this week we examined the current NI Libraries app interface, and analysed its strengths and weaknesses.
the first takeaway my group made was that nothing jumps out as illegible. the purple and white contrast well. The buttons are big, as well as the text which means it will work for a large range of users, despite level of tech skill.
one of the apps core functions is helping users find libraries nearby. This feature works as it should, its simple and straightforward.
the app lets you scan the ISBN code of a book, and see if it in the library. This is. useful feature as it means users don’t have to go to the library for a specific book without knowing its definitely there first.
despite being accessible, the colour scheme is not used as well as we felt it could be. the background is a deep purple which feels quite outdated.
There is a lack of consistency between the icons, in terms of width and sizing.
the next thing we noticed was that there is little to no hierarchy of information. The most useful functions are not prioritised, and some are even hidden deep within the app so you have to try quite hard to find them. The search bar also doesn’t work at all, which makes it totally redundant.
A lot of the buttons on the app take you to the website, which sort’ve made us feel like the app exists purely for the sake of having an app, as the website alone seems to serve all of the functions.