Library of Congress
Copyright Registration
In this UX design project, we adopted a Human-Centered Design approach as the foundation of our work. Our focus was to create a user experience that catered to the needs and preferences of the individuals involved.
Throughout the project, we collaborated closely with the extended Copyright Modernization team. This collaboration allowed us to gather valuable input from primary users and stakeholders, ensuring our design approaches were validated and aligned with their expectations. By actively involving users in the process, we aimed to build confidence and foster a sense of ownership among them.
One of the primary goals of the project was to replace the current Electronic Copyright Office (eCO) system. To achieve this, we embarked on a comprehensive engagement strategy. By fully engaging users in the design process, we aimed to ensure that the new system would effectively address their pain points and provide a superior user experience.
We conducted extensive research to gain insights into the needs, behaviors, and preferences of the users. This included interviews, surveys, and usability testing sessions. By incorporating their feedback and incorporating their suggestions, we aimed to design a system that met their expectations and surpassed their requirements.
We maintained a continuous feedback loop with the primary users and stakeholders throughout the design and development phases. We regularly conducted user testing sessions to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of our designs. This iterative approach allowed us to make necessary refinements and improvements based on user feedback, ensuring that the final product was optimized for user satisfaction.
By grounding our approach in Human Centered Design, collaborating closely with the Copyright Modernization team, and actively involving users throughout the process, we strived to create a new Electronic Copyright Office system that not only met the needs of the stakeholders but also provided an exceptional user experience for all involved.
Human Centered Design Research
The solution was shaped with input from diverse users and stakeholders, including 34 interviews with three types of users to uncover pain points, opportunities and future goals within the Registration office. The team used Accenture’s market-proven research methods such as in-depth interviews, contextual inquiry, and quantitative analysis to uncover key insights and identify design opportunities.
Agile Design Process
The team had 15 iterative design reviews with stakeholders to translate user needs for each role (Examiner, Supervisor, and Manager) into intuitive workflows, wireframes, a click-through prototype, and a complete design system.
User Research
“We’re constantly documenting actions outside of Siebel that we need to manually track. There’s a lot of variation among Examiners of how they tally their numbers for the day.”
“There’s no reason why examiners should waste time reporting their weekly data. Within monthly reports, there are problems I find that might be three to four weeks removed from the actual date when it’s reported.”
“We cannot see what they see. That is a big barrier in talking about the application on the phone with the applicant because what they see looks different from what we see.”
After extensive user research and interviews, we heard some concerns, needs, and pain points, we identified a number of themes from research interviews and observations. Some of those included the following
Reactionary systems
Quick short-term solutions result in workarounds with many layers.
Manual Processes
Software bugs and inefficiencies occur at every level, requiring manual entry and software expertise.
Knowledge gurus
Tech-savvy examiners in every division are sought after for help with macros, queries, and tracking.
Numbers game
The volume and complexity of claims received results in Examiners focusing more on the quantity of actions.
Constant change
Nuances in copyright law and constant changes in policies require the flexibility of Registration staff.
Daily surprises
Claim information is incomplete or incorrect. Deposits are corrupt or inconsistent.
Cross-division challenges
Many processes and issues overlap across divisions, causing Examiners to come up with unique solutions.
Independent resolve
When encountering an issue, examiners forge their own solutions.
Heuristic Evaluation
We conducted a heuristic evaluation for the Copyright Office to enhance its system design and tackle user challenges. This method involved analyzing the system's interface using established usability principles. Our team of copyright experts systematically examined the system, focusing on factors such as interface design, navigation, instructions, error handling, and overall user experience. They discovered areas requiring improvement, including unclear button labels, complex navigation, insufficient error messages, and inconsistencies in visual design. We documented these findings and provided specific recommendations.
Collaborating with the Copyright Office's design team, we implemented changes that streamlined the user interface, simplified navigation, improved instructions, and enhanced error messages. The revised system aimed to improve the user experience, accessibility, and efficiency of copyright-related processes. The heuristic evaluation served as a valuable guide, ensuring our design decisions aligned with usability principles. Overall, the evaluation successfully addressed usability issues and resulted in a redesigned system that offered an improved user experience, resolving challenges and pain points within the Copyright Office's domain.
Visual Design System Development
The team built a comprehensive design system that defines key interaction patterns, is Section 508 compliant and fully accessible to all users, and consistent with the US Web Design Standards. It includes a robust set of design libraries and is flexible to allow for expanded use across the Enterpise Copyright System as it is scaled.
Approach Overview
Hybrid Solution
Over the course of 10 months, we produced 285 wireframes, including 161 wireframes for the Examiner experience, 93 wireframes for the Supervisor experience, and 31 wireframes for the Manager experience. The team iteratively refined these wireframes, creating a click-through prototype and design system that informed user stories and product development.
Wireframing and Prototyping at Scale
Usability Testing
We conducted a heuristic evaluation of the existing system, identifying key gaps and recommending improvements to the user experience and Section 508 compliance. After our recommendations were implemented by USCO’s development team, we conducted extensive usability testing. Results showed a 90% increase in usability.
Executive Summary
Participants gave a high SUS score on both variations of the usability test with an overall score of 79.58 . A score of 70 indicates a well-received website.
Simple usability test participants gave the system a score of 96.88.
Complex usability participants gave the system a score of 70.94 mostly due to the complexity of the Title spreadsheet.
Most of the recommendations in this report are at a lower severity rating due to the overall acceptance of this system. Consider the findings and recommendations in this report as ways to make the system even better than it already is.
Participants are excited to be able to have a system for recordation rather than going through a paper process.
Value Delivered
Co-creating with a broad cross section of internal and external stakeholders, including both current and prospective ECS users, built trust and confidence in the new system and enhanced communication across diverse stakeholder groups. By designing around validated user needs and conducting extensive usability testing, our approach accelerated downstream development and avoided costly re-work. The new examination system will be utilized by 200 users on daily basis with the expectation of additional 150 users from other departments requiring various levels of access.
From research to the design system, our team kept the user at the center of the design process, resulting in enthusiastic adoption of our work. We created a culture of collaboration and transparency between various departments at the Library that had never previously worked on an enterprise system together. By making sure USCO stakeholders felt heard and validated, we alleviated concerns and resistance to change that often occurs in modernization initiatives. Transforming the user experience internally for examination and employees enables claims to be processed faster and more efficiently. Enhancing communication and streamlining complex processes also yielded improvements in overall correspondence quality. Additionally, our comprehensive design system created a consistency of the user experience across the Enterprise Copyright System, which includes the Recordation online service, Public Records online service, Licensing online servive, and future application efforts.