Knowledge sharing and community building through books

Making Enso Village's Resident Library Accessible to Seniors

OVERVIEW

Background

Enso Village is a unique, zen-inspired senior living community set to open its doors soon in Healdsburg, CA. It will accommodate approximately 400 residents, all aged 70 and above. Many of these future residents have a connection to Buddhism to varying degrees, are intellectuals, and passionate readers, resulting in extensive book collections.

The Enso team had partnered with CCA to bring to life a library that is dynamic with bookshelves woven together in community spaces with accessible ways for residents to be able to access it.

Team

My Role

3 Designers (CCA)

1 Art Therapist (Enso)

Research

Product design

Usability testing

Dev handoff

6 months

Duration

Client

DECONSTRUCTED LIBRARY

“

We don't want to use a whole space for a lot of dusty old books; we want circulation, relating to the written word in a different way.”

- Board member, Enso Village

The desire to create dynamic environments at Enso has led to an open library concept, featuring separate bookshelves distributed throughout different community areas to promote social interactions. This design enables residents to independently access books with minimal staff assistance. Consequently, there was a need to develop a system that allows residents to engage with both the books and each other while seamlessly aligning with the zen ethos.

We developed a hybrid library system including an app, bookshelves, labels, posters and cards for residents to be able to share their thoughts, borrow and return books, submit reviews, recommend new titles, and organize events.

Enso Village is adopting Cubigo, an enterprise software platform for all their admin, hospitality, clinical and financial systems. We collaborated with their developers for a white-label library app integrated with the rest of the platform.

Scope

Development

Final presentation for the capstone project at CCA showcasing the solutions made for the deconstructed library. Please watch this video with sound on.

After numerous testing sessions and many iterations, we kept revising our storyboard and experience map. Our aim was to look at the bigger picture and provide our users with the most convenient ways, considering the feasibility of Enso Village's resources and the possibilities within the Cubigo app. Currently, the app is under development, and the printed materials are in production.

Physical & Digital Touchpoints

FINAL SOLUTIONS

Experience Map - Breaking down different user tasks and prioritizing their solutions according to 'Need to have' and 'Good to have' solutions.

Color-coded System

Return

Tap on 'Return', select the books and see the location of the Returns Shelf. No scanning required, just confirm twice to make sure the books are kept at the right place.

Enso Library App

Search

Tap 'Borrow' or use the search bar to find books by title, author, or genre. Search results are color-coded into ten different genres, and you'll find books of each genre on uniquely colored shelves for easy access. Once you've located a book within the app, head to the corresponding shelf to pick it up.

Borrow

Tap 'Borrow' and see clear instructions on how to scan the label on the books. Using your phone's camera, scan the QR code to add books and then check-out to start reading.

My Books

Browse through your wish list, history of all books read and the ones kept on hold under 'My Books'.

Forum

Keep track of your book clubs, join or create new ones, suggest books to read and see communioty posts in the 'Forum' section.

I made a comprehensive design system for the Enso Library mobile app, including visual styles, components and their usage.

Design System

Bookshelves

Chalk-board sticker sheet pasted on shelves and categories written with colored chalk, easily customisable.

Posters explaining how to use the app to access the library, and displaying the bookshelf name and color.

Shelves color-coded to match with the app according to different categories/genres of books found there.

Books

Cards

Leave thoughtful handwritten reviews in the 'Dear Next Reader' cards for other residents. Share why you donated this book with anything you would like its readers to know in the 'Donor stickers'.

QR code code label with instructions stuck on the back-cover of all books, with a simple colored sticker on the spine coordinated with the shelves and genres.

Labels

We talked to 8 future residents and several people from the team to understand what they value at this crucial time in their life. We also got a chance to learn about their expectations and fears about moving into their new home.

User Interviews and Findings

RESEARCH

I want to take care of myself now. I I realize I can't solve the problems of the world. I'm also gonna be really happy that I have to actually get up and get dressed and comb my hair.“

”

I can't really imagine what life would be like without reading. To pass the book to the next person so we can discuss about it.“

”

One day we were all in the group, and we were talking, and we just looked at each other and said, you know, we're all going to die together. That was really heavy.“

”

Activities

We interviewed them over 30-50 min sessions and even did engaging co-creation activities like card sorting, and image-ranking to understand their reading styles, and their current priorities and values, not limited to reading. These activities gave us a clearer picture of our target audience, and helped us set guiding principles for our designs.

Personas can often be limiting, so for this project, we decided to make 3 detailed ones to reflect the variety of needs and pain points we observed in the people we talked to.

After conducting our interviews and synthesising the findings, we were able to come up with 4 design principles to guide us while working on the physical and digital touchpoints.

Guiding Principles

INSIGHTS

Empathy

Infuse every design with an understanding of user emotions, as they form the driving motivations behind their actions and expectations.

Accessibility

Ensure inclusive and accessible solutions that empower every user to seamlessly accomplish tasks, regardless of their physical abilities.

Clarity

Prioritize clarity and ease of understanding by minimizing cognitive load. Thoughtful feedback and intuitive cues play a pivotal role in reducing confusion.

Familiarity

Leverage users' familiarity with existing platforms and processes to create a seamless experience, aligning with their expectations.

Over a course of 2.5 months, we rapidly prototyped designs in varying levels of fidelity from paper sketches, to wireframes to high fidelity screens. We conducted usability testing sessions every week with a total of 12 users, continually iterating based the solutions based on their feedback.

Prototyping & Iterating

TESTING

How will residents borrow books from the shelves and then return them?

TACKLING THE BASICS

Borrowing Books

App - Reserve

Search and reserve books if they are available.
Pick your book from the shelf within 1 day by scanning the QR code.

Reserving available books is not required.
Scanning in the app even after reservation is an unnecessary hassle.
Bad experience while perusing through bookshelves and unable to borrow certain already reserved books.

App - Scan QR Code

Pick books and scan their QR codes on the labels through the app to add them to cart.
Alternatively, type book IDs if unable to scan.

Books can be reserved or put on hold only if they are unavailable.
All the test participants were able to do this with ease.
Hassle free approach for residents and the back-end.
Inexpensive sticker labels, and compatible with Cubigo.

App - Tap to Scan

NFC tags stuck discreetly inside books.
Tap your phone on a book to automatically borrow it.
Easy and fast for users.

Not compatible with the Cubigo app.

Kiosk (Search) & Sign-up Sheet

Kiosks placed near the shelves, to be used to search, borrow, return etc.
Alternatively, a paper sign-up sheet for residents to enter details of books borrowed.

Kiosks ie interactice screens or tablets are not within the budget.
Analog options will lead to too much work for volunteers (Enso staff and residents) to manually enter details in the system.

Returning Books

Return to Original Shelf

Return each book to the original location where they were picked from; shelves are separated by genres.
Sustainable arrangement of books, reducing work load on volunteers.

All readers should not be expected to arrange the books perfectly. Separate books need to be kept at separate shelves according to genres.
Frustrating for volunteers to sort books later if some of them are not arranged properly. Does not reduce workload as it is error-prone.

Return to Any Shelf

Shelves ar enot separated by genres.
Return books to any shelf (for convenience)
Creates a mystery box vibe among readers - unexpected treasures.

Very difficult to keep track.
No arrangement, unsustainable.
Novelty of mystery books is not worth the hassle of disorganization.

Separate Returns Shelf

A separate shelf for returned books. All the books after being read go here.
Easier and quicker for readers.
Books will be arranged by volunteers later.

Increased work for dedicated volunteers who need to take books from the returns shelf and sort them in their correct places.
The best option for an organized system.
Multiple books can be returned at once.
A committee of residents will volunteer to maintain the library, promoting independence and agency.

We're collaborating with Cubigo on the app's development and launch, ensuring smooth coordination. We've streamlined the process for ordering supplies and handling printing for the enso team Bookshelves and QR code stickers are ordered, with posters awaiting the app launch. This project was a valuable learning experience for me. It taught me the power of simplicity; It reinforced the idea that sustainable, inexpensive and straightforward solutions are often the most effective for all stakeholders. Central to the project were principles of accessibility and coordination, and after thorough testing, I have great confidence in its outcome.