DEAR DIARYResearching the LSE Welcome Week Experience

Eva Jirjahlke, UX Researcher, LSE Library

SESSION OUTLINE

1. The Idea

2. The Research

3. What I learned - or six tips for the UX

team of one

Question: What is important to students during their first week at LSE? How does the Library fit into the overall Welcome Week experience?

Method: Diary Study Ten new students write daily updates about the events they visit and how they feel about them.

SESSION OUTLINE

1. The Idea

2. The Research

3. What I learned - or six tips for the UX

team of one

THE LIBRARY

„“The homesickness really hit me and coupled with the poor eating and lack of sleep, it left me very upset…”

-Undergrad

„“I was worried about what options to take because I didn’t want to take the wrong ones and they be really hard and throw my chances of a 1st out of the window.“

- Undergrad

„“I am putting myself in debt to attend this school and I want to make sure I am getting the best education I can.”

-Postgrad

„“It was very exciting to get my LSE ID - a confirmation that I was truly an LSE student.”

-Undergrad

„“One thing that I still haven’t got used to is the sheer amount that I have to walk in London! I have never done so much walking before in my life!”

-Undergrad

I need to get a first! But everyone here is smarter than me...

What if I don't find any friends?

Hm...how do I select my courses?

I want to get the most out of this week! But there's so much going on.

„“This week has been surreal.”

-Undergrad

SESSION OUTLINE

1. The Idea

2. The Research

3. What I learned - or six tips for the UX team of

one

DON’T TRY TO DO IT ALONE

SH*T HAPPENS

BE PERSISTENT

KEEPING THEM ENGAGED

IT’S NEVER REALLY OVER

TALK, TALK, TALK

LEAVE THE LIBRARY*

LEAVE THE LIBRARY*

*Once in a while…then come back with a fresh perspective.

➤ Leah Buley: The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide, Rosenfeld Media, Brooklyn, New York 2013. All of the book's diagrams and illustrations are available under CC licence on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/albums/72157634469079892

➤ Steve Portigal: Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights, Rosenfeld Media, Brooklyn, New York 2013.

➤ Christena Nippert-Eng: Watching Closely: A Guide to Ethnographic Observation, Oxford University Press, New York 2015.

➤ Cennyd Bowles and James Box: Undercover User Experience Design: Learn how to do great UX work with tiny budgets, no time, and limited support, New Riders, Berkeley 2011.

BOOK TIPS

THANK YOUe.jirjahlke@lse.ac.uk

@evakefa