Booked App Creation
PROBLEM
Curate your perfect home library with Booked. Swap books, find new reads, and connect with other readers.
Readers know the joy of owning a tangible copy of a book but buying books can be expensive!
ROLE
Product Designer
Crazy 8s, UX Design, Visual Design, User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, User Testing
1 week timeline
SOLUTION
A book swap app where readers can find new reads by trading books with ease, keeping track of their personal library, and connecting with other readers near and far.
Location and activity-based book recommendations
Personalized Book Recommendations
Book Requests
Keep track of sent and received requests
Connect with local and global readers
Inbox & Chatting
DAY 1: EMPATHIZE AND UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM
Attended my monthly bookclub!
Empathy via Immersion : I wanted to develop a stronger sense of empathy by immersing myself into an environment with my targeted user base to fully understand the pain points of regularly procuring and rehoming personal books.
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How often do readers procure new books?
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How do readers procure new books?
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Do readers prefer owning or borrowing books?
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What do readers do with books they don’t want anymore?
How Might We design a platform that allows users to find and rehome books at a low cost?
DAY 2 - IDEATION & SOLUTIONING
Design for Discovery & Engagement
Broadly, readers share a sense of curiosity - a pleasure to scroll, discover new books, learn new things, and expand their literary horizons. The solution should play upon these characteristics as well as solve the immediate problem of readers feeling inundated with unwanted books and the desire to curate their perfect personal library on a budget.
Lightening Demos (feat. Mr. Pickle)
App Inspiration:
Facebook Marketplace
Bookey
Zoey
GoodReads
Audible
Key Takeaways
High Visibility of Products
Meaningful Engagement
Marketability
Motivated and Engaged Customers
End to End Flow
DAY 3 - VISUALIZING & EXPLORING SOLUTIONS
Visualizing and Sketching
My North Star was to design for peak user engagement - this meant prioritizing product visibility, showcasing the right details that would entice users to initiate a trade, and develop features that cultivate a community within the platform.
Paper & Pencil Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
DAY 4 & 5 - PROTOTYPING & TESTING
Bringing this thing to life!
Tester Video
Inviting
Clean
Soft
Cozy
Engaging
Vibrant
Testing & Results
After rapid prototyping, I recruited 5 of my buddies from book club to test my red route, the UI, and overall experience. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and minimal changes had to be made:
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Distance Copy: Under the "What's Hot Nearby" category, I initially labeled the exact distance of the book but users found it too busy. As a result, I removed the exact distances and created a button that allows users to manually change the distance they'd like to be shown books within.
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Sent Requests/Approved Requests: Users wanted to be notified of the status changes of sent requests so I added a 'New' notification copy that sections off new notifications from older ones.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
SO WHAT DID I LEARN?
Design for Intuition
The best products not only solution the immediate problem at hand but they do so in a way that is intuitive to the users. By immersing myself into my users' environments, I was able to gain a higher sense of empathy and fundamentally understand the driving forces behind my users' decision making. Gaining that fundamental knowledge and finding commonalities across users is what will drive high levels of engagement, conversions, and overall user satisfaction.
Thanks for sticking around till the end and hope you enjoyed this fun passion project of mine. If you have comments, feedback, or just want to know how the hell to pronounce my last name, feel free to reach out to me at veda.gottumukkala@gmail.com. Cheers!
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