CASE STUDY · CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Chicago Public Library Spark

Helping CPS teachers find and share library resources that extend learning beyond the classroom.

Role
UX/UI Designer, research lead
Team
UX Designers
Timeline
6 weeks
Platform
Mobile
Tools
Axure, Sketch

The challenge

With school librarians disappearing, CPS teachers had become their students’ librarians, but the library’s events and resources were hard to discover and share.

Project outcomes

  • A teacher-first mobile app for discovering and sharing CPL events and resources
  • Four design principles that kept the team aligned on every decision
  • Personal “Sparks” boards for collecting and sharing resources

Role and responsibilities

What I owned

Research

  • Led user research for the team
  • Interviewed branch managers and community members
  • Identified elementary educators as the primary audience

Synthesis

  • Built Margot’s journey map
  • Defined four design principles
  • Named and framed the product

Design

  • Wireframed search, boards and onboarding
  • Designed geolocation-based results
  • Delivered the hi-fi final product

Research

Teachers, the new librarians.

Research with CPL branches and educators showed a widening gap between what libraries offer and what teachers know about.

1 in 4CPS schools with a certified librarian
3 of 4Chicago schools without tech instruction support for digital literacy
80%+CPS school libraries closed
91%Americans 16+ who say libraries matter to their communities
“I want my students to feel the same love of libraries that I felt when I was their age.”
— Margot, CPS educator persona

Igniting curiosity

Designed around Margot

Margot’s journey showed where finding resources for proficiency-based learning broke down. Four principles guided every feature.

EfficientRemove barriers to library tasks.
MinimalistOnly the essentials on each screen.
Spark curiosityMake learning engaging and shareable.
Trendy, cool, appealingModern enough for students and adults.

Design decisions

How I drove it

KEY DECISION 01

Filtered, location-aware search

What I did. Designed filtered search in Explore, with results prioritized by the teacher’s location.

Why it mattered. Teachers are short on time. Relevant, nearby events and materials had to surface immediately.

KEY DECISION 02

Onboarding that doesn’t overwhelm

What I did. Kept sign-up short and introduced key features without front-loading everything.

Why it mattered. Quick adoption mattered more than explaining every feature up front.

Design principles in practice

Principles that kept the team aligned
Principles that kept the team aligned

Reflection

Final thoughts

Spark showed how research and clear principles keep a team focused. Working closely with CPL deepened my understanding of how hard it is for teachers to find and share resources, and how design can reduce that load.