Sarah Fennelly & Rachael Wilson
Visual Design Lead & Lead, Digital Content and User Experience
Deakin University
Beyond Designers: Building a Culture of UX Through a Playbook
Beyond Designers: Building a Culture of UX Through a Playbook
Our proposed talk will discuss our journey developing a central UX and design resource to support library staff in developing user-centered experiences. Our resource, the Library Design Playbook, offers a scaffolded approach to understanding and applying UX concepts, with tangible examples and tools to build confidence and capability in applying the double diamond approach.
By reframing UX as a shared responsibility across all roles, the Playbook promotes a culture where every staff member contributes to improving user experiences. It also highlights the value of specialist design expertise working alongside librarians to elevate library services through collaborative, evidence-based design.
Sarah Fennelly
I’m a visual designer, animator, and UI/UX designer based in Geelong, Australia, with 18 years’ experience in the design industry, including 13 years at Deakin University Library. I’m passionate about creating purposeful, accessible design that supports learning, particularly when it helps people engage with complex content or empowers staff without a design background to create quality work. My practice spans UI/UX, animation, design systems, and digital and print projects, and I love collaborating with learning designers, developers, UX and accessibility specialists to create solutions that truly work for our users.
Rachael Wilson
I lead and support user experience research, digital content strategy and experience design initiatives that improve how people engage with academic library services and systems. My work combines evidence-based research, content design and digital governance to create accessible, inclusive and user-centred experiences for students, researchers, academics and community users. I’m passionate about translating complexity into clarity and helping libraries design services that are genuinely useful, usable and equitable.