Mendeley Elsevier, 2017 · 8 min read
Overview
This project aimed to understand and rethink how researchers discover and share content within their academic peer groups. The focus was to use what we had learned to develop a forward-looking and user-centred design that would meet the evolving needs of the global research community.
With the project's success ultimately measured by executive leadership reception, strategic alignment with company goals—particularly improving content discovery and public sharing—was critical to securing project funding for the next phase.
Key takeaways
This case study outlines the challenges faced and the strategic approaches taken to address them, including:
Uncovered valuable insights through in-depth user research and testing, driving innovation based on real user needs and behaviours.
Gained competitive edge by analysing how leading platforms leverage lists, transforming our approach to content organisation.
Identified and prioritised key user groups and use cases, shaping a solution that meets diverse academic needs, from collaboration to content discovery.
Transformed initial concepts into polished, user-friendly designs through rapid prototyping and constant iteration, delivering seamless usability.
Secured executive buy-in and funding for the next development phase, demonstrating the project's strategic value and potential.
Introduction
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Mendeley's reliance on paywalled content limits its value for researchers, as free access to scholarly articles is increasingly common, making the platform less competitive in today’s academic landscape.
Project overview
The Mendeley platform faced challenges in helping users discover and share academic content, especially in the context of the growing shift toward open access (OA) literature.
The project was based on the assumption that enhancing content discovery and enabling public sharing of research papers would improve user retention and strategic alignment. Our focus was on validating these assumptions through research and testing, with the next steps dependent on these findings. This would largely be achieved by integrating features that support open-access content and article collections, better meeting researchers' needs.
Objectives
The primary goals of this project were focused on understanding and addressing the evolving needs of researchers to ensure Mendeley remains competitive in the academic landscape. These objectives were designed to drive improvements in user retention, content discovery, and collaboration.
Understanding a baseline of needs
By exploring how researchers access and value open-access content, Mendeley can better tailor its platform to meet user expectations and inform its design accordingly.
Enhance content discovery
Through user research, we aimed to identify how researchers search for and engage with content. Gaining this understanding could unlock the introduction of article collections, improving the accessibility and dissemination of academic papers.
Enable public sharing
By understanding how researchers collaborate and share resources, we sought to explore how public sharing of academic content aligns with user behaviors, empowering them to curate and share research effectively.
Research and discovery
Phase 1: User research
(3 Weeks)
Our generative research employed both primary and secondary methods, speaking with lecturers, academics, graduate students, independent researchers and PhD candidates to provide a comprehensive understanding of user needs and broader industry trends and norms. This ensured our insights were drawn from direct user feedback and existing data on market dynamics and competitor influence.
Primary research
User Interviews
8 user interviews were conducted to understand user expectations.
User testing
18 user testing sessions were carried out with various prototypes to assess the usability of the proposed features.
Secondary research
Competitor analysis
Through secondary desk research, I analyzed how competitors such as Sci-Hub, Amazon, Tidal, and Goodreads utilised lists, including reading lists and collections. This analysis provided valuable insights into best practices for organizing and sharing academic content, which directly informed the design of our list and public sharing features.Research repository
Insights from previous Mendeley user interviews and feedback provided by the product owner were utilised to ensure new feature proposals aligned with the existing product ecosystem.
Identifying user groups and use cases
Our research identified key user groups with specific use cases: Researchers used the platform for journal clubs, staying updated with people in their field, collaborating, and exploring new topics. Lecturers focused on reading lists for undergraduates, and organisations used it for society networks. These insights directly informed feature development to meet diverse user needs.
Examples of insights
"Sometimes a new colleague joins my lab, and our areas of research overlap. I’d like to be able to share my collection of relevant papers with them directly from my Mendeley library."
– RESEARCHER
"I supervise several PhD students. We meet regularly to discuss their progress, and I’d like to share specific references with each one to direct their work."
– LECTURER
"As someone that works in a lab, I want to advertise a list of what we are reading, so that we can build brand equity as thought-leaders and provide value to researchers that are interested in us."
– ORGANISATION REPRESENTATIVE
Strategy and ideation
Informing product strategy by leveraging user insights
With the completion of our generative research, we now have a solid understanding of user needs related to content access and discovery. Integrating open access content, article collections, and enhanced sharing features will align Mendeley more closely with researcher expectations.
Our core strategy focuses on leveraging existing Mendeley tools, such as the reference manager, to introduce these features in a phased, low-risk approach. This allows us to expand functionality while minimising risk gradually.
From a UX standpoint, we will ensure seamless integrations, as illustrated in the list creation flow diagrams, making it easy for users to add, publish, and share papers across profiles and catalog pages, improving discovery and engagement.
We are now positioned to move forward with a user-centered strategy that addresses current needs while paving the way for future enhancements.
Design and Prototyping
Design Process
Wireframes and User Flows
Early wireframes focused on how users would create and manage article collections, with iterative testing to ensure ease of use and address pain points like content curation and sharing.
User Journey Mapping
We mapped the entire user journey, enabling users to discover articles, create lists in the Reference Manager, and share them both privately and publicly. Feedback from user testing guided refinements to make list creation intuitive and seamless.
Research Insights
User Feedback
Testing revealed the need for clearer navigation, flexible sharing options, and improved organization within the Reference Manager. These insights informed design tweaks for a smoother user experience.
Prototyping into interface design
High-fidelity prototypes were tested, focusing on integrating list creation and public sharing features with existing tools, ensuring smooth content discovery and sharing. To ensure scalability, the design for public sharing and article collections was built with modular components, allowing future expansion of these features to support larger datasets and new content formats as user needs evolve.
Testing and feedback
Initial testing confirmed strong user interest in public sharing and article collections, showing a clear demand for collaborative features. Feedback emphasized the need for flexible sharing options, allowing users to switch between private and public sharing easily.
Usability testing highlighted the importance of intuitive navigation for creating and managing collections, with users requesting clearer organization tools. These insights led to refinements that simplify sharing while enhancing collaboration. Future tests will focus on further aligning these features with user workflows.
