Readers Hub
Socializing online has created opportunities for users to develop friendships. This has had a positive impact, allowing people to form friendships all over the world and even helping introverts overcome social fears. Most of these friendships are formed on social media, which has become a hub for social interaction. People can now have one-on-one conversations or even group chats with multiple people.
The expansion of technology and the growth of online friendship have impacted many hobbies, including the rise of book culture. Readers now post about the books they are reading, leave and read reviews, and even engage in online conversations about books.
The Problem
Readers often find it challenging to find an online space to connect with like-minded readers and discover books to read based on their preferences
Empathize
I interviewed four participants over Zoom and Google Meet for 30 minutes. The questions asked were about their thoughts on reading in general, their reading habits, social media activities, and how their social media activities is integrated with reading.
Affinity Mapping
After collecting data points from the user interviews, I gathered common themes through affinity mapping.
The affinity map revealed four key themes. Participants enjoy reading and see it as a form of escapism. They also integrate reading into their social media use by discovering book recommendations, reading reviews, discussing literature online, and using apps like Goodreads.
Literature also helps them build and strengthen relationships by creating opportunities for conversation with both current and old friends.
Despite these positive experiences, participants shared a common frustration with outdated literature apps. Unappealing interfaces and poor user experiences made these platforms less engaging and enjoyable.
Participants identified several pain points with existing literature apps, including outdated interfaces, weak book recommendations, and discussions that lacked like-minded readers.
They need a modern, intuitive experience with personalized recommendations and a more welcoming space for meaningful literary conversations.
These improvements would help users discover books that match their interests while connecting with others who share similar reading preferences.
persona
User pain points suggest that users want a more user centered quality space when it comes to literature discussions online. They also suggest a more personalized algorithm for their book recommendations.
Ideate
MVPS
User needs pin pointed MVPs that would enhance the user’s experience and tackle pain points from the interviews.
Red Route Flows
Through the MVPs, two routes were created for onboarding and logging into the app. The MVPs have indicated that joining a group for literature conversations based on interest was a need among all interview participants, as was searching for a book. Users use multiple sites to search for books and would like an application that allows them to search for books by their desired genre and/or author.
Visual Design
A point that was consistent through out the interviews were how current book apps are dull and makes them look outdated. My visual vision is to have a modern and brighter look that creates a positive reaction to a user’s mind when they enter this space.
Wireframes
Prototype
