Booksmarks
App Design
Project Scope
Goal: Together with your team, brainstorm and design an app that you haven't seen before or build upon an existing app that could benefit from additional features that are missing in the current app.
Project Manager: Carol • UX/UI Design team: Zikesha, Madisen, Uzma, and Izaiih
Tools used:
Problem
Bookmarks is an app created to help readers looking to interact with others about books they've read or authors they love. We found that post-pandemic people want to connect more, but in a virtual environment to accommodate their busy schedules.
While conducting research interviews and a competitive analysis of similar products available, we discovered the things we wanted to include to address everything our users wanted. Building upon that, we asked ourselves the following question:
How might we help book lovers connect in a virtual world?
Solution
Create an easy-to-use app for book lovers that includes the following:
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Social media feed to see what others post about books they are reading/have read
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Join or create virtual book clubs that include video meet-ups to discuss your book live with others
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Join or create book club discussion groups to post your questions, thoughts, and feelings about the book they are reading/have read
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Library to organize their own personal books
When logging into the app for the first time, you see several coaching pages explaining various features.
Enjoy scrolling through your social feed to see other's thoughts or create your own post.
Meet with others via video to discuss your book by joining or creating a virtual book club.
If you prefer to post in groups to chat about books, easily join or create a book club discuss group.
Research Process
Proto Persona
Our team started with a proto-persona to get a better understanding of who we thought would use an app like Bookmarks.
Meet Melissa Warner
30-year-old social media manager
Engaged with no children
Has a lot of hobbies
Behavioral Demographics
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Loves to read - reads on e-reader mostly, but sometimes a physical book
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Collects cookbooks - cultural cuisine
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Currently reads mostly about wedding planning - books and periodicals
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Enjoys book clubs - and wine - with her friends
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Frequents her yoga studio weekly
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Adapts quickly to social situations
Research Objective
As user researchers, our team wanted to uncover the user's motivation and thought process behind why or why not join a book club, virtually or in person.
User Interviews and Affinity Diagram
From the initial user interviews and their responses, we were able to determine key points by creating an affinity diagram.
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User's reading habits
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Book purchasing habits
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Social media activity
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Book club behavior
Example of Reading Habits
Example of Book Buying Habits
Example of Social Media Activity
Example of Interest in Book Clubs
User Empathy Map
To get a deeper understanding of what our user's purpose is in joining the Bookmarks App, we created an empathy map of what our user says, thinks, does, and feels. By diving more into those things, we were able to better pinpoint what their goals and pain points are.
Now that they're older and she has a little more free time, her main goal is to be able to read and participate in a book club, but physically going to one isn't always feasible with her busy family life.
She has been seeking out some type of virtual book club, so she can still experience the social aspect of it, but do it from the comfort of her home.
User Persona
Meet Jen Stone
40-year-old nurse, wife and mom to 2 kids
Jen’s schedule is very hectic. She has other hobbies such as running and her family, but reading has always been a passion and it was put on the back burner while her kids were small.
Brainstorming and Ideation
To further build upon the goals of our user, our team brainstormed ideas of how to make the Bookmarks app even better.
Feature Prioritization
To determine what features we wanted to work on initially, our team put together a feature prioritization map.
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I like being able to create my own bookclub
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I wish I could just share my thoughts on a book for feedback
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I like the virtual book club option
User Journey
To gain better insight into the various feelings Jen may experience as she navigates the Bookmarks app, we created a user journey.
Mid-Fidelity Wireframe
After our research, we were able to start our mid-fidelity wireframing.
Splash Page
Library Page
Splash Page
Social Media Feed
Coaching Page
Iterations
After performing user tests, we determined our changes, and here are a few examples...
Final App
Future Opportunities
Overall, our team is happy with the result of our Bookmarks app. If our team had more time, there are a couple of things we would have added to make it even better.
First, add single sign-on options, such as Google and Facebook, to allow users to quickly sign into their accounts.
Next we would've loved to offer the option for Live Events for authors to easily connect and allow them to interact with their fans on a more personal level. It's also a great way for authors to promote their latest work and even get ideas for future projects based on feedback from their audiences.
The last feature we would love to add is the option to blog within the Bookmarks app. People could write reviews of books and maybe even make money via sponsors of their blog posts too.