Designing an end-to-end application
The book app will be for book lovers, helping users track everything they own, books they have read, what they will read next, and also everything they have loved so far. Inspired by Goodreads, the app has started collecting data on popular books and wants to give a more user-centric approach to their app, adding features and flows that make it great for people to use.
Design a user-centric iOS app that allows users to track their reading, explore their next book and be part of a trusted community.
UX Research, UX/UI design, Brand design,
User testing
Figma
80 Hours
Research was an essential part of this project due to the complicated nature of library based app. I had an idea of the type of app I wanted to build, but I didn’t want to approach the solution without a clearly defined problem. I identified research goals that would help me to discover what users’ needed out of a book app.
The average number of books read per year by an American is 12, while the median is 4 per year. This suggests that while reading is important to many Americans, there is a large contingent of avid readers that pull the average up. In general women read more books than men. The desire to read also drops with age, with individuals between 25-35 reading the most of any age group. These statistics are also largely reflected in the tracking and reviewing of books - women are 40% more likely to be active on a platform like Goodreads with the average user being under the age of 35.
Despite the rise of digital platforms and e-readers, printed books are still the most popular format of books in the U.S, with millennials accounting for the largest share of printed book readers.
Goodreads is by far the most popular book app (45m active users/month). It has the largest catalogue of books and the largest online community. There has been a recent surge in competition due to the pushback against Amazon-owned Goodreads. Each of these competitors offer different features, each focusing on a different aspect of book tracking or reviewing.
They survey was key in understand what users actually wanted when integrating an app with their reading habits, as essential part of defining the problem. There were 27 respondents, aged between 18-65. I then followed up with 4 respondents to get a deeper understanding of the general themes.
It was clear that users struggled to find new books, and there were many different ways in which they found their next read. The app needed to provide a platform that allowed users to discover new books in a way that suited them - through authors, recommendations or the reading community. On top of this users want to be able to track what they have read, creating virtual bookshelves.
The research gave me a good understanding of Biblio's target users; both competitor statistics and the survey I conducted clarified that individuals between the ages of 25-35 were most likely to use a book tracking platform. I wanted to ensure that I aligned my design to address the problems that these users face without alienating the older generation who were, according to the survey conducted, becoming more willing to embrace technology.
I spent time thinking about the goals this product needed to achieve and the features needed to overcome the problems the target users were facing. I created the application map to help understand the hierarchy of features and to prioritise the content for a minimum viable product. I originally thought that a social feature was not needed as part of the MVP, but after a few iterations of the application map I found that the required content to meet the users' needs was lacking. I decided that including a profile page was the best way to help users add personality and to become part of a reading community.
I created a user flow in conjunction with defining the information architecture above. The user flow helped me to understand the scenarios a user may face when navigating the app, and helped to define the most important screens and features a user would need completing certain tasks.
Even limiting the functionality of Biblio to the minimum required, an app of this nature is information heavy and can easily overwhelm a user. The design therefore had to be comprehensive, functional and yet simple. I researched common design patterns in similar reference apps to help users orientate themselves. For example, I wanted the users to be able to access a large amount of information without feeling overwhelmed, so I opted for carousels and accordions to help limit the amount unwanted information on each screen.
The Biblio brand is clean and simple, providing the users a sense of calm when interacting with the app. I decided to keep the branding simple, allowing the books covers and author photos to provide the majority of visual content. The logo contains the same serif font used throughout the app, introducing some colour and context with the leaning book in place of the ‘i’.
4 participants, aged between 26-34 years old, were asked to interact with the Biblio app, completing 2 pre-defined tasks. Users were able to complete tasks, and were generally positive about the experience of using the app, but highlighted a number of pains points to be addressed in the next iteration.
Competitor research taught me that users don't always need great UI design or a perfect user experience to be happy with a product; users can be content when a product helps to solve a problem they face. Understanding the problem helped me to focus on prioritising key features with a simple structure for a MVP, and I hope that I created a user-centric experience and clean UI that helps set Biblio apart from its competitors.
