Book Finder - Case Study
A kiosk and mobile application that helps people find books in-store.
Overview
Problem
The amount of hours a day adults read for fun has been on a steady decline since 2004. This is consequential because reading has tremendous benefits, including reducing stress, improving sleep quality, building empathy, and preventing cognitive decline.
Goal
Discover the main challenges young adults face when trying to find a book, and create a solution that addresses these problems to support avid reading.
Project Details
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Team UX Design & UX Research project with Diana Ruiz and Ledda Knudson
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My Contributions: User interviews, MoSCoW, sketches, Wizard of Oz, wireframes, prototyping, usability testing, affinity mapping, group presentations
Empathize
User Interviews
Target Group:
Adults (18+) who get a majority of their books from physical bookstores or libraries. We centered our research on non-white readers, because this user group statistically spends less time reading. We also included neurodiverse readers in our research, such as people with dyslexia and ADHD.
Method:
Semi-structured interviews,
open ended questions.
Affinity Map
Define
MoSCoW Method
Must Haves (majority of interview participants have this need)
Our users need a tool that can narrow down their book choices, because they are overwhelmed by the amount of options they have.
Our users need a tool that takes their preferred genres, authors, subjects, lengths, and release dates into account, because they want to find books within their preferences.
Our users need an experience that feels like getting a personal recommendation, because they like to get personal recommendations.
Should Haves (half of interview participants have this need)
Our users need a tool that provides a few choices of books, because they want to make the final decision on what book they read.
Could Haves (some (2+) interview participants have this need)
Our users need a tool that helps them find a book efficiently, because they don't want to waste time.
Our users need a tool that show reviews, because they want to read reviews.
Our users need a tool that shows them prices, because they care about cost.
Personas
Ivanna
"I've tried to find books without planning it and unfortunately usually leave empty handed because I didn't find anything."
About:
Ivanna is a Fashion student at Pratt Institute who reads to escape from the real world. She frequently visits her favorite local bookstores, but feels like if she doesn't have a book in mind it's impossible to find something. Last time she tried to pick a book without a pre-planned list, she spent over an hour trying to decide, and ended up walking out of the bookstore without a book.
Frustrations:
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Doesn't want to have to "pre-plan" what to get at the bookstore
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Doesn't want to waste time
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Doesn't want to walk out without a book
Needs:
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An efficient way to find a good book on the spot.
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A way to always leave the bookstore with something good to read.
Ideate
How Might We
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How might we make the process of finding a book as enjoyable as reading a book?
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How might we make the process feel like getting a personal recommendation?
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How might we celebrate the experience of finding a book?
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How might we ensure users always find a book?
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How might let our platform get to know the user's preferences?
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How might we help users feel like they have found a "hidden gem"?
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How might we make a platform that overwhelms users?
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How might we make a platform that takes up too much of users' time?
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How might we make a platform that takes away the decision from users?
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How might we give users a book to read in a way that "feels like homework"?
Prototype
Paper Wireframes
We started sketching ideas for book-finder kiosk, to help users find books in the store. We later added a mobile app version to allow personalization and prevent kiosk lines.
Our “Must Have”s and “Should Have”s lead us to two main features to help users who are overwhelmed by the amount of options, want to find books within their preferences, want to make the final decision on what book they read, and like the feeling of getting a personal recommendation:
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A book-personality quiz that matches you with 3 book recommendations based on your answers
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A browse feature with a filter that lets you narrow down book options for those who prefer a more standard book search
Our “Could Have”s lead us to include a way for users to quickly see the reviews and price of their reccomended books.
Wizard of Oz (Paper Prototype Testing)
Design System
Our goal was to find colors that users associate with books, libraries, and bookstores. We also hoped to bring users the same positive feelings they get while reading books, so their book-finding experience could be a delightful and meaningful part of their reading journey.
Mockups
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Test
Usability Testing (High Fidelity Prototype)
Measurements:
Quantitative
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Number of confusions/backsteps
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SUS
Qualitative
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User quotes while attempting tasks
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User expressions/gestures while attempting tasks
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Evaluation Survey
Recommendations for next iteration:
p0
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Make “reviews” more intuitively clickable: add an underline and blue color to indicate click-ability.
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Make adding favorite books its own flow: Add a new button on the “find books” screen to create a separate (and optional) user flow for getting recommendations based on users’ favorite books. Remove this “find books” screen from the browse flow to make browsing with filters more intuitive.
p1
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Increase the size of touch targets for dropdown filters.
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Remove view of the bottom tabs on the login screen so users must first choose to login or continue as guests.
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Replace redundant choices including "romance / romantic" "thriller / thrilling" "reality / nonfiction” with distinct options.
p2
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Shorten quiz by eliminating categories that resonate less with users: Eliminate "release date" and "subject" categories, to make the quiz only 5 questions long.
Takeaways
Meeting Our Goals
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The book finder app lets users get book recommendations based on their preferences right in the bookstore or library, which helps users who are overwhelmed by the amount of choices in bookstores and libraries and don't want to have to pre-plan what books they are going to get.
Challenges
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Working in a team with no distinct roles, where everyone was involved in every decision was a big challenge. However, by communicating openly and directly we were able to collaborate together in an enjoyable and productive way.
Personal Findings
I learned a lot about different working styles from collaborating with my teammates, and how to work together even when you have different working habits. My teammates had great design ideas too, which inspired me throughout the project.
For future iterations of this project, I would love to explore adding user profiles on the mobile app version so users can get personal recommendations from friends and family. In our initial user interviews, users expressed that they value personal recommendations, so I think it could be interesting to explore.
