Design of signaling the environment: A case study with the design thinking approach in the UFCA Central Library
Academic Library. Design Thinking. Library Innovation. Librarianship. Signage Design.
The purpose of this research is to design signaling solutions at the Central Library of the Federal University of Cariri (UFCA), Juazeiro do Norte - Ceará campus, using Design Thinking strategies. It carries out a bibliographical survey with the purpose of recognizing the main literary discourses regarding Innovation and Signaling in University Libraries and Design Thinking. It makes a brief historical survey on librarianship, analyzing the different contexts for understanding the current scenario of its consolidation, thus showing the influences that information technologies have had on the exercise of information professionals. Dedicates a look at the political and legislative actions in Brazil for the improvement of libraries, as well as highlights some of their flaws. It identifies the various innovation practices for the improvement of the services, products and processes of university libraries in order to further strengthen the essential character of their physical spaces focused on access to and processing of information. In this sense, the methods of Design Thinking are considered as creative practice for the transformation of innovative environments, valuing the signaling as a resource of fundamental communication appeal. For the design perspective, the research was not only concerned with structuring a functional and aesthetically favorable signaling, since this discipline believes in good results through the multidisciplinary union, resorting to the different experiences and the different knowledges in search of solutions of problems. Design Thinking used the inspiration steps to identify the needs of the focus group, ideation for the interpretation and idealization of solutions and, finally, the iteration and prototyping procedures for the development of the signaling proposals of the spaces leading to the library. The characteristics of the research are configured as qualitative, of a practical nature and with exploratory objectives, since its application has an approach in action-research format, aiming to promote the cooperation of library users in the design of signaling solutions. The results indicated not only a signaling proposal that effectively met the needs of users, but also was able to guarantee a more active participation of those involved in obtaining innovative solutions for the library, effectively integrating the subjects to the activities of the space and favoring the feeling collaboration between the parties. Therefore, it is hoped that the experiences contained in this research may stimulate future work and, consequently: collaborate with the approach between the disciplines of design and librarianship; with the practice of innovative creative actions; with the development of an adequate signaling system; and with greater approximation among the professionals who are dedicated to these areas.