Instant book club mobile application for users to talk about any book anytime.
45% of users would use this app several times a month with.
67% of users know at least 1-3 other people who would use this app.
Measurement of users time spent on
the app would increase interest of advertisers.
Role: UX Designer Project: Passion Project Duration: 4 Weeks Tools: Penpot | Chat GBT 3.5 | Miro
The Problem
Users struggle finding others to talk to about the books they love reading.
The Objective
Create an on demand book club that connects people based on the books they both love.
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Connects users all over the world who love the same books.
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Builds relationships through live video conversations about the same books.
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Notifications that someone wants to talk about a book you love.
Step 1: User Research
Research showed that the biggest problem for users is not finding people who enjoy reading the same books, genres or authors that they enjoy reading.
If your company needs some user research done, contact me.
User Research Insights:
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77% of users don't have enough people to talk to about books they chose to read.
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76% of users have less than two people they can talk to that share their reading preferences.
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77% of users say the best time to talk about books varies.
Next I completed a competitive audit to see what options readers currently have to connect with others over the books they chose to read themselves.
Fable
BookShip
BookClubs
Competitor Audit Insights:
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Apps focus on either online or in person but no combos
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Social media posts/comments/profiles build community
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Have customizable reading lists categories
Problem Statement
Users struggle to find others to talk about their favorite books with.
Step 2: Ideate
I was really inspired by the features discovered during the competitive audit but also have so much fun with out of the box thinking so did a crazy 8's exercise to combine ludacris ideas with features I liked in the apps I studied.
I took some crazy ideas and thought of ways to make them realistic.
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Have an online community that offers both virtual and I.R.L meets.
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Printable profile w/ QR code to share on bulletin boards/car/cards etc.
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Shared eBook notes & reactions within the club
Step 3: Design
Since this is a concept project I began with creating a logo in Canva to base the rest of the design off of. I wanted the logo to visually represent the main function of the app so showing two gender and race neutral emoji characters talking and loving the same book was perfect.
Then I create a close up storyboard to visualize the screens needed for the user flow and start a list of elements needed on those pages to meet the users needs. Finally I use information hierarchy, proximity and similar design rules of thumb to create the page layouts.
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Users' touch path shows the need for profile images to be clickable when inviting for video chats.
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The font needs to be larger.
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Users need an obvious way to leave a video chat early.
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Need obvious ability to turn on and off the camera and mics.
"I can read everything but I think the font could be bigger."
- Ilene
"I like the info from the matches but it seems a bit busy."
- Lina
Next I just dove straight into iterating on the most common issues found from user testing.
Before
After
The Problem
Users need to find others to connect over the same books with.
The Solution
Application that matches users based on their preferences and provides a secure platform to instantly connect.
Accessibility:
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WCAG 2.0 Inclusion of alt text for all imaging.
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Test on various mobile screen sizes with assistive technologies enabled.
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Closed captioning option during
video chats.
Results
Matching gives users a jump start on finding common ground with others to build community on.
Users can search online and in person bookish events to connect near or far.
Online status informs users who they can connect with instantly.
You can't have a proper book app without a place to organize
users reading lists.
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67% of users know at least 1-3 other people who would use this app.
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45% of users would use this app several times a month with.
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Measurement of users time spent on
the app would increase interest of advertisers.
Lessons
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It's O.K when user testing points out needed improvements that should have been obvious. That's why we test.
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White space is nice to have but the font size needs to take priority.
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Removing bottom nav bars on certain screens deepen user engagement.