Lecture Hall Desk Redesign
Redesigning the lecture hall experience to help students engage more with lecture and reduce discomfort
Overview
Role: Designer / Researcher
Timeline: April - June 2022
Tools: Spline, Miro, Cardboard, Pen and Paper
Problem
UC San Diego students often face discomfort due to lack of personal space and hence require a more ergonomically designed learning environment that includes more desk space and comfortable seating in order to effectively engage in class.
Solution
We designed a lecture hall desk that is bigger, has wider armrests, and has a foldable desk to provide more comfort and space. We also designed a lecture hall arrangement.
My Contributions
As a designer and researcher, I was responsible for:
Interviewing students
User testing prototypes with students
Prototyping in multiple fidelities
Creating the high fidelity prototype
Backstory
My team and I were brought together in hopes to create a class project in which we could design a solution to any problem we wanted. I took a glance at my teammate Angela’s laptop screen during one of our meetings, and I made a comment about how the screen was cracked.
She talked about how her laptop fell off the desk during one of her lectures due to the small size of the desk and lack of space between her and other people. My team and I then went into a full on conversation about how all of us were frustrated with the lack of space for our laptops and writing utensils on the desk.
One of my teammates asked “why don’t we re-design the lecture halls?”. And thus, we began our lecture hall re-design.
Research
My team and I interviewed 19 UCSD students to gather their opinions of the various lecture halls on campus. Our interviews revealed the hassle and inconvenience of lecture halls. We asked questions such as:
Do you often attend in-person lectures? Why or why not?
What are your opinions on the lecture hall seats and tables?
Could you describe how you stay engaged during lecture?
User Interviews
"Sometimes, I don't usually have space to fit all of my items on the desk, and end up dropping a few things which eventually go missing as there's so many students and I cannot find it by the end of the lecture."
-2nd year, Business Psychology Major
“We need more desk space, like I can’t really function when I have only so much room for my air, and then you need your pencil, eraser, ID cards occasionally, and test papers.”
- 2nd year, Biology major
“I wish had more room to put more than just a laptop. Often I feel really cramped with my space.”
- 4th year, International Business Major
Field Notes
In addition to our interviews, we used an ethnographic approach to observe how students actually interacted with the lecture hall desk.
Me (Ethan Sun) in the Solis lecture hall on UCSD campus
Based on the field notes, it seems as students have to pick and choose only one thing to remain on the desk, and even then the desk barely has capacity for that one item.
Defining
Affinity Diagram
After conducting interviews and creating field notes, my team met as a group to gather all the pain points and further understand the scope of our project. We created an affinity diagram to consolidate all our data.
Transferring pain points to sticky notes
Consolidating Data (pink notes)
Categorizing Data (yellow notes)
Coming up with potential design solutions (orange notes)
12 categories emerged from the affinity diagram, with the top 4 pain point categories being:
1. Personal Space
Ex. “I get elbowed by people”, “There’s not enough space”, “CRAMPED”
2. Seating
Ex. “Arm rests are too small”, “More width in seats”, “I found the seats to be very small”
3. Tables
Ex. “Desks are small and squeaky”, “Scared to bring my tablet because I think it might fall off”
4. Seating Preference
Ex. “Never want to sit in the middle, row is too long”, “It’s so awkward accidentally hitting people on the way to an inner seat”
User Personas
To better understand our stakeholders and identify common pain points, we crafted a user persona, varying from students having issues with personal space to engagement.
Design Goals
Provide more personal space with a seat and desk redesign
Allow left and right handed students to properly use the desks
Have sufficient space between desks
How might we reimagine the lecture halls to provide a more comfortable experience so students are able to properly engage in lectures?
The Problem
The Solution
We designed a seat with a foldable desk, wider armrests, and a wider seat. We also rearranged the lecture hall to have clusters of seats rather than long rows of seats.
We decided on foldable desks because it allowed for flexibility. Students could use the desk half or fully folded out. Students who use the desk half folded could still have items on the desk and have easier access exiting/entering the seat. Those who use the desk fully folded have room to fit a laptop and notebook. Students felt uncomfortable with the lack of space between people, so we incorporated wider armrests and more space between students.
Ideation
Sketches / Moodboard of Solutions
Brainstorming Solutions
Low Fidelity Prototype
Mid Fidelity Prototype
For our mid fidelity prototype, we wanted to allow stakeholders to be able to physically interact with a prototype. This would allow a more holistic review of our redesign rather than just seeing images of mockups.
We had little access to certain materials, and none of us were too familiar with 3D printing. And as our deadline for our mid fidelity prototype quickly approached us, we came to the conclusion that cardboard was the best fit because it was easily obtainable, scrapable, and works as a flat surface.
We conducted user testing on 3 of our classmates to see their thoughts. Our team wanted to know how the position of the desk should be: off to the side or stationary on the seat.
Based on the user tests, we decided to go with the desk hanging off to the side, with the ability to be lifted up and fold over.
User Testing
Design Outcome
Using Spline, a 3D modeling software, I created the high fidelity prototype of the redesigned desk and lecture hall.
The new seat contains a foldable desk that is lifted up from the side to the top (similar to a regular lecture hall desk) and can be placed down and folded out for additional space.
Users are able to use the desk fully folded or partially folded.
Wider armrests for more personal space between seats.
Lecture halls rearranged in clusters of 2, 4, and 6 to reduce awkward tensions walking to an inner seat and easier navigation through the lecture hall.
Future Work
We would look at the cost and structural integrity of the materials used in our designs.
Professors and custodial staff would be interviewed as they could bring in a unique perspective of lecture halls not announced by students.
We would try to bring our high fidelity prototype to life and have users test the interactivity of the seat.
Reflection
This was first time designing a physical space! I had a lot of firsts in this project; I never used Spline or Miro before nor have I ever interviewed someone in person for a design project. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to expose myself to these experiences.
This class and project focused on the research and testing of our prototypes. This allowed us to focus on important details and streamline our design process.
I learned more about myself as a designer. I usually stray towards the visual sides of things, and I wasn’t too fond on research. With this research-heavy design class, this project pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me realize the importance of research and data driven design.
