Improving the Usability of the Zines Research Guide at Pratt Libraries

Moderated Usability Testing

⏰ Timeline

April’25 -> May’25 (5 Weeks)

👥 Team

Roshni Ganesh

Krishna Kishore Lal

Mengqi Cao

👩🏽‍💻 My Role

  • Research

  • Recruitement

  • Usability Testing

  • Analysis

  • UX Design

📚 Client - Pratt Institute Libraries

Pratt Institute Libraries serves a diverse academic community of 5,000+ students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

🔎 Context

The library’s zine collection has been growing with over 875+ zines, but there have been challenges in navigating the virtual browsing of these physical zines via the library website.

This study focuses on evaluating the organization and effectiveness of the Zines Research Guide.

🎯 Research Goals

What were the client’s key focus areas for this study?

🧠 Understand User Needs and Perceptions

Uncover how users navigate, interpret, and experience the guide to identify key pain points and expectations.

💻 Evaluate and Improve the Guide’s Browsing Experience

Assess the effectiveness of current features and enhance the overall virtual browsing experience, particularly within the Browse Random section.

🚀 Identify Areas for Future Development

Surface actionable insights and long-term opportunities to inform ongoing improvements and feature enhancements.

🎯 Moderated Usability Testing

How did we go about it?

Created a Screener Survey on Panelfox and distributed it via the School of Information listserv and School of Design faculty to recruit participants with both library-focused and design-oriented perspectives on zines.

Recruited Participants

They had to be:

  • 👩‍🎓 Pratt Institute students (Majoring in Graduate Library Science, Undergraduate Communications Design or Pratt Foundations)

  • 📚 Somewhat to very familiar with zines

  • 📰 Having prior engagement with zines in any format

Our Final Interviewee Demographics:

👩‍🎓 4 Graduate Students from the MS LIS program

👩‍🎓 1 Undergraduate Student from the BFA Communication Design program

👨‍🎓 1 Undergraduate Student from the Pratt Foundation program

Conducted Interviews

6 participants

I conducted 2 Interviews :)

Virtual Zoom Sessions

45-60 Min Sessions

📝 Pre-and Post-test Questionnaire

  • Sessions began with a brief warm-up to understand participants’ familiarity with zines and digital library use

  • Participants then completed 5 tasks

  • Each session concluded with post-test reflections on the overall experience, confusion points, and suggestions for improvement

📝 The 5 Tasks

  • Homepage Exploration – First impressions, clarity, and navigability

  • Browse Random – Discoverability, scroll behavior, and usefulness

  • Browse by Subject – Finding zines by theme; assessing category clarity

  • Zine Detail Page – Evaluating layout, metadata comprehension, and visual hierarchy

  • Add to Bag – Testing interaction feedback and user expectations

Approach to Analysis (Post-interview)

📊 Data Collection and Analysis

  • Collected qualitative & quantitative data through:
    → Interview recordings
    → Think-aloud protocols
    → Pre- & post-task questionnaires
    → Probing questions during sessions

  • Conducted a task-by-task analysis to identify specific usability issues

  • Synthesized findings into recurring problems, grouped by frequency

💡 Key Themes

  1. Content Clarity – Dense text and lack of context made information hard to interpret

  2. Category Structure & Labelling – Overlapping topics and unclear terms caused confusion

  3. Navigation & Feature Visibility – Key features like Browse Random were hard to find

  4. Layout Inconsistencies – Fragmented structure disrupted browsing flow

  5. Interaction Feedback & Functionality – No clear feedback on user actions; elements felt broken or confusing

Note: The guides were built using LibGuides (Springshare), with platform strengths and limitations considered throughout the study.

💡Key Findings & Recommendations

What issues did we find, and what do we recommend doing?

Finding 1: Content gaps and visual design hindered the completion of user tasks

Issue 1: Content gaps hindered users

Solution: Improved homepage to cater to user needs

Solution: Standardizing content in the subject pages

Finding 2: Inconsistent and unreliable Search Experience

Issue 1: Inconsistent Search bar placement

Issue 2: Keyword search caused confusion around subject relevance

Solution: Improving Search Visibility and Precision

Finding 3: Fragmented and Confusing Browse Random Experience

A part I helped shape with my recommendation!

Issue 1: Low Visibility Despite
Strong Engagement Potential

Solution: Enhance Visibility and Clarity of the “Browse Random” Button

Issue 2: Unintuitive Navigation &
Scroll Behaviour

Issue 3: Fragmented Layout
Disrupted Flow

Solution: Enhancing and Making the Browse Random Navigation Experience Cohesive

💡Conclusion

What’s next? What did the clients have to say?

What worked well?

  • The Zine Research Guide is a wonderful digital entry point to Pratt’s unique collection

  • Participants appreciated the intent and visual richness, especially the Browse Random feature and cover images

What can be improved?

  • Usability issues, including content clarity, inconsistent layouts, unclear categories, and hidden features, limited its effectiveness

  • Addressing these challenges can make the guide more intuitive, accessible, and user-friendly

  • Our findings provide a clear, user-informed roadmap for future improvements

Want to dive deep?

  • View our full report for a detailed look at the process, usability findings, and all findings and recommendations.

  • Explore our client presentation for a concise summary of insights and proposed improvements.

“Lovely work! Some expected and some very unexpected and interesting findings! We’re excited to explore how we can implement your recommendations.

Also, great job on recognising the limitations of the LibGuides platform and tailoring your suggestions accordingly.”
— Pratt Institute Libraries