This morning, we replaced the yellow search box that’s been on the site for six years with a redesigned one. As detailed at the last Tech Sharecase meeting, the design of this new search box was driven by research into user preferences and habits. As we worked on the design, we drew on insights yielded from usability testing (three rounds), query log analyses, and website analytics. Based on observations from usability tests and usage data of the search box on interior pages and LibGuides, we have made the library home page the only place where the yellow search bar is located. This design decision also will help us as we plan a mobile friendly version of the entire library website, where there will no longer be space in the top right of interior pages for a search box.
This spring, Lucy Liu (our UX designer) and I will conduct a follow-up round of usability testing to see how things are going. Over the next year, we’ll also be looking at query logs and website analytics to assess the impact the new design is having.
If you have any feedback, please feel free to share it with Mike Waldman, Lucy Liu, or me. I should mention this project would not have been completed without the help of the two previous UX designers (Holly Dowell and Qian Chen) and current and former staff of BCTC (especially WenGuang Li, Wayne Cheng, and Patrick Ackerman).