Timeline
September - December 2024
(12 weeks)
Role
Service Designer
Methods
Service Audit, Interviews,
Co-Creation Workshop
Context
Improving the printing experience at Humber College for employees and students
Humber College's library offers various services to over 80,000 students. This project initially aimed to understand and identify the potential areas of improvement for Humber Libraries.
Due to the sheer amount of services offered by the library, I conducted a service audit to understand the pain-points and areas of improvement. This helped me narrow down to the printing services as the area of focus of this project.
Summary
3 Key Problem Areas
Process
The Design Journey
Research
Why conduct a service audit and micro-interviews?
As the first research method, I chose to do a service audit for 2 main reasons:
-
Observe users in the environment to get more context on pain-points
-
Understand if the business goals match the intended user experiences
The service audit was then combined with micro-interviews, thereby giving us th following benefits:
-
Get a more holistic understanding
-
Dive deeper into any problem areas that users may have
-
Understand the root causes of the issues identified from the site visit
Research
What did we learn from these?
Define
Understanding the entire service through stakeholder mapping
Using these insights, I created a stakeholder map to better understand all the stakeholders involved, how they're connected and how these problems may affect them.
Area highlighted in orange shows the project focus (printing)
Define
Based on the research, there are 3 key personas
All the research findings conducted can be narrowed down into 3 key personas, and their goals, needs and behaviours.
Define
All 3 personas have their unique journeys
To better understand the interactions and needs of these personas, I developed journey maps for each based on insights from the service audit and micro-interviews.
Define
Connecting all the layers to build a service blueprint
As the next step, I developed a service blueprint for the current state of the printing experience by combining all 3 journeys and identifying the interactions, touchpoints, support processes and any painpoints.
*Click on image to zoom in
Key Painpoints
From the service blueprint, there are 4 main themes for pain-points:
-
Students, especially freshmen, do not know how to use the printers
-
The feedback system for the MyPrint website needs to be improved
-
The current layout of printers and related resources is not ideal
-
The lack of a clear SOP for staff makes the process complicated
Ideation
Co- Creation Workshop
I took all these findings and conducted a co-creation workshop to ideate potential solutions for these problems. For the workshop, I focused on 2 main problems that had the most impact:
-
The lack of knowledge on how to use printers
-
The current layout issues
Ideation
Insights from the Co- Creation Workshop
-
Add instructions in the following locations
-
near printers
-
on bulletin boards
-
at front desk & print support desk
-
-
Include a "quick help" section on
BlackBoard/ Humber website
Lack of printer usage knowledge
Inefficiency of the current layout
-
Split printers into 2 sections of two each
-
one located closer to the front desk
-
-
Stationery desks and supplies should be split between these 2
-
Add directions and hanging signage for printer locations
Solution
Prototyping solutions
Based on insights from the workshop, I started developing solutions for our core problems.
Problem 1: Most students, especially freshmen, do not know how to use the printers.
Solution: Develop printing guides to be posted around the library and other high-traffic areas
How does this help?
-
Reduces confusion amongst students
-
Lesser number of enquiries at the front desk
-
Saves time for students & staff
-
Lower chances for printing errors
-
Improved student & staff experience
Printing Guide
Where would this be posted?
These posters would be posted around the library, specifically in high foot traffic areas and around the printers.
Problem 2: The MyPrint website is underused, and services like Mobile Print are underused.
Solution: Update the Ul of the website and add info on how to use the platform in printing guides and online.
Key issues with the MyPrint portal
To resolve these issues, I decided to redesign the UI of the website, and also make updates to the flow to ensure that the system gives users feedback.
Proposed update of the MyPrint website
How does this help?
-
Minimizes confusion among students
-
Easier to upload documents to print
-
Shorter lines at front desk & quick-use computers
-
Reduced enquiries at the front desk
-
Saves time overall for students & staff
Problem 3: The current layout of the printing equipment is not efficient.
Solution: Redesign the layout of the printing equipment to streamline the user flow and improve efficiency.
Current library layout
Current layout of the library
(Click image to zoom in)
The layout issues can be divided into 4 key sub-problems:
-
Difficulty in requesting print support due to distance between printers and support desk
-
Long lines at printers cause congestion in the passage area
-
Takes time to get to the stationery desk after printing
-
Signage is not efficient in informing students status of the printers
To address these issues, I decided to redesign the layout as follows:
Redesigning the layout
How does the redesigned layout help?
-
Split the printers into groups of 2 to reduce lines and congestion
-
Push printers back to increase the passage area
-
Move stationery desks closer to both printer groups for easy access
-
Add an extra cabinet for printer supplies for easy access for staff
-
Add a buzzer near each printer to request help quicker
-
Adding alternate login options through the AVRO app reduces wait times and easier login
Updated layout of the library
Closer Look at the Proposed Updates
The key updates can be summarized as:
-
Elements placed closer together imply easier access for staff and students
-
Shorter queues with more equipment and easier login options save time
-
More signage included means easier navigation
-
More instructions and guidance are provided to reduce questions at the front desk
-
A buzzer was added to get quicker help and save time walking across the hall
-
Digital screens and print status boards implemented give students and staff accurate live updates
Review
Comparing the updated service with the original
From the insights gathered from the co-creation workshop and the prototyped solution, an updated service blueprint of the future state was created that reflects all the proposed changes.
SERVICE BLUEPRINT 1: CURRENT STATE
*Click on image to zoom
SERVICE BLUEPRINT 2: FUTURE STATE
*Click on image to zoom
Conclusion
Why does it matter?
For users:
-
Improved printing experience
-
Reduced stress about printing
-
Improves efficiency and saves time
For business:
-
Increased reputation
-
Increased user satisfaction & efficiency
-
Reduced costs
Conclusion
Key takeaways..
This project was a meaningful experience for me as it was a combination of collaboration, research and creativity. Working with a client challenged us to think more critically on how our product would genuinely support student well-being. Some of my key takeaways would be:
-
Services Are Like Ecosystems: It was interesting to see how the front, middle, and back end all work together to create a functioning service. Although it may not be obvious, there are many moving parts and interactions - without even one, the system can fall apart..
-
Integrating success metrics: If I were to do this project again, I’d focus more on designing with measurable outcomes in mind. At the time, I prioritized improving the user experience, but I didn’t build in ways to track how effective those changes actually were. Adding simple metrics, like usage rates or satisfaction data, would make it easier to see what’s working and guide future improvements
Thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to reach out at lamyafatin04@gmail.com and stay connected with me.
I'm always down for a coffee and a quick chat!
@2025, Lamya Fatin