Improving usability of the Cooper Union Library website
I collaborated with the Cooper Union team in a 3 month project to conduct mixed method research to analyze the PrimoVE frontend catalog search interfaces issues and devise data-driven solutions for the same.
3 months
Institutional
2 UX Researchers, 2 UX Designers, 2 Data Analysts, Cooper Union and NYU Engineering team
Tableau, SurveyMonkey, Figjam, Figma
My Role
Led the research plan, participant recruitment, and stakeholder communication
Conducted 15+ moderated usability testing sessions
Designed and analyzed qualitative and quantitative surveys
Synthesized insights into strategic UX recommendations
Created high-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Impact created
Increased the System Usability Scale (SUS) score by 60% after implementing design changes based on user feedback.
Achieved 85% user satisfaction with the redesigned catalog interface in follow-up surveys, signaling a positive user response.
Research Methods used
Qualitative
Task-based moderated user testing sessions with undergraduate students (the core target audience)
Contextual inquiries to observe users using aspects of the website
Quantitative
Survey analysis to understand readability of multiple iconography on the website
30%
reduction in user errors during search
60%
increase in SUS scores after re-design
40%
improvement in iconography comprehension
The Context
The Cooper Union Library had recently undergone a complex backend system migration to Primo VE—a centralized library discovery interface. Despite the technical upgrade, students and staff reported a steep drop in usability: search results were confusing, icons misleading, and core actions buried beneath unfamiliar filters.
My goal was to uncover and solve these UX breakdowns, working within the constraints of a rigid, enterprise library platform.
To understand the PrimoVE CDI system constraints to inform practical design, we understood the CDI aspects the engineering team can develop / edit. We focused on those aspects in our usability studies through the engineers working on the back-end system. Client meetings with the library Director, Engineering and Librarian lead teams helped us narrow down the brief to the core issue and set a research goal:
Strategic Framing
How might we help students confidently search, save, and use resources in an interface that wasn't originally designed with their workflows in mind?
Instead of assuming full redesign control, I leaned into high-leverage interventions:
Clarify mental models through iconography and language
Simplify visual structure to reduce task abandonment
Align affordances to student expectations with minimal dev lift
Qualitative Research:
What I was attempting to investigate:-
• Where in a user's normal everyday flows do they face issues, and why?
• How do users respond to multiple focused points on the website?
• To understand features users use frequently, and where are the missing gaps that could make flows easier?
I conducted 15 moderated user testing sessions with Cooper Union students studying various disciplines, and librarians working at the Library to understand layers of issues. Designed tasks gave us a lot of feedback on specific user flows.
Qualitative Research Data Analysis
Zooming in to each task, we could understand common patterns of behavioral styles when students used the website, what aspects and exact terminologies that were confusing to understand, features that were less discoverable, and most importantly affordances that the students had no idea existed on the website.
Finding recurring patterns of usability issues, we categorized them under main components tags. They were based on the search functionality, filters design on the inventory pages, iconography legibility and product feature discoverability.
Personal Initiative - Iconography research & design
With the range of iconography comprehension issues, I decided to gain precise insights through quantitative data.
All the icons on the search results page had contradictory meanings according to my research and I built on the same to design a survey that asked users to pick between the different meanings as per the interview insights provided to us.
How I Navigated Technical Complexity in a Rigid System
Primo VE, the platform powering Cooper Union’s library catalog, offered limited customization and rigid backend constraints. To design effectively within this system:
Mapped Feasible Changes: Partnered with Cooper Union and NYU’s engineering teams to understand what front-end elements could be safely customized (e.g. icons, filters, tooltips) and what required backend/vendor changes.
Designed Within Constraints: Focused on micro-level UX improvements—icon clarity, clearer labels, intuitive filters—rather than unattainable layout overhauls.
Cross-functional Alignment: Maintained tight feedback loops with engineers and librarians to ensure all solutions were technically feasible and implementable.
Prioritized With Data: Used mixed-method research to identify the highest-friction issues and scoped changes that would have the biggest usability impact with minimal technical lift.
This approach led to a 60% increase in usability scores—delivering meaningful improvements within a constrained, third-party system.
DESIGN DECISION 1
Strategic Card Component Re-design
DESIGN DECISION 2
Improved Filter clarity for the 1m+ database system
OVERALL SEARCH MANAGEMENT INTERFACE
Implemented component changes
DESIGN DECISION 3
A clearer, more communicative strategy for the Landing page
BEFORE
87% of users found the Home page visually busy and uncommunicative.
AFTER
Strategic Contributions
Aligned stakeholders on UX Priorities: Delivered presentations with actionable insights and mockups that influenced immediate development changes
Informed Engineering constraints: Mapped UI possibilities to backend system architecture (Primo VE + CDI), ensuring recommendations were implementable
Elevated user-Centered decision-making: Shifted design priorities from internal assumptions to externally validated user needs
How I can develop this further
Achievements
My key take-aways
Prioritizing icon clarity for better user experiences
This project deepened my appreciation for how critical icon clarity is to user experience by observing the disconnect between what users expected and the actual icon functions.
The power of a mixed-method approach for different focus areas
This project underscored for me the value of combining qualitative and quantitative research. Observing users firsthand through moderated sessions gave me insights into their real-time behaviors and pain points, while survey data helped validate these findings on a larger scale.
Simplicity in language and visuals is key
User struggles with complex terms showed the importance of clear, intuitive language. This experience deepened my focus on creating straightforward, accessible interfaces.
