Kevin Dench

kevindench.design

University of Colorado Library Re-Design

University of Colorado Library Re-Design

I found over 93% of students are using Google Scholar and Google to find their information. This was a problem since universities often shell out huge sums of money for access to scholarly journals.

The landing page of the library re-designed page.

Through my research I found over 93% of students are using Google Scholar and Google to find their information. This was a problem since universities often shell out huge sums of money for access to scholarly journals. This is why my solution is so minimal and simple.

Throughout my user testing there were a lot of discoveries, but one of the most prominent was the type of information people wanted to see displayed. One of the most important aspects of the library re-design was  information digestibility. Through the course of my user testing I was able to test the new design on the original designer of the library site.

 

Through the course of my user testing I was able to test the new design on the original designer of the library site.

This is a three-quarters view of the library search results.

The Research

I interviewed 2-3 people from university libraries to get a bead on what they found important. As well as discovering how library search engines work.

Once I had that information, it informed my designs and how I would arrange information.

Old and the New

On the left you will find the original library website, then on the right you’ll find the version that I did of that page.

During one of my user tests I discovered I was testing the original developer of the website. They informed me of many other things I had not considered.

Comparison of the old home page verses the new one. This is a comparison of the search results in the CU Library Re-Design This is a comparison of the old site to the new site, showing the book results.

Projects like this one:

The Featured Image for the App System of Crop Connect The splash page of Engineering Center This is the landing page of Your Light Shine note the configurable quote and buckets.