cathie toshach polaroid picture

The following represents my current body of work. It may seem a bit eclectic at times, but I see it as a rather rounded approach to understanding and designing for people. People like you and me who crave information and don't want anything holding it up, hiding it, or overly complicating it. It can be pretty or even fun just as long as you give it to us straight.

You can also take a look at my résumé if you are so inclined.

Back to Top

New York Public Library, Digital Gallery

Summer 2007 |  digitalgallery.nypl.org
NYPL

Overview

In March 2005, The NYPL launched the Digital Gallery, providing free access to over 275,000 images, effectively acting as a digital gateway to world-renowned cultural and historical documents. Nearly three years later and another quarter million images, the Digital Gallery has taken a look inward as well as forward in preparing for the next big stage in its evolution.

During July 2007, I joined the Digital Library Program to co-conduct an evaluation of the website to identify its strengths, weaknesses, and future goals.

Project Goals

  • Evaluate the website taxonomy and organization for strengths and weaknesses.
  • Conduct a comparative evaluation to identify conventions and standards within online digital collections.
  • Review current Web 2.0 trends and new technologies for potential inclusion in the website redesign.
  • Design and implement a series of on-site usability tests to identify key strengths and weaknesses.
  • Develop personas based on archetypal users for use in future design iterations.

Outcomes

The full report can be accessed on the NYPL Labs website.

What’s Going Well

  • Usability testing revealed users find the website to be a good resource for visual documents.
  • The comparative evaluation of similar online resources showed the Digital Gallery excels in content, presentation, and functionality.
  • The comparative evaluation also showed the Digital Gallery as having a faster and more searchable database.

What Needs Improving

  • Users feel the website is complex and somewhat difficult to use for directed searches.
  • The Search tool does not support current conventions for handling pluralization, misspellings, and natural language queries; this conflicts with the expectations of users who are accustomed to using Google, Yahoo!, and AskJeeves search engines.
  • The layout and design has caused some unintended scoping issues for global vs. section-level navigation.

Looking Forward

  • The website should begin to feature more contextual tools such as the Collection Guides. Lesson guides for teachers is an effective way to conduct community outreach and build a user base.
  • Being an early adopter of web trends that are likely to become conventions will keep the Digital Gallery at the forefront. This includes folksonomy (tagging) and social and collaborative networking.
  • Supporting user behavior to reuse the website’s content on their own websites, in the classroom, or for various arts and crafts projects will foster community involvement and interaction. Making the collections portable via RSS is one potential solution for enabling this user behavior.

Tools and Methods

  • One-on-One Usability Tests
  • Comparative Evaluation
  • Functionality Matrix
  • Persona and Scenario Development
No Comments | Categories: Information Architecture, Usability, User Centered Design, Work
Back to Top

Detroit Center

Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2007 |  detroitcenter.umich.edu

Overview

The Detroit Center website provides online access to information and resources related to the Center. As part of the University of Michigan community, it emphasizes fostering relationships between the campuses and Detroit through partnership, outreach, and education. I took over responsibility for the website shortly after the Center opened and both developed and maintained it during 2006 and 2007.

Contributions

  • Implemented website redesign using Sitemaker, XHTML, CSS, and Javascript.
  • Complied with Section 508 accessibility standards and best practices.
  • Developed online room reservations module.
  • Developed admin controls and reporting tools.
  • Designed and developed events listing and management tool.
  • Created and conducted usability testing and an online survey, the findings for which influenced future design and development plans.

Tools and Methods

  • Content Management Tool, Sitemaker
  • XHTML, CSS, and Javascript
  • On-site and Remote Usability Tests
  • Online surveys

Screenshots

Detroit Center Home Page
Detroit Center Room Request Form Detroit Center Facilities Detroit Center Image Gallery

No Comments | Categories: Usability, Web Design, Work
« Previous