#myLAAK
contempo­rary archives for tomorrow

digital community collaboration platform with the Haags Gemeentearchief  (The Hague City Archive)
roles
user research
business strategy
prototyping
ux design
tools
figma
webflow
ux design
timeframe
sept ‘21 -feb 2022

For this project I was lucky enough to work with the Haags GemeenteArchief (The Hague City Archive) to help them engage with the modern residents  of the city in the Laakkwartier neighbourhood. The archive wanted to engage with the community and represent them in the archive of today for the generations of tomorrow.
‍
The final product was both a digital and physical interactive intervention within the community space. The #myLAAK wall acts as the focal point for the project dynamically showing historical and user submitted content from the campaign in a prominent location in the neighbourhood. Touch screen kiosks facilitate connection with the past by enabling users to explore localised information from the archives and discover what other users are recording for the future. The simultaneous social media campaign encourages users to record their present for someone else’s tomorrow in a future-proof modern archive.

background

The GementeeArchief has records dating back to the year 1313. However these records hold a strong cultural bias - the vast majority of documents are records of, or by, wealthy white men. In an ever more ethnically diverse city such as the Hague, the Archief sought to instigate change and record new, relevant, representative information on how the community is today.

>20km of shelf space
>85% of records are about white men
>708 years of documentation

research

high immigration

Initial research showed Laak to be a particularly multicultural area of the Hague, with 20% more immigrants living in the area as compared to the city as a whole.

young population

The neighbourhood also had a predominantly young adult population with 47% of residents being between the ages of 20-44.

low literacy

The area has one of the lowest literacy rates in the Hague, with only around 50% being fully literate in Dutch language.

Preliminary casual interviews were taken with residents of Laakkwartier in the street to discover how they would like to interact with the Archief, what sort of things they would like to share and what they would like to be able to discover.

mixed media sharing

Residents expressed a desire to be able to share a range of different media such as images, videos, text. This would enable them to express their culture or experinces in the best way they say fit

links to past

People want a connection to the past with something that is familiar to them for the project to be relatable. Suggestions included images of then and now, and important happenings in Laak from history

links to now

At the end of the day, locals wanted to see what other’s were up to in the neighbourhood. An interactive social element to intrigue users and encourage engagement within the community would facilitate this

As this work was undertaken during lockdown, clickable wireframes were created on figma and tested with users remotely. Users were asked to complete a series of tasks as I observed them, before a short feedback interview. I found that:

Convenience is key - over 90% of those asked want an extremely easy way to engage with the Archief, without having to download an additional app for example

Something exciting to look at - if the product includes a physical intervention, the vast majority of residents want it to be visually beautiful, exciting or dynamic

Time is everything - 82% of those asked want to be able to submit things in under a few minutes

Before I was here - 57% of residents said that they were most interested in discovering about the past of buildings/places that they personally knew or are significant in the local area

define

In order to organise my findings from speaking to residents I created a couple of personas to help guide me in the ideation and development stages. By distilling the patterns I found, and the users pain points I was able to highlight the key features that needed to be included in the project. Referring to them as I worked through the process also helped me to keep in mind the goals of the work

A map to allow users to easily navigate information available about their neighbourhood in a visual way

A social media integration which would allow users to submit to the project using familiar technology, without having to download additional apps

A way for users to interact with user submitted content, in a friendly controlled way to avoid misuse

concept

1

Users see the #myLAAK project in their community by means of the #myLAAK wall or one of the satellite kiosks, igniting their interest in the project

2

Users interact with the project by means of the kiosk, scanning the QR codes available across  platforms, or reacting to user submitted content

3

Users discover and learn about historical facts from the community as well as what people are doing within it now

4

Users submit their own media through use of video, image and/or text to be shown as part of the campaign and be part of the #myLAAK comunity

I decided on creating a digital community which enables people to share their stories, photos, favourite places, music etc remotely from their smartphone.. This would benefit the GemeenteArchief by enabling them to obtain a digital record of residents' lives in real time digitally, future-proofed for years to come, whilst being extremely convenient for the user as every part of the campaign would be accessible from their pocket.

Initially I set about designing a landing page, which would enable users to submit their contributions to the campaign via the #myLaak portal or their own social media remotely.

The main focal point of the project was the #mLAAK wall- a giant projected wall in a public space such as in Hollands Spoor train station. This would showcase users' submissions in a live feed, and show artefacts from the archives in a dynamic way. as well as act as an advertisement of the campaign and all of its contributors to the general public.

Initially I set about designing a landing page, which would enable users to submit their contributions to the campaign via the #myLaak portal or their own social media remotely.

Tests were conducted with users in the street and a few members of the GemeenteArchief. In order to test the usability of the interfaces users were asked to complete a number of tasks using clickable prototypes such as:

  • submit a photo with a description via the MyLaak page

  • change the language of the kiosk

  • learn what a point of interest used to look like via the kiosk

  • react to a users submission via the kiosk

7
users
13
questions
91%
success

Tests were conducted with users in the street and a few members of the GemeenteArchief. In order to test the usability of the interfaces users were asked to complete a number of tasks using clickable prototypes such as:

Feedback revealed that users would like to know what is happening in the community without having to click through photo content. A marquee banner was added to keep locals up to date with current news, without being too distracting.

Input hints were added to all forms and icons were added wherever possible throughout the different interfaces to further increase accessibility

When testing users stated that they may want to add multiple posts in succession. Therefore a ‘post again’ button was added to the the confirmation screen.

Some users stated that the kiosk would not be obviously interactive. Therefore large, animated call to action buttons were added to  all of the of the screens when not in use by a user, to encourage engagement with passers by.

The share feature was refined so that artefacts  from the campaign can be shared within only few clicks on the touchscreen. Additionally, a QR code was added to share feature making it even easier for users to save and share information they find interesting with their friends and loved ones.

After initial user testing with members of the public, and consultation with the Archief I realised a more localised approach could be implemented. Laak is not only diverse, it’s also large, with its own neighbourhoods and sub communities within and the project needed to reflect that. Therefore the concept of the kiosks became something mobile and more localised to the district on a neighbourhood level. This would allow the Archief to collect artefacts for the future from specific neighbourhoods in the area. This adaptability would also allow for the project to be brought to other areas of the city in the future, expanding the archives database on a city wide scale. The kiosk is designed to display and collect neighbourhood specific information on a micro-community level.

investing time in team meetings is extremely important and ultimately saves time in the long run

I met up with representatives of the archive monthly during the project. I quickly learned that moments with clients are precious, helping to align user and stakeholder needs for the project. Preparation for these are key to transparency and communication!

not every detail needs to be planned in advance, sometimes you just have to go for it

I sometimes have a tendency to be detail oriented. While this, at times, can be helpful, it also helps to step back and evaluate the current state of the work as a whole and move onto another aspect of the project if that takes precedence.

test candidates are gold dust- cherish them!

Approaching people in the street is always daunting and often not fruitful. Going forward I would seek to find potential users from a very early stage in the project- as soon as they are defined- in anticipation for user interviews, ideation sessions and usability testing. They can be very elusive!

next steps...

adding stories from the past and present

In final testing users expressed the desire to be able to submit stories from the past to the project, not only from the present day. Implementing this feature into the existing prototypes would solve this user need whilst also allowing the GemeenteArchief to add to their existing historical archives, helping to make sure old stories are not forgotten

on site testing

I would love to test the concept in the community context, on site in situ. Remote unmoderated testing would allow me to test not only its usability but also how engaging the concept is to the community of Laak and The Hague in general