Where your matches are
What changed
Start from the task
Rehearse, solve equations, take a call or edit video. Rooms are matched by the equipment they really have.
Sized to your group
Rooms are matched to their real seat range, so a pair gets a pod, not an 8-seat room.
Rules before you confirm
One session a day, two a week, two weeks ahead. Checked live, in plain words.
The whole visit
Invite teammates, borrow the webcam kit, arrive within 10 minutes, extend.
Floors, not columns
Rooms grouped by floor, with time running across. Nobody's name on show.
Readable by more people
Hyperlegible type, a larger-text switch, dark mode, and no colour-only states.
Part 1 · Analysis
What the booking system does today
On a phone
- Mobile is a manual "Switch to Mobile View" button, not a responsive page.
- One resource per screen, with no visible way to pick another room.
- Time column on both sides, header repeated every 8 rows.
- Broken footer: the logo is clipped and "Privacy" overlaps the copyright line.
Five features, mapped
| Feature | Where it lives | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting to booking | Library site, Facilities & Space, Booking, Room Booking, HKUST sign-in | Mixed | The Booking page is three links. Sign-in uses the familiar HKUST account. |
| Availability grid | First screen after sign-in, one day at a time | Not intuitive | You scan rooms by eye. Colour encodes who booked. Free and unavailable cells are white and pale grey. |
| Room equipment | A separate Places to Study page; the grid shows only seat counts | Not intuitive | You cannot search for a touch whiteboard, projector or media player while booking. |
| Rules | Four separate rule pages | Not intuitive | 1 session a day, 2 a week, 2 weeks ahead, 2 people present, 10 minutes late and you lose it. None of it is shown on the grid. |
| Mobile view | "Switch to Mobile View" button | Not intuitive | One room per screen means no comparing. The footer breaks. |
Users and stakeholders
- Main usersUndergraduatesGroup projects, presentation rehearsals, revision. Most bookings on the grid.
- UsersPostgraduatesCan also book the G/F IC Learning Space.
- UsersStaff and departmentsSeminar room and larger spaces.
- StakeholdersLibrary staffSet rules, manage rooms, handle no-shows.
- StakeholdersTech Item KioskLends the webcam and speakerphone kit for calls.
- Often missedNew, exchange and disabled studentsLeast familiar with the grid's conventions.
Intuitive, and not
Intuitive
- HKUST sign-in.
- Half-hour rows.
- Seat counts in the header.
Not intuitive
- Finding a free slot by eye.
- Colour by booker type.
- Equipment kept on another page.
- Rules found only after a booking fails.
- Comparing rooms on a phone.
A broader audience
| Who | Barrier today | In Room Finder |
|---|---|---|
| Less tech-savvy | A dense grid and a colour legend | Pick a task, a group size and a time |
| Low vision | Small text on pale orange | Hyperlegible type, larger-text switch, dark mode |
| Colour-blind | States rely on colour only | Every state has a word; booked is hatched |
| Screen reader | Unlabelled grid cells | Buttons labelled with room, time and status |
| Limited motor control | Tiny cells, sideways scrolling | 44 px targets, navigation at thumb height |
| Wheelchair users | The Library says every room is step-free, but the booking system never says so | Shown on every room |
| Chinese readers | English only | Proposed: English and 繁體中文 switch |
Part 2 · Rethinking interaction
The whole student journey
Context and constraints
Scenario: six people rehearse at 15:00
Steps today
- Open the Library website
- Facilities & Space, then Booking
- Room Booking
- Sign in
- Switch to Desktop View
- Scroll sideways across the rooms
- Check each room's equipment on Places to Study
- Find a white cell at 15:00
- Tap the slot
- Complete the form
Steps with Room Finder
- Open Room Finder
- Tap Rehearse a presentation
- Set 6 people, today, 15:00, 1 h
- Book LC-01, with a digital whiteboard
- Invite teammates and confirm
Storyboard
12:50"Who's booking a room to rehearse at 3?"
12:51Taps Rehearse a presentation, 6 people, 15:00.
12:52LC-01 lights up on LG1. Books it and invites five teammates.
14:56Taps I'm here before the 15:10 cut-off.
Quickfire · 60 seconds
One-minute pitch
We redesigned the HKUST Library room booking system. Most of its users are undergraduates booking rooms for group projects.Findings tab, top
Today you get a giant grid. Colour shows who booked, not whether you can. Everyone's name is visible. Equipment like touch whiteboards and projectors sits on a different page, so you can't search by it.Point at the redrawn grid
Students don't book time, they book for a task. So Room Finder starts there: rehearse a presentation, work through equations, an online interview, video editing. It matches rooms by their real equipment and seat range, and lights them up on the floor drawing.Prototype tab: Rehearse, 6 people, 15:00
The Library's rules, one session a day, two a week, are checked before you confirm. Then it walks you through the visit: invite teammates, borrow the webcam kit, arrive within ten minutes.Book LC-01, open Bookings
Ten steps become five.End on the floor drawing