EBSCO Discovery Service
A better experience for the contemporary researcher
Challenge
Redesign EBSCO’s flagship product. EBSCO Discovery Service. Use best practices in both visual and ux design to create an experience that:
-
Fosters discovery of relevant research material
-
Highlights the wide array of content a student’s institution provides
-
Promotes information literacy
-
Is responsive and easily used on a variety of devices
-
Customizable for customers yet also establishes an EBSCO look and feel
Classic EBSCO Discovery. Loathed by both students and librarians. How can thoughtful design improve the research experience for students?
Result blocks
-
Bold serif titles combined with hit highlighting of search terms help users scan results for relevant information.
-
Peer reviewed labelling and icon with other comtemporary iconography mirros other experiences students use daily.
-
Adjusted line heigh and line width for optimum readability.
-
Clear hierarchy between CTA’s. Limit to primary and secondary.
Customer options
-
WCAG compliant color picker tool for customers to customize their product with school colors. Used on side navigation panel and other select areas throughout the product.
-
Colorized sidebar helps “frame” the institution’s most important asset, their content.
Information literacy
“Placard” callout areas are differentiated with elevation, drop shadow and slight corner radius. Essential for novice researchers to start learning about new topics, find the most important publication or further explore related topics.
Dashboard
Users needed and wanted an area of their own. Somewhere to act as a space to save and organize research materials. The user dashboard provided an area to further explore the emerging EBSCO brand with custom illustrations and a more lighthearted approach to design.
A large collaboration between marketing illustrators and product design team resulted in a unique illustration library. Key terms we rallied behind were: “Personal”, “Inclusive” and “on-the go”.
Results
Outside, independent usability studies of the new product are positive and score higher than our main competitor (Primo). We’ve seen high adoption rates of dashboard, projects and other new features in EDS.