LUMOS

Our Work State Library NSW

User Experience

01//
The brief

The State Library of New South Wales launched a project to create a single discovery digital interface for all of its collections. The vision is to enable all Library users to search and browse the collections easily, intuitively, and enjoyably.

  • Product Design

  • UX Design

  • CX Assessment

The existing catalogue product was unable to showcase the complexity of data, hierarchies and digitised artefacts within the State Library's collections comprised of over 6 million photographs, maps, letters, paintings, audio, books, objects, digital content and more. The user experience was inconsistent due to the need to traverse different interfaces to enable the collection experience.

02//
Our Approach

User experience led design

The design challenge was to create an engaging, intuitive and friendly search experience for the end-user. The interface needed to provide users with easy wayfinding, contextual help, reduced reliance on librarians and create a unified approach to the searching and browsing the Library collections.

Design workshops, user testing & more

  • Problem definition - discovery & co-design workshops
  • UX research - usability testing, feedback, analysis & insights
  • Design and iteration - tons of wireframe revisions
  • Prototypes & Showcases - created pathways for feedback
  • Product roadmap - prioritised features and releases
  • UX design principles - promoting wayfinding, personalisation

03//

04//
Outcomes

Search & browse the collection intuitively, and enjoyably

  • Greater exploration, discoverability and interaction with the Library’s diverse collections

  • Featured a catalogue of over 4 million files across multiple levels of collection hierarchies in an intuitive way

  • Provided consistent, intuitive navigation with a shared, component-driven design system

  • Provided a set of recommendations for future state customer experience

  • Enabled users to quickly browse and download high-resolution images across the collections

  • Collated ideas with subject matter experts from across the library to ideate ways and means to connect the physical space with digital

05//
Results

  • New Catalogue

  • Unlocked precious assets for the public

  • Enabled access to curated collections

Discover the rich resources with a single-search catalogue, delve deeper and explore the Library’s collections.