Shared Space Reservation Systems
2023 · 2 months · Graduate HCI Course Project
HCI research into how people reserve shared spaces and how systems can better support them.
Overview
This project examined how people reserve shared spaces, the contexts in which those decisions are made, and where existing reservation systems fail to support real-world needs. Working in a team of three, we conducted interviews and a crowd-sourced survey to understand user behavior, expectations, and breakdowns in current systems, then synthesized findings into concrete design considerations for more human-centered reservation tools.
The Problem
Shared space reservation systems are widely used in workplaces, schools, and public institutions, yet they often create friction instead of reducing it. Users struggle to assess availability, understand room features, coordinate with others, and make confident decisions based on incomplete or misleading information. Little is known about how people actually evaluate options in these systems or how design choices affect stress, fairness, and efficiency.
Our goal was to uncover how people make reservation decisions in practice and identify system-level opportunities to better support those decisions.
Execution & Synthesis
We conducted a mixed-methods study combining semi-structured interviews and a crowd-sourced survey:
- Interviews: N = 6
- Survey: N = 16
- Methods: Semi-structured interviews, thematic analysis, mixed-methods synthesis
Interviews were conducted over Zoom or in person, transcribed, and iteratively coded using thematic analysis. Each team member independently analyzed interview data before synthesizing a shared set of themes. Survey data captured reservation frequency, context of use, confidence in decisions, and navigation strategies, providing quantitative grounding for the qualitative findings.
Throughout analysis, we focused not just on what users did, but why — identifying recurring decision heuristics, information gaps, and points of friction across systems.
Constraints & Tradeoffs
This project focused on understanding behavior and informing design rather than implementing a production system. Working within the constraints of a graduate course required balancing depth of qualitative analysis with a limited sample size. We prioritized rich, interpretable insights over breadth, ensuring findings were actionable despite time and scope limitations.
Impact & Results
Our analysis surfaced seven core themes highlighting systemic issues in shared space reservation systems, including:
- Missing or obscured information about room features and suitability
- Decision-making under uncertainty and time pressure
- Coordination challenges involving multiple stakeholders
- Over-reliance on prior experience due to low system trust
Survey results reinforced these findings, showing that reservations were often made close to the reservation date, frequently involved multiple people, and relied heavily on spatial familiarity rather than system-provided information.
Together, these insights informed a set of concrete design considerations aimed at reducing friction, improving transparency, and aligning reservation systems with real human behavior.
Key Takeaways
This project strengthened my ability to conduct rigorous qualitative research and translate findings into actionable, system-level design guidance. It reinforced how deeply interface and information design choices affect user stress, equity, and efficiency—insights that continue to shape how I approach UX-aware software design and human-centered systems more broadly.