Meet The Players

The Quest for UX Research in a Cultural Institution

The Austin History Center

The Austin History Center (AHC) is Austin’s local history collection and archives for the Austin Public Library (APL). AHC maintains its own facilities and has a separate website. Recently, they have been renovating their buildings and have experienced multiple closures. They would like their collection to be more accessible online so everyone can find the information they need during their closures.

UT Austin UX/IA Team

UT Austin UX Team We are a group of UT Graduate students in the School of Information taking the Information Architecture and Design Course. Our team consisted of :

  • 1 UX Researcher (me)

  • 3 UX Designers

  • 1 Taxonomist

  • Fun Fact about our Team ➽ We all enjoy early morning team meetings!

Project Problem Statement

The AHC needs a website redesign. Their current website has a lot of text on each page, making it essential for improved organization and restructure. The Austin Public Library uses most of its resources to maintain its main website, but the focus now will shift to revamping the Austin History website to ensure their information is searchable & easy to navigate.

Project Goals

  • Optimize searchability for archives and collections

  • Implement accessibility elements for individuals with diverse disabilities

  • Improve information structure, labels, categories, taxonomy, hierarchy

  • Enhance seamless website navigation, readability, findability and user task completion

After the stakeholder meeting we developed these goals that would become the framework for our project.

Challenge # 1

After our stakeholder meeting, it was indicated that we could not engage with users at the Austin History Center. Additionally, their facility would be closed for a month due to construction.

Challenge # 2

In speaking to my teammates about my idea for user interviews, most of them felt that they were not necessary because we'd have data from card sorting and tree testing. Their point was valid, but as a researcher, I naturally sought more info. I'm genuinely passionate about being able to back up insights. I began brainstorming other ways to collect data to support our conclusions.

Challenge # 3

I developed a 5-7 min, 14-question survey with Likert, demographic, and open-ended questions to distribute to AHC users. Our point of contact indicated that sending the survey out was not possible. To top it off, analytics were no longer retrievable for the current survey on their home page. I began to experience a great sense of urgency! 🥺 It was time to move forward and focus on the quest to gather more UXR. As the team's sole UX researcher, I needed to find a way to make our recommendations based on decisions founded on plenty of facts. 

Overcoming Challenges

After our presentation, the stakeholders mentioned that we hit the nail on the head with our personas. It felt great to have made a favorable impact on the stakeholders, strengthening the validity of our recommendations through compelling storytelling!

The New Me

The new me is confident in my abilities in finding effective way to complete tasks. I’m comfortable with shaping a project with what currently exists.

Project Timeline- 10 Weeks

  • Client Visit - 1 day

  • Website Content Inventory & Audit - 2 weeks

  • Card Sort Recruitment and Launch -2 weeks

  • Client Findings Presentation- 1 day

  • Global Navigation Design -1 week

  • Tree testing recruitment and Launch- 1 week

  • 2nd round of tree testing and sythesis for New Labels- 1 week

  • Visual Design brainstorming, taxonomy, hierarchy of labels, language- 1 week 

  • User Observations at the Austin History Center - 1 week

  • Synthesis and analysis 1- week

  • Final Presentation to Stakeholders- 1 day

Project Methods

Labeling & Grouping Tests

Current Home page and Collections category

Old Site Map

Personas developed on UXPressia and redesigned on Figma

Proposed: Collections

Our proposed megamenu for Collections & Archives via Figma prototype

Our card sort revealed that 94% of participants grouped oral histories, audio, videos and photo labels together.

When we performed our tree test with a new proposed “Multimedia” category, 65% of participants agreed that oral histories, audio, videos and photos belong in one subcategory.

Old Home Page: Collections

Proposed Site Map

Site maps created using Figma

Personas

My Recommendations

  • Revise label terminology for better user understanding

  • Restructure and simplify the "Collections" category

  • Rename "Collections" to "Collections & Archives" for clarity

  • Rename "Outreach" to "Community Collections" for improved comprehension

  • Nest "Community Collections" under "Collections & Archives" for better categorization

  • Merge Photos, Audio, Videos and Oral Histories subcategories in one group by creating a“Multimedia Collections” subcategory

  • Introduce "Community Resources" in global navigation to condense "Collections & Archives" for improved organization

All of these recommendations were based on UXR results.

Deliverables

Previous
Previous

On the Road to Resilience

Next
Next

Revitalizing a Museum Website for Enhanced Visibility