt in

Initial brainstorming

Google crazy 8s methodology. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Mapping the structure of information

To help us identify areas of functionality to include, we plotted a site map. We split our product into 4 primary task flows: the home page experience (which included logging into a user profile), building a resume, searching jobs, and preparing for an interview.

Our earlier interviews revealed that our job seekers needed emotional support. I built the interview preparation flow because it was a clear opportunity to foster confidence and competence.

Challenges

Thinking of a product in flow isn’t like designing an inanimate object.

In undergrad, I studied industrial design and got in the habit of sketching lots of individual object concepts. When I started designing user interfaces, I had to rethink my approach. Instead of generating one-off ideas, I needed to mentally walk through the interaction to create a logical flow.

When seeking feedback, a little explanation went a long way.

To evaluate the visual communication of our designs, we often had cold-read critiques in undergrad. I tried carrying over the same strategy with my new UX peers and noticed that the quality of feedback was poor. After some experimentation, I learned that I needed to prime my audience with enough context to engage them in a productive conversation.

My contribution

  • Developed design principles with team
  • Sketched rough ideas using Google Venture’s Crazy 8s methodology
  • Sought feedback from design peers to further concept
  • Mapped out 1 of the 4 major task flows in the site map
  • Took ownership of the interview preparation concept

Design development

Individual work ahead

Our team decided to individually tackle a separate task flow of our product. By mirroring the workflow of UX teams at larger companies, we had the opportunity to maximize our skills and the scope of our solution.

Formative testing with paper prototypes

After mapping out the site map, I created paper prototypes to envision how the user would interact with the flow of information. We were coming to the end of our sprint, so I rounded up 3 testers to validate the proof of concept before moving on.

Important information needs to be above the page fold.
  • All 3 testers stayed within the immediately viewable upper area of the website, overlooking the information below.
  • Users didn’t like scrolling, so the most immediate actionable information had to be at the top of the page. Supplementary content could be used to engage the user down the page.
Seeking employment is uncomfortable.
  • 2 out 3 testers mentioned feeling emotionally vulnerable while looking for work. Testers displayed different levels of comfort when given the option to welcome help from outsiders.
  • I needed to do a better job of meeting job seekers where they were at. Although our users appreciated emotional support, they wanted options to tailor their experience to their comfort level.

Anticipating users' decision-making processes

Our team decided to individually tackle a separate task flow of our product. By mirroring the workflow of UX teams at larger companies, we had the opportunity to maximize our skills and the scope of our solution.

Challenges

Because of a time crunch, our team prioritized overall functionality testing over information architecture testing.

Ideally, I would have liked to test if our information reflected users' mental models — either through A/B testing or card-sorting. Instead, we prioritized diving straight into paper prototyping to see how our users would interact with the intended flow. In retrospect, it would have been so much easier to resolve information organization issues in a task flow map than rebuilding prototypes.

solution refinement

Assessing usability with wireframes

After researching, experimenting, and planning, our group had honed in on our solution for the library. We wanted to put a testable product in front of users to confirm that we were on the right path, so I built wireframes from our gathered insights.

Challenges

Recruiting testers can be expensive.

At first, I tried recruiting free volunteers by distributing flyers at the library. No one responded to my ad after 2 days of canvassing. As a last Hail Mary, I turned to Craigslist and posted an ad with a monetary incentive. It was a success. I had a steady supply of testers, but my wallet took a hit.

Design components broke while transferring designs between software platforms.

Even though I built low-fidelity wireframes in Sketch, I wanted to try out Axure, so I exported my wireframes using the Axure plugin for Sketch. The transfer process wasn’t completely seamless. I spent a decent amount of time fixing and troubleshooting broken-components to get it presentation-ready. Troubles aside, I ended up enjoying Axure’s robust prototyping features.

final design

Challenges

Design components broke while transferring designs between software platforms.

Even though I built low-fidelity wireframes in Sketch, I wanted to try out Axure, so I exported my wireframes using the Axure plugin for Sketch. The transfer process wasn’t completely seamless. I spent a decent amount of time fixing and troubleshooting broken-components to get it presentation-ready. Troubles aside, I ended up enjoying Axure’s robust prototyping features.

Takeaways

Let's chat!

EmailResumeLinkedIn
©  Jessica Lee  |  2020