ReadMe is an app to find, share, and discuss the best books.
Currently, there is no app that congregates books in one place for users to share, read, and explore. For my Entrepreneurship course, Digital Product Design, I was tasked with designing an application that solved a specific design problem.
Final Prototype

Design Process

ProjectOverview:
‍Role: User Experience Designer & Project Manager
Timeline: 5 Weeks
Tools: Figma, InVision, Adobe Illustrator, Pivotal Tracker

Purpose

Problems:
Outcome / Benefits:

Leap of Faith Experiment

Insight:
Vision:
Leap Of Faith Assumption:
Rapid Experiment:
Metrics:
Minimum Success Criteria:
Experiment:
Findings:

Participant #1 - Quiz Results - After checking in with the participant I found that they actually started reading the recommended novel. I got feedback from them and they said that they had actually really wanted to get back into reading and that it made him want to read. Being recommended a book pushed him to read it and it fit what he looked for in a book. Even though they had not finished the book they were already looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Due to the free time he has now he has a lot more time to read.

Participant #2 - Quiz Results - After checking back in with the participant to see if they started or read the book and they had not. They said that they had checked it out and were very interested in reading it, but had little to no time. They said if they had found out about this in the summer they would have definitely read it. 

Participant #3 - Quiz Results - After checking back in I had found that they had read the book after being recommended. They had actually read a book by the same author and loved it and had no idea about this other series the author had written. They were very thankful for the recommendation due to the corona pandemic and the new free time that the participant had. They wished there was something like this that existed.

Overall Results: I have learned that people do not have the time to sit and search for books. They do not know where to look and when I recommended them a book it gave them a reason and want to read. Not only because it was convenient, but because it also matched what they enjoy reading. Being recommended books allows users an easy way to get back into reading. Because of the corona pandemic this was the only way for me to reach out to others (quiz) and had to take word of mouth when following up. If I were to fully run this experiment I would take a much larger population to truly test if people read the books when presented with them. I did a smaller scale so that I could take the time to recommend them books that would match what they are interested in. Overall I had 8 people take the quiz and recommended them books. I found that ⅝, or around 62% of them got the book, started the book, or finished the book within a week of the recommendation. In the follow up a lot of them said that this gave them a want to read again as it was convenient. 

Empathy Mapping

After seeing how people reacted to being suggested books based on their interests, I took into mind the conclusions of my Leap Of Faith Experiment. With these ideals in mind, I created an empathy map for my primary user to encapsulate their thoughts and wants when looking for a book to read.

Problem Statement

Readers want an easy way to find and share books online to make finding good books easier and convenient.

Persona Development

I created a primary and two secondary personas. I began by mapping out my personas in order to understand the hierarchy of my users. My primary user is an avid reader, but since he is in college he does not have time to sit down and look for a new book to read, he wishes there was a convenient way for him to find a book that fits his interests. My secondary user young woman who just moved to a new town, she loves to read but does not know anyone in her area to discuss books with and misses her old book club. Another secondary user is a mother who recently decided she wants to get back into reading, she has no idea where to look and wants to find a book that matches her interest as well as a place to discuss it with others.

Audience

Brainstorm

When brainstorming, some key ideas and takeaways include:
·     Personal library that allows for users to track book they have already read and books they wish to read
·     Discussion boards where users can discuss books with others (virtual book club)
·     Filter option where users can filter the books they search by book length, rating, reading level, etc.
·     Subscription service, users pay for a subscription to read all the books they want

Action Mapping and Infrastructure

With all of this knowledge collected on user needs and pain points, I began to develop how I imagined it would look in a more digital space. I took the features and ideas above and adapted them into the flow of the application. Through prototyping, sketching, and basic frameworks, I was able to create a basic flow of interactions and how users would go about using the app.

Wireframing

After selecting primary features of the application, I was able to decide on key features to address the user problem:

Style Guide:

I aimed to select a style that would remain constant throughout. Below is the color palette and typography. I chose a more neutral color scheme to that the book covers would stand out from the background. I wanted to add subtly bright colors to draw a users eye to certain elements of the application. I chose to include fewer colors, sticking to one primary color, as the book covers added a variety of color elements I did not want to overpower the user.

Remote Usability Test

To determine the functionality of the platform, I designed a remote usability test to be performed on five of my peers.
Objectives:
Instructions:

Thank you for agreeing to participate in my study. I am hoping to gain a better understanding of how people use ReadMe, a virtual book library, to create an account and traverse the site. Imagine you are an avid reader looking for an application to openly read and discuss and find new books with others. I will be asking you to work through the application as if you are a first time user creating an account and working through the application. You will be tasked with creating your own account and testing the filter and discussion abilities of the application. I will be recording this test on a google sheet template to see how you work through each step and where you click on the application. I will also be jotting down notes as you talk through each task being performed. Please do not share information about the study as it is for me, the moderator, only and do not want to influence others. As you work through these tasks, please explain your thought process as you complete each task. There is no right or wrong way to complete each task, and if you cannot complete a task that is okay, you can move onto the next task. Thank you.

Pre-Test Questions:
Tasks:
1. You are a first time user of ReadMe. You are looking to subscribe to a membership and create an account.
2. Now that your account is created, it is time to find a book. Let's search for an action novel to add to your library.
3. Now that you have a book. Let’s see if it was added to your profiles personal library and see what else is in your personal library.
4. You have a book in your library. Let's create a discussion board for the Trials of Apollo so that you can discuss it with other people.
5. Now that you have a discussion board created, what have people been saying and how can you add someone else to your group?
Post-Test Questions:
1. When searching for a book to read, what types of things do you look for? (genre, length, author, popular, etc)
2. What was a pain point/frustrating when working through the tasks?
3. Would the discussion board option the application offers be beneficial, would you use it?
4. What is one thing you would do to improve the interface? 
5. Would you recommend this application to a friend?

High Fidelity:

This application was made to meet the needs of customers in search for a book to read and/or discuss with others. It is made for that purpose and offers different capabilities that people who read might want. This application is similar to a tv subscription service like Netflix and Hulu where the users pays for a monthly/yearly membership and are able to read unlimited books available on the application. They can sign up directly using a credit card and creating a personal account. This personal account allows them to store books in their personal library as books they have already read as well as books they look to read in the future. Users also gain access to discussion boards that allow users the ability to discuss books with others.

Reflection and Next Steps:

After review by my peers, I was recommended critiques I could iterate on. For instance, some basic design elements could have been improved as well as font size improved. Also, I was recommended to create an additional screen when creating an account that presents users with the payment information. As mentioned this app acts similarly to that of a television subscription service, where users pay a monthly fee for unlimited books. In the future, a more detailed prototype of smaller features would be beneficial to show these interactions. I also want to expand to create an introductory quiz that users take that pairs the users with books that they might enjoy. This book will take into account the users preferred genre and create a library based on these quiz results. An important element of the app is the social element that is seen through the discussion boards, but I was suggested by peers to also allow users to share books with friends. Allowing users to send a virtual "sneak peak" of a book they want a friend to read might entice the friend to read and even potentially join the ReadMe subscription.

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