Book Exchange App and Responsive Website
01/13
Overview
About product
Book Exchange is a community-based platform focused on keeping book utilization. The platform needs a tool that helps people learn about and manage their used books. Book Exchange’ primary target users include college students and adults who are concerned with the amount of book they read and would like to learn more about what they can do to reduce storage space and get another good book.
Duration
Dec 2021 to Feb 2022
02/13
Introduction
Problem
High ratio of used book goes to idle per year in the world. The strategy team at Book Exchange has identified a lack of general knowledge about used book value and limited understanding about personal impact as crucial drivers for continued book waste.
Goal
Design an app that will improve education on the topic of book waste and help people manage their own book waste.
03/13
My Role
My role
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
04/13
Understanding the user
User Research Summary
I used book exchange’s data on book waste to develop interview questions, which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most interview participants reported feeling badly about book waste, but they didn’t actively try to reduce their own book waste. The feedback received through research made it very clear that users would be open and willing to work towards eliminating book waste if they had access to an easy-to-use tool to help guide them.
05/13
Persona
Cherry is a working student who needs a exchange channel, suggestions, and share reflection platform to get a book because they like to read and want to make it a part of their routine.But they only have the limited budget and storage space.
06/13
Competitive audit
An audit of a few competitor’s products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Book exchange app.
07/13
Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on idle book tracking and quick exchange features.
08/13
Digital wireframes
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Book Exchange app. These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help manage their book.
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of exchanging the used books.
09/13
Usability study
- Study type: Unmoderated usability study
- Participants: 5 participants
- Location: Taiwan, remote
- Length: 30-60 minutes
Findings
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Book Exchange app. These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help manage their book.
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of exchanging the used books.
1/ Books
People want easy exchange to available books that specifically use the book they want to give away.
2/ Add books
People had difficulty adding new book items to the app.
3/ Get books
People preferred to show the recommend books instead of recently added.
10/13
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like providing a clear section from the home screen to take actions – “Give Book” or “Get book”.
Additional design changes included adding an option to “Add to my bookcase” to the “Give Book” page, and providing a quick way to exchange the existing books.
11/13
High-fidelity prototype
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
12/13
Takeaways
Impact
Users shared that the app made idle used books seem like something they could actually help alive. One quote from peer feedback was that “the Book Exchange app helps bring caring about the environment to a personal level in a way that’s easy and engaging.”
What I learned
I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.
13/13
Next Steps
1/ Conduct research on how successful the app is in reaching the goal to reduce idle used books.
2/ Add more educational resources for users to learn about trade used books.
3/ Provide incentives and rewards to users for successfully reducing their idle used books.