Children's Library Space Redesign
A redesign of the public library in Papendrecht for children age 3-8 backed by user research.
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Overview
The public library AanZet in Papendrecht, NL, wanted children age 3-8 to feel more welcome in the library, specifically by making the environment more playful.
The aim of this project was to redesign the library environment in an immersive way to motivate children to look for books and read.
Role & Duration
User Research, Interaction Design, Project Management
February - June 2022
🔎 User Research
Methodology
Environment Observations
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We conducted observations at interactive, child-friendly locations like the NEMO Museum in Amsterdam and Amsterdam Public Library to learn best practices from successful environments and observe real actions and emotions from children while they interact in these environments.
Participatory Design
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We went to a local trampoline park and (with permission) asked children to draw with the prompt 'This is where I like to read.' This was our chosen way of doing 'Participatory Design,' as children primarily communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through drawing. This method was by far the most valuable as it went against the client's assumption that children just want to be surrounded by characters from their favorite tv shows (e.g. Bluey or Dora the Explorer).
Stakeholder Interview
"We want to find a way to make an interactive connection between the furniture and the contents of the books children will read."
A stakeholder interview was conducted to dig deeper into what our clients actually want, and what they've observed as staff members at the library.
🔮Design Vision
After conducting user research, we used Miro to cluster our data and define: Who are we really designing for? What is the problem? What design direction will we be taking?
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💭 Ideation
With our design vision in mind, we derived a Problem Statement: How might we create an open space with interactions while also giving children a space to retract?
We then ideated off of our HMW question on Miro using Brainwriting and creating Mood Boards. These ideas were sketched into concepts, and we used dot voting to choose our final concept.
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🛠️ Prototyping and Testing
The concept we chose was a nature-themed area with a forest zone and sea zone where children could read privately in a tree trunk or with sea life projected on the walls. We expanded on this with a physical prototype (seen below). This included a path on the sidewalk outside that would lead children to the library.
We also wanted to test how children interact with floor paths, so we drew branches and leaves with chalk at a local playground and observed for two hours. We found that children followed the branches, while adults noticed the path but still walked over it.
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✨Final Concept
After demonstrating our physical prototype and receiving feedback from our clients, we made our final concept in video form (featuring my voice acting as 'Jelle').
✍ Project Learnings
- Get creative with research
Something we discussed a lot was how we were going to research children, especially those aged 0-8 years old. They would be difficult to interview, and we can only get so many insights from talking to adults that work with children. Then we did desk research and found that most children communicate primarily through drawing, which is how we came up with our version of Participatory Design. The data from this method ended up being the most impactful part of this project— getting creative with research uncovers deeper insights. This is something I will remember for every future project. - Proactive Collaboration
Proactive collaboration was key to our project's success. I ensured we held regular in-person meetings twice a week and had open discussions about the project and our work. Communicating with each other in person helped resolved issues much more efficiently than sending messages asynchronously.