The Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Lead UI/UX Designer
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April 2024
Designing a Database Management Tool for Aquarium Artifacts
UI/UX Design
UX Research
The Team
Julie Wang
Project Manager
Christy Seguritan
Lead UX Designer
UX Researcher
Jesse Fan
Lead UX Researcher
Catherine Gu
UI/UX Designer
UX Researcher
Context
For my capstone project, my team and I partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to apply our learnings from our Master's program and solve a real-life challenge. We worked closely with our client to design a brand new item management tool that not only helps animal specialists organize their artifact collection, but integrates a borrow-return system into their current workflow. As the lead UX designer, I was responsible for the entire design process—shaping our strategy, establishing the design vision, translating research insights into actionable design solutions.
Problem
The education lab relies on one person and one spreadsheet to manage all of the artifacts in their lab. As their collection continues to grow, the team has become burdened by an outdated and un-scalable system.
Solution
Designed an inventory management system that gives MBA animal specialists a way to search through their entire artifact catalog within a searchable database, check out artifacts for workshops, and schedule pick-up and return dates and times. This new system is scalable and integrates seamlessly with the team members’ current workflow.
Results
Designed an inventory management database that incorporates a borrowing and lending system. We tested with actual users in-person, and streamlined their entire borrowing and lending process into one web application.
Research Approach
Competitive Evaluation
It was difficult to evaluate current item management tools because institutions keep their databases private. So we used a competitive analysis to broaden our options and include indirect and niche competitors in our evaluation.
Company
Brand Positioning
Product Detail
Strengths
Weaknesses
Online retailer for products and digital entertainment. Previously an online bookstore.
Digital database of artifacts in paleobiology collection that provides information on specimen.
Strong filtering system
Detailed categorization
Outdated system
Display limitations of its digital platform
A mobile app of eBooks and audiobooks, providing virtual access to your local library.
App where users can stream ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines
Strong filtering system
Compatibility with most libraries
Limited accessibility
Challenging Navigation
Focuses on conservation, education, and community engagement through diverse animal exhibits
Online catalog that showcases art events, and educational community events.
Diverse collections
Strong community engagement
Financial and spatial limitations
Limited accessibility
A museum with the mission to inspire, educate, and cultivate curiousity
Interactive and wildlife experiences that emphasize conservation and community engagement. Online catalog provides information on the animals.
Diverse collections
Strong community engagement
Financial and spatial limitations
Outdated system
World's largest museum, education, and research complex with 21 museums and the National Zoo.
Digital database of artifacts in paleobiology collection that provides information on specimen.
Strong filtering system
Detailed categorization
Outdated system
Display limitations of its digital platform
UX Audit
Many item management systems across various industries suffer from similar usability issues:
limited accessibility,
financial and spatial limitations,
outdated design,
poor error prevention, and
unsustainable upkeep mechanisms.
Ethnographic Field Research & User Interviews
It was time to narrow in on the precise problem we were trying to solve. The team traveled to up to the Monterey Bay to conduct a contextual inquiry and one-on-one user interviews with our end-users and client. We observed how our users operated within their environment, and made a couple fascinating discoveries about the problem we were trying to solve!
Research Outcomes
Not everything can be conveyed during online zoom calls. The on-site visit helped us made a few essential key insights that we would've otherwise missed!
Inventory is organized and tracked by only one person (Bryan) who relies on a single Google spreadsheet.
Artifacts are commonly borrowed by internal team members for educational workshops and volunteer training.
No distinct categorization or organization system in place. Items are organized and labeled in various jars, shelves, and boxes.
Team members are burdened by having to rely on one person when they to need borrow an artifact.
"It's kind of everywhere. The issue is there is not a super good cataloging searchable system. They have to schedule time with me to come in and I have to walk them around to see every item we have."
-Bryant (Animal Specialist)
Defining the problem
The Problem
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Animal Specialists lack a clear and organized system for tracking their educational artifacts, leading to uncertainty about what items are available. They need a sustainable, long-term solution to catalog, manage, and support borrowing and lending of these artifacts so they can conduct educational workshops.
User Identities
Onsite research and interviews revealed that different team members had their own distinct sets of pain points. We created 2 user identities to highlight these differences and serve as a guiding lighthouse for the rest of the team.
Storyboarding
The team came together to brainstorm a solution for the Monterey Bay team. I drew storyboards to help convey a reimagined artifact borrowing process.
These helped us communicate our concept clearly and we were able to gain valuable feedback and buy-in from the client.
Design Process
Identifying Key User Flows
I mapped out the current user flow to identify key pain points in the borrowing process. Users stated the requesting process was burdensome due to communication and scheduling, I translated the process into something that is digital, seamless, and saves both user identities time.
Wireframes
Requestor Frames
Admin Frames
How do we Design for Animal Specialists?
We relied on generic animal categories to use for our filtering system but as started recalling my things from my biology degree, I wondered if this was the same mental model our end-users used. We quickly realized we had limited knowledge on animal taxonomy, and the categorization system we designed wouldn't work.
Card Sort
A card sort was a simple and easy way to quickly identify mental models. We recruited 4 animal specialists to sort new and old animal artifacts into taxonomic categories. I also gave them the option to create new categories where they see fit.
Try it out yourself!
Artifact Bank
Sea urchin
Octopus in jar
Otter Pelt
Echinoderms
Starfish ossicles
Sand dollar
Molluscs
Squid beak
Mollusk shells
Snail shells
Chordata
Otter Fetus in Jar
Raccoon Fur
Dolphin Skeleton
Whale Vertebrae
The card sort revealed our filter categories were too general for animal artifacts. Through the cart sorting activity we discovered that out of the 8 major taxonomic ranks to use, team members used phylum to classify the artifacts 85% of the time. We pivoted from our current filtering system to use phyla instead, with the ability to drill down further if needed.
"Most people will look at phyla or family, as opposed to bird fish or mammal. It'd be more useful to use the taxonomy, since it's a standardized way of categorization."
-Bryant (Animal Specialist)
Findings and Insights
MBA employees naturally categorize animal artifacts at the phyla level.
There is a need for additional tagging to account for endangered artifacts, need to stay dry, fragility, and security.
Bryant needs a way to know why borrowers are requesting a specific item for security reasons
Incorporate a feature for borrowers to request extensions for borrowed items directly through the system.
Employees need a way to identify preservation methods for the artifacts
High Fidelity Prototype
Results
We conducted a second usability test with users to measure the updates we made by bench marking with our initial design. We gave users core tasks to complete within the platform, including check out, managing loaned items, and utilizing search and filter functions.
New Filtering
After the card sort, we updated our filtering system with to use phyla as a categorization method. There was a 100% success rate for tasks— a +25% increase from last time.
Menu Labels
While initial feedback from administrators was positive regarding usability, testing revealed showed participants struggling with editing artifact information. User interviews uncovered that the primary issue stemmed from unclear menu labels in the management dashboard, making it difficult for users to navigate and complete their tasks.
We renamed the menu labels so it is more intuitive for users to view loaned items, which improved the success rates to be 100%!
Scheduling
For general users, the platform performed exceptionally well for most common tasks, such as checking out, returning items, logging in, and finding and viewing items. However, there is a significant usability issue with scheduling pick-up and return dates, due to the 2.7% misclick rate and 40% direct successes. In the post-survey, we found that users were confused about the multi-step of adding a return time, which could be clarified through UI adjustments.
"I liked that it organized everything, with all of the information details too. The interface looks really, really nice and it felt pretty easy to use."
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Employee
Closing Thoughts
Working for the Monterey Bay Education Lab was a unique opportunity for us to design a user-centered solution that is tailored to address a specific problem and user base. Direct collaboration with the MBA team, along with an on-site visit to observe their existing inventory system, provided invaluable real-world insights that shaped our design decisions. By prioritizing user research and iterating based on direct feedback, we developed a product that streamlined artifact management—allowing the team to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time caring for animals and delivering educational workshops.
What's Next for Our Design?
This project was selected amongst 5 other projects to be passed over to our Software Development Master's program, so it can be developed into an actual web app for the Monterey Bay Aquarium!
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