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Little Free Libraries
Little Free Libraries
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Little Free Libraries
Little Free Libraries
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Little Free Libraries
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Little Free Libraries
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Academic Project
Reimagining Little Free Library’s Digital Experience
Duration
3 Weeks
Tools
Figma, Figjam
Role
Lead Design & Illustrator + Research
Team
Priscilla Mayfield, Justine Clanet
Context
Little Free Library (LFL) is a non-profit organization focused on fostering community engagement and enhancing literacy outcomes. It provides free, 24/7 access to books through a network of exchange boxes. The network of exchange boxes facilitates the circulation of books based on the act of sharing with their “take a book, leave a book” model.
While the physical experience of LFL fosters warmth, surprise, and connection, the digital app lacked that same community spirit. My team set out to reimagine the digital experience by bridging the physical and online experience by making the online space feel as personal and meaningful as visiting a real Little Free Library.
My Role
I led research grounded in Donald Norman’s reflective level of design to understand what users value most about Little Free Library — community, discovery, and storytelling. This shaped our design direction, moving away from purely functional fixes toward features that foster emotional connection. I then designed the UI and illustrations for a check-in redesign and a digital library customization feature that strengthen LFL’s sense of community and charm.
An example of a library box; readers can take any book, and leave any book.
The Problem
While LFL offers a digital space through its mobile app, it lacks the strong sense of community and the discovery journey that sets LFLs apart from other libraries — aspects that users value most, missing opportunities to create meaningful connections.
User Insights: Uncovering the Core Value
We began by exploring what people truly value about LFL. Through qualitative research including thematic analysis of online community discussions (particularly in LFL’s Reddit community) we surfaced two key user identities and their underlying motivations:
The library owners
Core Value
Curation, Pride, Neighbourhood Connection
Emotional Driver
Enjoy repeating visitors and the recognition of their contribution in curating and maintaining their boxes
The Readers
Core Value
Adventure, Discovery, Serendipity
Emotional Driver
Cherish the sense of the unknown and the stories embedded in the exchange
source: r/LittleFreeLibrary Threads
Key Insight
LFL’s true value is less about the transactional exchange of books (a functional activity) and more about the ritual of community storytelling and identity expression (a reflective activity). Each library is a trace of the people, memories, and narratives that passed through it.
Initial Framing - Focusing on Efficiency
Our initial framing focused on immediate user frustrations such as interruption of circulation, and the lack of updates on books and libary conditions.
When Circulation is Interrupted
“
The last annoying thing is there are folks who take books to sell.
Someone has been visiting ours and taking all of the books except those in rougher shape or old library stock.
While I don’t mind the books being circulated in the neighborhood since the whole premise is to get books in the hands of people, ... I'm finding myself getting irritated at the fact that the same person is taking a book from my library (almost daily) to put in their library.
Source: r/LittleFreeLibrary
Lack of Updates
“
Just be careful rain can’t get in. I’ve seen a LFL totally destroyed in the [omission] area which sat with moldy wet books for months on end.
Anonymous User - LFL Etiquette thread
I’m a LFL steward and this drives me nuts. It’s a book exchange box, not a recycling bin! It’s so depressing to see the garbage in some of them.
Source: r/LittleFreeLibrary
Source: Little Free Library Threads
We hypothesized that the solution lay in crowdsource cataloging — the process of building and maintaining a shared inventory through community contributions rather than a central authority - allowing users to remotely view status and update book inventory for better efficiency.
The Crucial Pivot - Problems with the Initial Framing
Upon deeper reflection, we quickly realized this practical, crowdsourced solution completely missed the emotional backbone of the experience. Prioritizing efficiency over connection risked turning a charming ritual into a tedious chore. It was a purely behavioural solution that failed to account for the deeper reflective motivation of user engagement.
Reflective Level of Design (Donald Norman)
Donald Norman’s Reflective Level of Design framework focuses on how people form lasting emotional connections with products through memory, identity, and meaning rather than mere function.
For Little Free Library, this perspective reframed our understanding of the problem. The app had to reflect the sense of identity, belonging, and memory found in the physical libraries; as each library carries traces of the people who built it, the books that passed through it, and the memories left behind.
Finding the Problem - A Feature Gap
The app’s check-in feature and online library presence, however, lacked the reflective quality. Functioning as simple digital marker, it failed to provide a space for self-expression or community connection. To truly capture the essence of LFL, the digital experience needed to actively mirror the sense of identity and discovery found in the physical libraries where each box carries traces of the people, books, and memories left behind.
We pivoted our design effort toward fostering emotional connection and identity expression to align the app with the high-level, reflective value users hold with LFL which led us to our final reframed problem statement:
Reframed Problem Statement
How might we translate the app’s presence to feel as personable and community-driven as the physical libraries, reflecting LFL’s unique charm of adventure and discovery?
Design Process
Design Goals
The final features were designed to integrate memory, identity, and meaning - the core tenets of the Reflective Level - into the digital experience, guiding us toward three primary goals:
Bridge the Physical & Digital Experience
Bring the unique, personal qualities of LFL’s physical libraries into the app experience.
Foster Community Connection
Encourage readers and owners to share reflections, memories, and notes.
Preserve the Charm of Discovery.
Keep the spirit of adventure and discovery alive through playful, human-centred design.
Redesign features
I developed and prototyped two core features to translate the Reflective Level insight and address the goals into practice:
Digital Library Customization
Solution
This feature empowers library owners to personalize their digital library profile using curated visual assets, actively reflecting the unique character of their physical libraries.
Impact
This feature extends and reinforces stewardship and identity; the sense of ownership and individuality that defines the physical LFLs, bridging the gap between online and offline identity. It reinforces stewardship and preserves the charm of discovery within the digital space.
Redesigned Check-In
Solution
The redesign transforms the simple check-in into a communal journal space; encouraging readers to share notes, memories, or context with the owner and other visitors.
Impact
The feature makes the digital experience feel personal - like leaving a note in a real library- integrating Norman’s reflective level of design through emotional connection and storytelling.
Digital Library Customization
User Value
Stewards can customize their digital library upon registering, making it a reflection of their physical box. This personal connection and sense of ownership is grounded in the reflective level of design.
For readers, it translates the spirit of adventure into the digital space, just like discovering the unique design of a physical LFL
Engagement
The digital library customization feature enhances engagement to encourage more users to register their library by making the act a personalized, creative expression
Prototype Video
Re-Designed Check-In
Current Check-In
The current check-in is a functional marker, a simple box for writing your name. The action lacks any meaningful engagement or emotional connection.
Redesigned Check-In
Implements a space for stewards to introduce their library’s story and for readers to leave meaningful notes - as if leaving a physical note behind.
Engagement
Stewards can view and connect with reader notes, while readers can see the stories of other visitors; building community and connecting emotionally to the libraries in the digital space, making the app feel more personal and meaningful.
Current Check-In
Redesigned Check-In
“Needs Books” Status & Hyperlink to Address Clickability
The feature was redesigned from simple text to a visually prominent, contrasting button. This clear visual treatment, combined with hyperlinks, signals its function and clickability to users immediately.
Key Status Cards
The library UI is now displayed in organized cards, allowing users to instantly view essential data such as the owner’s message, check-in count, and book status at a glance; eliminating the need to navigate to separate detail pages.
Current UI
Redesigned UI
Reflection
This project was a profound lesson in designing for meaning over mere utility. It taught me the importance of crafting experiences that resonate emotionally with users, going far beyond simple function.
My key learning was the crucial role of the crucial pivot; recognizing that our initial, efficiency-focused solution (crowdsourced cataloging) would have flattened the emotional depth that users cherish. This realization reinforced that a successful digital experience must not just support an action but reflect the lasting sense of memory, pride, and identity users associate with the physical ritual. Translating this reflective value into tangible features—like the Digital Library Customization for owner identity and the Redesigned Check-In for communal storytelling—was the most rewarding challenge.
Further Opportunities and Next Steps
If granted more time, I would focus on three key areas to validate and fully integrate this design work:
Direct App User Validation
While our foundational research was strong, rooted in the values of physical library users, the next critical step is to gather qualitative feedback from current app users. This validation is necessary to ensure the new features integrate smoothly into their existing digital habits and truly resonate, moving the design from a theoretical success to a practical solution.
Information Architecture & Flow Integration
The project focused on redesigning two core features. A holistic approach requires taking these features and designing the end-to-end information architecture and user flow for the entire app. This would ensure the new, more emotionally rich experience feels coherent and seamlessly integrated into the overall user journey, rather than existing as standalone features.
Targeted Personas
Although we identified "Owners" and "Readers," future work would benefit from developing more detailed, targeted personas to guide feature expansion. For instance, testing the Redesigned Check-In with a "Regular Reader" persona (someone who visits multiple libraries weekly) could reveal whether the emotional connection is maintained through high-frequency use or if new friction points emerge. This level of detail would ensure the features scale effectively.