Case Study
“Hey... this is awkward
but I think I have this room booked.”
It's midterm season at UC San Diego and Geisel Library is bustling. You've just settled in an empty study room when someone knocks on the door.
Room Radar is a smart kiosk designed to provide real-time study room availability — letting students view, book, and check into spaces without conflict or confusion.
Role
Interaction Design · UX Research
Tools
Figma · Inkscape · Procreate · Laser Cutting
Team
Will Doan · Justin Iwanaga · Enrico Del Rosario
Context
UCSD Interaction Design Course
01 · Context
How it started
While working at our campus library, my team observed a significant issue: students struggled to share the few study rooms available. We conducted field observations and in-depth interviews with five library users to understand the root causes.
This project was completed as part of our Interaction Design course at UC San Diego. Our assignment required identifying a real campus problem and developing a physical-digital solution to address it.
02 · Research
What we found
Field observations and interviews with five library users revealed four primary pain points.
Students spend excessive time searching for suitable study locations, with no reliable way to know what’s available.
The mobile booking system requires reservations months in advance and is difficult to navigate, discouraging use.
Many students need privacy during campus gaps — for Zoom calls, club meetings, and focused work between classes.
Despite high demand, many rooms sit empty due to no-shows — with no mechanism to release them back to students.
Primary User Persona
She has awkward gaps between in-person commitments, leaving her searching for spaces to linger on campus — and frequently fails to secure a study room booking in time.
Based on these pain points, I developed a primary user persona to guide the project. Her frustrations shaped every design decision we made.
03 · The Problem
Three barriers to
finding a place to study
High demand for study rooms masked a misallocation problem — rooms appeared unavailable when they were simply unoccupied.
No Visibility
Students have no way to see which rooms are free without physically walking to each floor and checking.
Broken Booking
The existing mobile system requires reservations months out, is hard to navigate, and frequently disappoints.
Wasted Rooms
No-shows leave rooms sitting empty with no mechanism to release them back to students who need them right now.
“How might we help students find, book, and access study rooms on demand — reducing no-shows and eliminating the need to search the library floor by floor?”
04 · The Design
Room Radar
A kiosk integrated into the library entrance that lets students scan their student ID to instantly view availability, check into existing reservations, or book a room on the spot. Before building, I set the brand direction — choosing colors, fonts, and descriptors that evoke calm and focus.
Step One
Lo-fi wireframes
Using Figma, I developed the initial lo-fi wireframe with a home screen and two primary functionality pipelines:
Check In
Enables users to notify the system of their arrival for an existing reservation, confirming their booking and logging their presence.
Default screen → Welcome → Reservation info → Check-in confirmation
Book Now
Allows users to make a new reservation on the spot, guided through floor selection, room selection, and time slot in sequence.
Floor selection → Room selection → Time selection → Booking confirmation
Step Two
Hi-fi prototype
Using the lo-fi wireframes as a guide, I developed a more extensive, clickable high-fidelity prototype. A key feature: reservations are automatically released if not checked into within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
Floors with no available rooms are faded out to prevent false selection. Each step in the booking flow uses progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load.
Default & Welcome
Scan student ID to log in; choose Check In or Book Now.
Reservation Info
View bookings linked to your account; 15-min check-in window enforced.
Floor Selection
Unavailable floors faded out; spatial map mirrors real library layout.
Confirmation
Double-check details before submitting; success page with session options.
Usability Testing & Iteration
Testing revealed three key improvements
Spatial Mapping
Users appreciated the floor layout mirroring the real library — kept and reinforced.
Back Navigation
Many users needed a way to correct their floor or room choice — added back-nav throughout.
Visual Clarity
Users confused by available vs. unavailable options — added clear error pop-up messages.
05 · Reflect
The physical kiosk
Front View
Kiosk housing with a dedicated tablet slot and integrated branding, designed for library lobby placement.
Side View
Physical form factor built to complement the library environment — approachable, calm, and unobtrusive.
Digital Integration
The high-fidelity prototype is embedded into the physical kiosk, ensuring a seamless digital-physical experience.
Takeaways
Iteration is key
Some of the features I’m most proud of — like the error pop-ups — would not have been found without usability testing at both the lo-fi and hi-fi stages.
Integrating physical & digital
Focusing on digital while my team built the physical kiosk required careful communication. We quickly learned how much coordination it takes to make the two feel seamless.
“Our team received a 98 for both approachability & flow of user experience and visual design — and showcased the kiosk at the end-of-quarter exhibition to enthusiastic feedback.”