Dibner Mobile Print App
Envisioning an efficient printing app for NYU students at Bern Dibner Library
My Role:
Product Designer
Project:
Group Project (Fei Wang, Cher Wang, Cindy Chen, Ariadne Wong)
Timeline:
Oct. 2023 - Dec. 2023
3 months
Tools Used:
Figma, Figjam, Adobe PS
OVERVIEW
During Fall 2023, my team, D-tech Dibs 🕵️participated in HackDibner, an annual Bern Dibner Library contest which challenged us to use technology to improve user experience at Dibner, or within the greater NYU Libraries system. Due to the shared grievances with our campus peers with the printing system, my team and I designed Dibner Mobile Print, an app that allows users to print and troubleshoot any issues conveniently from their phones.
About the Project
In collaboration with three other designers, I was responsible for designing the printer status page which allows students to check if the printers are working ahead of their travel time. We ended up winning 2nd place for the 2023 HackDibner Contest. Read the article here.
My Role
The Problem
Every semester students travel to Bern Dibner Library to use the library printer only to find it not working – whether it be the unclear processing time, navigating through the NYU’s mobile print interface or just being confused when the printers are down or not.
The Goal
Imagine a system that enhances transparency and convenience, streamlining students' printing experiences for greater efficiency.
DESIGN PROCESS
Initial Thinking
Target Users
NYU students staying at Dibner Library
Students who use the library to print
Research Methods
Online Survey
In-Person & Virtual Interview
Literature Review
USER RESEARCH
Survey
We first made a survey to collect students’ opinion about the printers. We strategically posted our survey flyers next to the library printers at Dibner. Here’s some essential data we pulled from our research.
Question 01: “What kind of error messages or problems have you encountered while using the NYU printers?”
66.6% of the respondents reported that printer shutdown was the most popular type of printer problem for students followed by refund issues and paper jam issues.
Question 02: “Based on previous experience, when there's a printing problem, what did you do?”
58.3%
of the students reported walking away from faulty printers and using another working printer at the library.
25.0%
of the students directly left the library.
8.3%
of the students informed the staff of the issue.
Majority of the students did not report to the library staff about the printer issue and went on with their day to find alternative places to print.
User Interviews
We also interviewed the library’s front desk staffs and the IT department to gain insights from the staff’s perspective regarding the printing issues at hand.
SYNTHESIZING RESEARCH
Empathy Maps
We made an empathy map to synthesize our findings and understand the perspectives of the library staff and student’s opinion of the printers.
Staff
Student
We learned that there is a communication gap between staff and students that ultimately affects the printing system overall.
There are unreported problems that are unknown to the library staff from the students. Thus, this might delay the time it takes to fix the printers, increasing the downtime of printers (If it’s a serious problem staff needs to contact TGI (3rd party company in charge of printers) which might take up to a week to fix).
—How Might We—
introduce a streamlined system to enhance the printing experience for students at the Dibner Library?
KEY RESEARCH INSIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES
Communication Gap
A communication divide exists between staffs and students, especially concerning matters like account balances, printing issues, or error messages.
Easy Help Support
Students should be able to seek for help easily through a simplified process of inquiry to minimize the need for intermediary steps.
Unreliable Printers
Students experience frustration upon arriving at Dibner and discovering a malfunctioning printer, regardless of whether it's due to a technical fault or the absence of color functionality.
Students should be able know ahead of time printer is available to use or not.
They should also be able to aware which is colored and black & white printers before printing
Informed Decision Making
Confusing Visuals
Based on the current mobile print app, there was a lot of confusions with the print settings and processing time of the print. They also don’t know where to seek help.
Visual Cues
Students should expect to know when the printer is finally done processing on NYU mobile print. They shouldn’t waste their time waiting.
DESIGN DECISION
App or a Website?
After arriving at our insights, we took a pause to decide on the medium of interface we should be designing for. We all came to the conclusion of an app after the market research we have conducted.
According to IDI, mobile printing demand has increased from 16% in 2011 to 49% in 2015. This means that about half of the mobile user population desire access to mobile printing. In addition to the increase in demand, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the volume of printed pages in the non-mobile printing sector is forecasted to increase by only 2.2% while the mobile printing market is expected to grow ten times the speed, at a rate of 20%.
This market research reveals a clear preference among users for mobile printing, owing to its convenience and efficiency in the printing process, given the widespread use of smartphones.
CONCEPTUALIZATION
User Flow
Soon during conceptualization, we used each of the above insights as a design goal to help brainstorm the specific features that addresses each opportunity to smoothly integrate different parts of their printing process together in one app. These are main task flows for how a user would interact with the mobile print app. This also informed me on what pages we needed to design for.
DESIGN LANGUAGE
Before starting to design the screens, we made sure to follow the NYU Design Guidelines when designing our prototype to maintain brand consistency.
ITERATIONS
We did feature prioritization and narrowed down to make these four sections for our app: the home page, printer status, print history and profile page. We iterated these sections for our final prototype.
Adjustment to Home page
The main goal for the home page is for students to upload a document and customize their print jobs. Our initial home had visual buttons which confused our users what their functionalities were. We simplified that by changing that into one single button to bring clarity to the user. We also introduced a more personalized touch to the top of the screen design by incorporating students' names, making the overall design less static and more reader-friendly.
Before
Change to the Nav Bar: Placement of Print History to Profile
Another change we made is moving print history into part of the profile section. We realized that print history should be hidden on the profile screen because there are not a lot of use cases unless users see a discrepancy with their print funds. Instead, what users need more is an FAQ section for them to go to to get thier questions answered. Thus we changed the wording/icons and placement of the navigations menu for easier understanding
Before
After
After
FINAL DESIGN
App Features
Uploading files
Students will upload their files with numerical and visual indicators to clearly inform them of their file’s uploading process
A customizable print setting that includes a preview of the personalized print job is implemented to prevent failed and misprinted jobs
Checking Printer Status
Check to see which printers are available at the campus library to save time and energy to prevent any unnecessary trips
Know the location and cost associated with the printer
Students can report a printer malfunction on the app instead of just walking away
Troubleshoot with FAQ Page
Offers clarity on balances and refunds so that students can check print transaction history.
If they find a problem, they can request a refund directly.
Allows students to share prints with their friends through email if they forgot their ID anytime
In-Depth Profile Page
To increase the transparency and communication between library staff and students, this page includes a handy set of popular questions categorized and answered for students
If there are questions not on the page, students can directly message the staff with the “ask a question” button.
REFLECTION
This project was my first hackathon experience, where I learned how to navigate a UX case study as part of a team. Below are the main lessons I gained from this journey:
Deciding What Works Best for the Project: While team members may have different design perspectives, it's essential to determine what works best for the project overall.
Designing Within Constraints: This meaningful experience highlighted the importance of designing within business constraints, including time, budget, and feasibility limitations, which we learned about through stakeholder interviews.
Importance of User Testing: User testing is crucial to ensure the design is heading in the right direction. If I had more time, I would further refine our design by conducting more user testing with our final prototype and make more iterations from there.