The Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Lead UI/UX Designer
April 2024
Inventory Management Tool for the Education Lab
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, I partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and designed a new management tool to help them oversee all of their artifacts. 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, and orchestrating additional user research activities as needed.
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 As their collection continues to grow, the team has become burdened by an outdated and un-scalable system.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
Our application streamlined the entire borrowing process for team members, by creating a searchable catalog where users can find the best artifacts for their workshop, add to cart, and select dates for pick-up and return that are then integrated into their work calendars.
Results
We solved the lab's artifact management issue by designing a management inventory system. We tested with actual users in-person, and streamlined their entire borrowing and lending process into one web platform.
Research Approach
We began by conducting a literature review to learn the research landscape and answer our research questions on categorization, technology, digitalization, and digital libraries.
"Digitizing artifacts is not just about preserving artifacts, but also “producing and shaping cultural heritage”
Dahlström et al. (2012)
Categorization Methods
2 main ways to categorize archaeological artifacts: analytical classification and taxonomic classification
Technological Advancements
AR, IoT, and digital interfaces in inventory management systems boosts efficiency and interaction
Benefits of Digitalization
Implementing a web-based system can enhance accessibility, eliminate paperwork, improve search functions, and enhance the user experience
Challenges of Digital Libraries Face
Difficulties to be wary of include balancing cost and quality during digitization, content selection, and maintenance
Competitive Usability Review
The research revealed a lot of potential for using a digital library, so we wanted to look into building a web-based digital library. However, it was difficult finding item management tools because they are typically used behind the scenes. We decided on conducting a competitive usability review because we can also evaluate indirect and niche competitors.
One example is Amazon— an online shopping catalog! By learning how organizations manage large collections of items we could translate these insights and apply them to designing a tool for managing artifacts!
Company
Brand Positioning
Product Detail
Strengths
Weaknesses
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
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
Our competitive analysis revealed many digital library systems are outdated, aligning with our literature review finding that maintenance is a key challenge these platforms face. Notable exceptions, like Libby and the San Diego Museum of Art, effectively use status tags and date stamps to keep their catalogs current. We also need to prioritize the administrator's user experience, so catalog upkeep is easy and seamless in the long-term.
Heuristic Evaluation
Since we are designing for a specific userbase, we had limited participants for user testing. Conducting a heuristics evaluation allows us evaluate the UX of other platforms and gain research insights so we can reserve participant testing for our prototypes. This activity helped us identify potential user issues commonly found in item management platforms such as using images and a strong filtering system.
Field Research
We went up to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to visit the lab, and conduct a contextual inquiry. We were able to actually see how all of the artifacts are organized and labeled. We also conducted user interviews revealed different employees held different pain points depending on their role. This helped us build out two distinct personas to help represent our users.
"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)
Bryant
Bryant manages all of the aquarium's artifacts. His current system struggles with security and efficiency; items can go missing due to inadequate storage. The lack of a searchable database complicates tracking and access. Bryant would prefer spending time caring for the animals than in his email inbox.
Erin
Erin highlights a significant pain point in artifact management: the absence of a centralized database makes it difficult to efficiently locate and use educational props, relying instead on inefficient and informal direct communications for borrowing items.
Define
The ability to locate artifacts is becoming difficult, and the current method does not scale well.
Given the complexity of our problem, we needed to be flexible and consider all of the moving pieces. We used an abstraction ladder to define our problem statement so we could take a step back or get more granular throughout the design process.
From our on-site user interviews, we discovered that different roles experienced their own respective pain points with the current system. We used these insights to create 2 user identities to make sure our solution addresses the pain points of both roles.
Storyboarding
I drew out storyboards to help convey our solution to our client. It also helped us envision how our solution plays a role in the borrowing process and within the environment. We created UI storyboards to showcase how they would interact with the tool at the interface level.
Designing
Initial Concepts and Ideas
My approach was to ideate without limits, and then we can be scale down later. I played around with ideas such as video chatting features, using AR to digitalize the size and shape of items into 3D models, and AI chat bots to help users find the perfect item.
Identifying Key User Flows
I mapped out the current user flow to identify key pain points in the borrowing process. My goal was to translate the process into something that is seamless and effortless— one that can save users time. Users stated the requesting process specifically, was laborious and burdensome due to communication and scheduling. We designed integrated-scheduling capabilities that sync with Bryant's availability, so both parties can skip that extra step.
Wireframes
Requestor Frames
Admin Frames
Designing for Animal Specialists
When we began wireframing, we developed different categories for all of the artifacts, filters, and tags but we had limited knowledge on animal taxonomy. I decided to conduct a card sort to test if our system would work for animal specialists and understand how scientists intuitively categorize artifacts.
Card Sort
We simulated an exercise where they had them sort new and existing artifacts into different animal categories. They also had the option to create new categories as 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
We quickly learned our categories were too general for animal artifacts. Out of the 8 major taxonomic ranks to use, team members used phylum to classify the artifacts 85% of the time. We restructured our filtering and categorization system to use phyla instead.
"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)
User Testing
To get early feedback, we conducted user testing with our wireframes to test out our basic structure and layout. We we're able to identify some key usability issues ahead of time before going into hifi's!
Incorporate more specific taxonomic levels or scientific names for categorizing artifacts instead of broad categories
Implement more tagging options for items (ex: endangered artifacts, stay dry, fragile, security)
Add a way for borrowers to explain the purpose of their request.
Incorporate a feature for borrowers to request extensions for borrowed items directly through the system.
Consider displaying preservation methods or tags alongside artifact names in the inventory view to provide more context.
Moving to High Fidelity Prototyping!
It was pivotal to meet back with our participants for additional user research. With these results, I translated our research insights into a list of design action items that we incorporated moving into the high-fidelity prototype.
User Testing
We conducted a second usability test with users to measure our success by bench marking with our initial wireframes. We gave them key tasks to complete within the platform, designed to test common user interactions, such as check out, managing loaned items, and utilizing search and filter functions.
Filtering
We were pleased to find that after updating our filtering system, we had a 100% rate for participants using these features to find an item (admin and general users)— a +25% increase from last time.
Menu Labels
While initial feedback from administrators was positive regarding usability, usability testing revealed key pain points. Participants struggled with editing artifact information and marking returned items, resulting in low task success rates. The research 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.
Solution: Rename menu labels for the artifact management dashboard, so it is intuitive for users to view loaned items
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.
Solution:
Add error messages and indicators for missing inputs when users attempt to check out
Revisit pick up/return UI to use dropdowns instead of pills to clarify return time is the next step
Include a stepper for the borrowing process so users are aware of where they are in the process
Results
"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."
Overall, we received highly positive feedback from our participants. After making the final updates we had our final prototype! We delivered our design solution and process in a capstone presentation with an audience composed of faculty, the monterey bay team, cohort members, and other department students.
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 chosen to be passed over to our Software Development Master's program and is currently being developed into an actual web app for the Monterey Bay Aquarium!
