Designing a website to encourage citizens to participate in scientific projects.
TIMELINE
5 Months
ROLE
UX/UI Design
UX Research
About the project
In 2022, I cooperated with Digital Society School to design a hybrid Citizen Science hub for public libraries in the Netherlands. The project aimed to foster public participation in citizen science aligned with global Open Science.
Citizen Science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge, create participatory learning experiences, and build and support communities.
The main challenge was inadequate public awareness of Citizen Science and its benefits. To conquer this, we designed a website focusing on features that convey the concept and encourage participation.
What does Citizen Science mean, really?
We started the research with a one-question survey among the university students and staff, which showed that the public was unfamiliar with the term ‘Citizen Science’. This finally led us to use a more comprehensible and lucid term for the hub.
We also shared another survey to understand people’s understanding of libraries’ social functions and their willingness to do a citizen science project. We received 25 submissions. Interestingly, over 75% of participants preferred to join an existing project than to start something by themselves.
Digging in thoughts
We interviewed 7 current participants in the citizen science initiatives directed by 3 libraries in the Netherlands. The goal was to learn about their motivations and the challenges both participants and librarians had experienced regarding such projects. All the questions were open-ended to make sure they felt free to share more details on their experience.
Golden Nuggets of Research
The participants in citizen science projects were generally educated people over 40 year old.
They participated because of their personal curiosity/interest, advocacy, and socialization.
Barriers to keeping up with the projects are matters of time and motivation.
The main challenges faced by libraries during such projects were the commitment of citizens, funding, low inclusivity, and lack of librarians with technical skills.
Broad scope, Limited time
Considering the research results and time limits, we narrowed down the target groups and the design question to:
How might we design a hub that would encourage 'people of lower socio-economic statuses’ to participate in Citizen Science?
We visited a repair café in Amsterdam for 3 days where the clients are generally people of low income.
We interviewed 23 people (including repairmen) to find out probable incentives and barriers to participate in citizen science projects. We also wanted to get ideas on how we could encourage our target group.
Here are the pain points:
Wireframes: starter pack
To meet our target group’s needs and the project partner's objectives, I designed a website focusing on the homepage and flow of starting/joining a project.
We also created some features to raise awareness and stimulate participation in Citizen Science.
The most challenging part was the layout and prioritizing of the content of the landing page.
How did users like it?
To validate the efficacy of our design, I ran user tests (guerilla testing) with 32 people on the first version of the prototype, and here are the results:
Unfamiliarity with citizen science
Doubt on how to start working with the platform
Confusion about the meaning and function of ‘Libraries’ and ‘Community’ on the navbar
Difficulty in the readability of CTAs on projects’ images
Layout 02
After the first test, I took the following actions considering the pain points of the users:
Improved the general UI
Added a brief introduction to the hero image to address less-educated users, attract their attention, and increase their engagement
Added a new part to filters to address the time issue and encourage users to participate in short-term projects
Results
After improving the layout, we ran another user test to see how many users would recall and correctly explain the website's goal.
Users found the second layout and the overall interface intuitive. The new design increased the result of the 10s impression test by 46%, and the session duration (time spent on the homepage) by 65%.
The prototype highly inspired the client and is particularly taken by Tilburg’s library as a blueprint, along with other suggestions related to the platform (including a service blueprint).
Learning
To encourage people to participate in citizen science, it is crucial to raise public awareness, improve the network between involved stakeholders, and make research easy and fun. Our product was a contribution to the latter step.
The research phase took longer than predicted, but I learned that to understand what to focus on and what the needs of target groups are, dedicating more time to research is sometimes necessary and fruitful.
I also learned that the needs of project partners/business owners and users do not necessarily match. To get the ideal solution, the business also should be aware of what it really wants, and this sometimes might be realized at later stages of the design process.
Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!
This will hide itself!
DOE HET SAMEN
OVERVIEW
Designing a website to encourage citizens to participate in scientific projects.
TIMELINE
5 Months
ROLE
UX/UI Design
UX Research
About the project
In 2022, I cooperated with Digital Society School to design a hybrid Citizen Science hub for public libraries in the Netherlands. The project aimed to foster public participation in citizen science aligned with global Open Science.
Citizen Science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge, create participatory learning experiences, and build and support communities.
The main challenge was inadequate public awareness of Citizen Science and its benefits. To conquer this, we designed a website focusing on features that convey the concept and encourage participation.
What does Citizen Science mean, really?
We started the research with a one-question survey among the university students and staff, which showed that the public was unfamiliar with the term ‘Citizen Science’. This finally led us to use a more comprehensible and lucid term for the hub.
We also shared another survey to understand people’s understanding of libraries’ social functions and their willingness to do a citizen science project. We received 25 submissions. Interestingly, over 75% of participants preferred to join an existing project than to start something by themselves.
Digging in thoughts
We interviewed 7 current participants in the citizen science initiatives directed by 3 libraries in the Netherlands. The goal was to learn about their motivations and the challenges both participants and librarians had experienced regarding such projects. All the questions were open-ended to make sure they felt free to share more details on their experience.
Golden Nuggets of Research
The participants in citizen science projects were generally educated people over 40 year old.
They participated because of their personal curiosity/interest, advocacy, and socialization.
Barriers to keeping up with the projects are matters of time and motivation.
The main challenges faced by libraries during such projects were the commitment of citizens, funding, low inclusivity, and lack of librarians with technical skills.
Broad scope, Limited time
Considering the research results and time limits, we narrowed down the target groups and the design question to:
How might we design a hub that would encourage 'people of lower socio-economic statuses’ to participate in Citizen Science?
We visited a repair café in Amsterdam for 3 days where the clients are generally people of low income.
We interviewed 23 people (including repairmen) to find out probable incentives and barriers to participate in citizen science projects. We also wanted to get ideas on how we could encourage our target group.
Here are the pain points:
Wireframes: starter pack
To meet our target group’s needs and the project partner's objectives, I designed a website focusing on the homepage and flow of starting/joining a project.
We also created some features to raise awareness and stimulate participation in Citizen Science.
The most challenging part was the layout and prioritizing of the content of the landing page.
How did users like it?
To validate the efficacy of our design, I ran user tests (guerilla testing) with 32 people on the first version of the prototype, and here are the results:
Unfamiliarity with citizen science
Doubt on how to start working with the platform
Confusion about the meaning and function of ‘Libraries’ and ‘Community’ on the navbar
Difficulty in the readability of CTAs on projects’ images
Layout 02
After the first test, I took the following actions considering the pain points of the users:
Improved the general UI
Added a brief introduction to the hero image to address less-educated users, attract their attention, and increase their engagement
Added a new part to filters to address the time issue and encourage users to participate in short-term projects
Results
After improving the layout, we ran another user test to see how many users would recall and correctly explain the website's goal.
Users found the second layout and the overall interface intuitive. The new design increased the result of the 10s impression test by 46%, and the session duration (time spent on the homepage) by 65%.
The prototype highly inspired the client and is particularly taken by Tilburg’s library as a blueprint, along with other suggestions related to the platform (including a service blueprint).
Learning
To encourage people to participate in citizen science, it is crucial to raise public awareness, improve the network between involved stakeholders, and make research easy and fun. Our product was a contribution to the latter step.
The research phase took longer than predicted, but I learned that to understand what to focus on and what the needs of target groups are, dedicating more time to research is sometimes necessary and fruitful.
I also learned that the needs of project partners/business owners and users do not necessarily match. To get the ideal solution, the business also should be aware of what it really wants, and this sometimes might be realized at later stages of the design process.
Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!
This will hide itself!
DOE HET SAMEN
OVERVIEW
Designing a website to encourage citizens to participate in scientific projects.
TIMELINE
5 Months
ROLE
UX/UI Design
UX Research
About the project
In 2022, I cooperated with Digital Society School to design a hybrid Citizen Science hub for public libraries in the Netherlands. The project aimed to foster public participation in citizen science aligned with global Open Science.
Citizen Science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge, create participatory learning experiences, and build and support communities.
The main challenge was inadequate public awareness of Citizen Science and its benefits. To conquer this, we designed a website focusing on features that convey the concept and encourage participation.
What does Citizen Science mean, really?
We started the research with a one-question survey among the university students and staff, which showed that the public was unfamiliar with the term ‘Citizen Science’. This finally led us to use a more comprehensible and lucid term for the hub.
We also shared another survey to understand people’s understanding of libraries’ social functions and their willingness to do a citizen science project. We received 25 submissions. Interestingly, over 75% of participants preferred to join an existing project than to start something by themselves.
Digging in thoughts
We interviewed 7 current participants in the citizen science initiatives directed by 3 libraries in the Netherlands. The goal was to learn about their motivations and the challenges both participants and librarians had experienced regarding such projects. All the questions were open-ended to make sure they felt free to share more details on their experience.
Golden Nuggets of Research
The participants in citizen science projects were generally educated people over 40 year old.
They participated because of their personal curiosity/interest, advocacy, and socialization.
Barriers to keeping up with the projects are matters of time and motivation.
The main challenges faced by libraries during such projects were the commitment of citizens, funding, low inclusivity, and lack of librarians with technical skills.
Broad scope, Limited time
Considering the research results and time limits, we narrowed down the target groups and the design question to:
How might we design a hub that would encourage 'people of lower socio-economic statuses’ to participate in Citizen Science?
We visited a repair café in Amsterdam for 3 days where the clients are generally people of low income.
We interviewed 23 people (including repairmen) to find out probable incentives and barriers to participate in citizen science projects. We also wanted to get ideas on how we could encourage our target group.
Here are the pain points:
Wireframes: starter pack
To meet our target group’s needs and the project partner's objectives, I designed a website focusing on the homepage and flow of starting/joining a project.
We also created some features to raise awareness and stimulate participation in Citizen Science.
The most challenging part was the layout and prioritizing of the content of the landing page.
How did users like it?
To validate the efficacy of our design, I ran user tests (guerilla testing) with 32 people on the first version of the prototype, and here are the results:
Unfamiliarity with citizen science
Doubt on how to start working with the platform
Confusion about the meaning and function of ‘Libraries’ and ‘Community’ on the navbar
Difficulty in the readability of CTAs on projects’ images
Layout 02
After the first test, I took the following actions considering the pain points of the users:
Improved the general UI
Added a brief introduction to the hero image to address less-educated users, attract their attention, and increase their engagement
Added a new part to filters to address the time issue and encourage users to participate in short-term projects
Results
After improving the layout, we ran another user test to see how many users would recall and correctly explain the website's goal.
Users found the second layout and the overall interface intuitive. The new design increased the result of the 10s impression test by 46%, and the session duration (time spent on the homepage) by 65%.
The prototype highly inspired the client and is particularly taken by Tilburg’s library as a blueprint, along with other suggestions related to the platform (including a service blueprint).
Learning
To encourage people to participate in citizen science, it is crucial to raise public awareness, improve the network between involved stakeholders, and make research easy and fun. Our product was a contribution to the latter step.
The research phase took longer than predicted, but I learned that to understand what to focus on and what the needs of target groups are, dedicating more time to research is sometimes necessary and fruitful.
I also learned that the needs of project partners/business owners and users do not necessarily match. To get the ideal solution, the business also should be aware of what it really wants, and this sometimes might be realized at later stages of the design process.
Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!
This will hide itself!