Book Swap - Case Study
Project Overview
Challenge
My Responsibilites
Timeline
Process
Design a responsive website for people to give and get books.
UX Research: Interviews, Surveys, Empathy Maps, Personas, User Stories, Usability Testing.
UX Design: Ideation (HMWs & Crazy 8s), Wireframes, Sitemap, Sticker sheet, Mockups, Prototypes.
3 Week Project: July 29th - August 19th, 2024.
Who, What, How, Why.
Who are the users?
How many times do you re-read a book?
Screener Survey:
My screener survey helped me find research participants that consider themselves avid readers, and buy, rent, or borrow books. In my research, I centered marginalized readers including women, people of color, people who have disabilities including Dyslexia, ADHD, and Autism, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, and people who have a low socio-economic status.
Quantitative Research Findings:
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Most avid readers only re-read a book once or twice.
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Most avid readers are happy giving away a used book.
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Almost all avid readers are happy reading a used book.
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Almost all avid readers are unhappy spending money on a book they end up not liking.
Qualitative Research Findings:
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I was surprised to find that there was more than one reason users would want to give or get books for free. Common reasons included saving money, trying out new books, de-cluttering, and saving the environment.
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I also found an unexpected user group in parents who read to their children and want to update their bookshelf while their children grow.
Persona #1
Victoria Bedi
Bio: I'm a 24 year old freelance writer in Delaware, and I read about one book every week.
Goals: I want to be able to get a new book every week without spending so much money.
Frustrations: I can't afford the amount of books I want to read, and I don't have a library close to me.
The Money Saver
Persona #2
Cindy Meller
Bio: I'm a 38 year old parent in NYC, and I read to my kids every day. Sometimes we go through as many as a dozen picture books in one day.
Goals: I want my kids to be able to enjoy reading new books as they grow.
Frustrations: I don't have enough room in this apartment for all the new books we get.
The Declutter-er
Persona #3
Malinda Cartwright
Bio: I'm a 62 year old retired woman in Florida, and my hobbies are reading and gardening.
Goals: I want to be able to enjoy buying myself books, and be able to give them away when I'm done with them.
Frustrations: I don't have the patience to rent a library book, but I don't want to be wasteful by buying and then dumping books.
The Environmentalist
Persona #4
Peter Chung
Bio: I'm a 19 year old chemistry major in Idaho, and I'm trying to get into reading.
Goals: I want to try out some new books and start reading more.
Frustrations: I don't want to commit to buying a book before I like it, and I don't like to read as fast as the library deadlines require.
The Picky Reader
What do the users need?
As an avid reader who doesn't live near a library, I want an affordable way to get books, so that I can read as much as I want.
The Money Saver
As a parent with a small apartment, I want a way to
give away books to make space for new ones as my kid grows.
The Declutter-er
As a retired woman who loves books, I want a way to give away books when I'm done reading them so that I can reduce waste.
The Environmentalist
As a student trying to get into reading more, I want to take my time trying out new books to find ones I like so that I can find books to read without a time crunch or money commitment.