geisel-kiosk

Position

Team

Product Designer, UX Researcher

Jiwhan Kwak, Janette Lim, Brandon Le, Julie li

Timeline

Tools

January 2023 - March 2023

Figma, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power Point, Slack, Adobe Softwares, Procreate

Academic Course

DSGN 100

My Role

As the primary designer and researcher, I was responsible for leading both the design and research phases of this project. This involved conducting user interviews, developing personas and storyboards, and creating the wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes. I also led the iterative design process, incorporating feedback from user testing to refine the kiosk’s physical and interactive interface to meet the needs of Geisel Library’s users.

Geisel Library, a central hub for UCSD students, offers various study rooms for individual and group work. However, the absence of a navigation system for locating these rooms posed significant challenges. The library’s current website lacked real-time information about room availability, resulting in wasted time as students searched for available spaces and no available system for locating rooms. Additionally, many rooms were reserved but remained unoccupied, creating further inefficiencies in resource usage. This created a frustrating experience for students, especially during peak times when study rooms were in high demand.

Problem Space

Problem Statement

The current system for managing study rooms at Geisel Library is inefficient, resulting in wasted time and underutilized spaces due to a lack of information on real-time room availability and navigation system.

To address the inefficiencies in room management and improve the overall user experience at Geisel Library, several potential solutions were considered:

Real-Time Availability Dashboard: A dashboard accessible via the library's website or a mobile app that displays real-time information about available study rooms. Users would be able to see which rooms are open, their capacities, and additional features such as equipment or accessibility options. This solution would reduce time spent searching for available rooms and increase resource utilization.
Interactive Room Finder and Navigation System: Integrating an interactive map or a room-finding tool that helps users locate available rooms quickly. This system would guide users to their selected room using real-time directions within the library, solving the navigation challenges currently faced by students.
Enhanced Reservation System: A redesign of the existing room reservation system to include better management of cancellations, no-shows, and overbooking. Notifications would prompt users to confirm or cancel reservations ahead of time, ensuring rooms are not left unoccupied and available spaces are better utilized.
Kiosk-Based System: An additional kiosk system placed in strategic locations within the library to offer real-time room availability and reservation options. This would provide an alternative to the website or mobile app, allowing users who are already in the library to quickly book a room or find available spaces without needing a personal device.

Online Research

Why Kiosk is appropiriate interface?

Problems with Current Interfaces
- Current Geisel Website Problems
  - Can’t see the current occupancy of study rooms
  - Outdated interface
  - No explanation of the study room location
- Existing Interactive Kiosk Problem
  - Learning curve to use digital kiosk
  - Not friendly to seniors
  - Constant update is needed

Pros and Cons of Wayfinding Kiosk

Field Research

Why Geisel is Ideal Location?

Why is Geisel an ideal location to place a kiosk?
- There are lots of foot traffic, rooms, and sections to explore in Geisel
- For students who struggle with locating the rooms or finding an empty study room, the study room directory kiosk seemed the most effective, efficient, and helpful
Why do study rooms need more services?
- Study rooms were one of the main reasons students go to Geisel Library
  - Kiosk would aid students in locating and viewing all the study rooms available at a single glance
- Some students reserve study rooms but end up leaving early, which we thought we could add a feature that locates those rooms in our kiosk, assuming that there are IR sensors in every study room that sync with our kiosk

1st Floor

Many people study around the Teaching and Learning Center and it is easily accessible

2nd Floor

Lots of foot traffic & entrance to the 2nd floor east

3rd Floor

Lots of foot traffic & entrance to the 2nd floor east

Where in Geisel?

Possible Locations
- Initially, we were planning to place the kiosk only at the service hub on 2nd floor.
  - Many people pass by the service hub → more foot traffic & accessibility
- However, during interviews, some interviewees suggested the kiosk should be placed on all floors with study rooms → Hence, our kiosk will be on every floor with study rooms (1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th floor of Geisel Library)

To guide the design process, we created two key personas, representing typical users of Geisel Library’s study rooms:

Persona

Trisha: A 21-year-old mechanical engineering student who prefers quiet, individual study sessions. Trisha often struggles to find available rooms, especially those that are reserved but unoccupied. Her primary frustration is navigating the library to find a quiet place to study without interruption.
Aiden: A 19-year-old cognitive science student who frequently participates in group study sessions. Aiden often has trouble locating study rooms, especially when meeting friends who have already reserved the space. His main pain point is navigating between floors to find his reserved room.

Storyboard

Aiden’s friends call him over to the study room that they booked
He doesn’t know where the study room is located at
He then uses the kiosk’s navigation feature & scans the map on his phone
As a result, he successfully meets his friends to study

Trisha is finding a place for quiet study in the Geisel library
She checks the study room reservation website but every room is reserved
But, then, she finds the kiosk to see which room is reserved but empty
As a result, she successfully finds a room that is reserved but empty and studies quietly

Paper Prototype

Paper prototype for interviews

To refine our design and ensure it addressed actual student needs, we conducted structured user interviews based on the personas we created. These interviews focused on understanding the real challenges students faced when trying to navigate the library’s study rooms. Our approach involved the following steps:

User Interview & Insights

Recruiting Participants
We recruited UCSD students from diverse academic backgrounds who regularly used Geisel Library's study rooms. We chose participants whose behaviors and preferences aligned with our personas—Trisha, who values quiet spaces, and Aiden, who often meets friends in group study rooms.
Using Storyboards to Illustrate User Scenarios
Each participant was presented with storyboards that depicted common scenarios such as searching for an available study room (Trisha) and locating a booked room (Aiden). These visual aids helped contextualize the problems and potential solutions. By observing how participants reacted to these scenarios, we gained deeper insights into how the kiosk could assist them in these situations. For example, Trisha's frustration with reserved but empty rooms prompted us to include the feature that shows which rooms are booked but not occupied.
Interactive Feedback on Kiosk Design
We introduced participants to low-fidelity paper prototypes of the kiosk interface. The original concept included both a reservation and directory feature. Participants interacted with the design and were asked to perform tasks such as finding an available room or locating a reserved one. During these interactions, we gathered feedback on usability and feature relevance: Navigation and usability: We asked participants, "How easy was it to find the room you're looking for?" and received varied responses, which informed our design adjustments. Feedback on reservation system: Participants quickly pointed out that the reservation system was redundant.
Key Feedback and Pivot Decision
The feedback we gathered during the interviews highlighted several key issues that informed our decision to pivot the focus of the kiosk:
- Redundancy of the Reservation Feature: A significant portion of interviewees, like Student 1, expressed that the kiosk’s reservation feature felt unnecessary. Most students already booked rooms in advance via the website or mobile app, making an in-library reservation system redundant.
"Booking a room on the kiosk would be pointless since everyone reserves through their phone in advance." – Student 1
“...when there is an online reservation system available through phone, it could be meaningless to book the study room on the day...” – Student 2
This insight revealed that integrating a reservation system into the kiosk wouldn't add value to users who were already familiar with existing tools. Instead, it could lead to confusion and wasted effort.
- Desire for a Real-Time Directory: Nearly all participants were enthusiastic about the idea of a kiosk that provided real-time room availability information. They specifically wanted to know which rooms were reserved but not in use, so they could use those spaces temporarily.
"Sometimes, I sit in a reserved room until someone kicks me out. It would be great if I could easily check which rooms are actually available." – Student 1
Post-Interview Adjustments
After synthesizing the feedback from the interviews, we made several critical adjustments to our kiosk design to better align with user needs:
- Removed Reservation Feature: Based on the overwhelming feedback that the reservation system was redundant, we removed this functionality from the kiosk. Instead, we directed our efforts toward improving the room directory interface.
- Enhanced Room Directory: We restructured the directory to display real-time information on room availability, including the option to filter rooms by reserved but empty, currently occupied, and available. This change addressed users’ frustrations with rooms being reserved but left unused, allowing other students to take advantage of empty spaces.
- Integrated Navigation and Mobile Support: We added a feature where users could view detailed maps showing all study rooms across different floors. By selecting a room, they would receive step-by-step directions from their current location to the study room. For convenience, users could also choose to send the directions directly to their phone as an image file, minimizing the need to interact with the kiosk repeatedly.
- Simplified User Interface: In response to comments about ease of use, we simplified the interface, ensuring that essential functions, like filtering room availability and sending directions, were clear and easily accessible. We focused on intuitive iconography and minimalistic design to avoid overwhelming users with too many options.

Physical Design

The physical design of the kiosk played a crucial role in ensuring its usability and visibility within the library space. Our design goal was to create a visually appealing, user-friendly kiosk that would stand out in high-traffic areas but blend seamlessly with Geisel Library’s aesthetic.

Placement strategy: We selected high-traffic locations on every floor that contained study rooms, with a focus on areas where students frequently needed navigational assistance. The chosen placements ensured easy accessibility:
- 2nd floor: Near the service hub, where students often pass through and need quick access to information.
- 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th floors: Near the elevators and staircases to maximize visibility and ease of use.
Aesthetic and Functionality: The kiosk was designed with a minimalist and modern look, featuring a large screen to ensure clear visibility and interaction:
- Clean and simple color palette: White background with blue accents that align with the library's neutral tones while making the kiosk visually distinct.
- Tall and slim form factor: This design minimized physical obstructions in the library while ensuring that it was easy to spot.
- Clear branding: We included a colored logo to distinguish the kiosk from its surroundings, helping users immediately recognize its function.
- Large touch-screen interface: Easy to interact with, even for users unfamiliar with digital kiosks.
- Mobile integration: A card reader at the base for sending directions to users’ phones.
Physical Design Inspiration
- Large display, little to no features along border
  Clear logo in front; makes the purpose obvious
  Use of a few colors; printers looked seamless in Geisel’s environment
Physical Design Features
- Main Focus: Simple & Modern Look
  - We felt that a directory should stand out enough for users who need it, but shouldn’t take up too much attention or distract users from the environment
  Border surrounding display is clear of any features, making it easy for user to focus on the directory
  Card reader; placed in the front for easy tapping access with user’s phone
  Colored logo to distinguish it from a plain white wall/environment

Interface Design

The interactive interface design was central to ensuring that students could quickly and efficiently find study rooms. We focused on making the interface intuitive, user-friendly, and responsive to real-time updates.

Lo-fi

Hi-fi

What I learned

Designing for Real-Time User Needs: The complexity of this project wasn’t just about building a kiosk interface—it was about ensuring the right information was delivered at the right time. Realizing that the problem wasn’t simply navigation but also real-time availability gave me deeper insights into dynamic content design. I learned to design interfaces that respond and update continuously, reflecting real-world changes in availability. This process sharpened my ability to create designs that live in flux, preparing me for future projects where real-time data plays a key role.
Understanding Behavioral Patterns to Drive Design Decisions: One of the key lessons was how nuanced user behavior is, especially in public spaces like libraries. While the original idea was to incorporate a reservation system into the kiosk, users clearly preferred to book rooms on mobile. This forced me to reflect on how design assumptions can sometimes be disconnected from actual user behavior. Learning to drop features that don’t add value and focusing on simplifying core functions taught me the importance of being user-first, rather than feature-first. For aspiring designers, this teaches that every assumption should be tested and that removing features can often be more beneficial than adding new ones.
Bridging Physical and Digital Spaces: Designing a solution that straddles both the digital interface (on-screen) and the physical world (the placement of the kiosk) provided me with invaluable experience in spatial interaction design. The kiosks not only needed to offer real-time data but also had to be placed in the right locations to truly serve their purpose. I learned how physical context influences digital design—how users approach, interact with, and leave digital kiosks all depend on where the system is placed in the environment. This made me more mindful of how important the relationship between physical space and digital interaction is.
Balancing Aesthetic Simplicity with Functional Complexity: One of the core challenges of this project was making a complex system appear simple. The kiosk needed to manage and display several layers of information (available rooms, real-time data, navigation). I realized that minimalist design isn’t about reducing functionality but presenting complexity in an elegant, digestible way. Every feature, from the real-time room data to the map interface, had to be visually accessible while hidden behind simple user interactions. This helped refine my ability to design intuitive interfaces that can guide users without overwhelming them—a key skill for any UI/UX designer.
The Value of Prototyping and Rapid Iteration: During the development phase, we prototyped extensively with low-fidelity paper designs and high-fidelity wireframes. I learned how iterative design isn’t just about improving usability; it’s about discovering hidden insights. For example, users pointed out that the reservation feature was redundant, something we would have missed without prototyping and testing. This process taught me that prototypes are not just for testing usability but for uncovering new opportunities and refining the problem space itself.

The Geisel Library Study Room Kiosk project taught me to design for real-time needs, understand user behavior, and bridge physical and digital spaces. By focusing on dynamic content and user-centered design, I learned to simplify complex systems and adapt to evolving insights, such as the preference for mobile reservations. This experience sharpened my skills in creating intuitive interfaces and integrating digital solutions into real-world environments.

Geisel Library Study Room
Directory Kiosk

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Geisel Library Study Room Directory Kiosk

Discover

Define

Design

Geisel Library Study Room
Directory Kiosk