Loom UX updates

We have been working on the next phase of Loom which will be live soon. Whilst we were on the tools pulling it together we thought it worthwhile to make small changes to improve the user experience. We have conducted some user testing and dug up a few pain points that we have addressed in this phase. This is what we have done:

Users wanted an understanding of what to expect when they landed in the experience. So we have changed the landing page from text about the project to include full screen images. A new image will load every time you refresh the page. As the first phase of Loom is all about the visual experience of the collection images we felt that full screen images should be visible at the start.

As the content loads there are a few quotes telling you what stage the loading is at. These are some examples:

Users were finding the navigation of the site difficult with information hierarchy unclear. The information about the project is now accessible via the tabs at the left: this includes copy for the four sections DATA, ABOUT, MAKERS and VIEWS. In the previous version the information about the project and the different views was only accessible on the landing page and via two small icons after users entered the data visualisation. Now that the site vitals are on the different tabs (top left) users can access this information easily whilst still maintaining a minimal design approach.

The next design change was to the information available at the back of the ‘library card’, previously this was flipped to view. There was something nice about the nostalgia associated with the library card but it was difficult for a user to access the information about the collection item. This information is now available right next to the image with all the same functionality of saving a favourite and linking off to the online catalogue. A user first approach means striving for an intuitive interface that requires less clicks.

We hope you enjoy these changes and stay tuned as we are getting ready to go live with the next and final phase for Loom.