SOCIAL CATALOGING APP
Developing an App to Bring Readers Together
COMPANY
Protagonist
Fictional (Personal Project)
ROLE
UX Designer
EXPERTISE
UX/UI Design
YEAR
2023
Project Description
This was a personal project to create an hypothetical app for the book community which includes all the functions they love about competitors but addresses some of their longstanding issues.
Timeline
Working when I had free time, it took about two weeks to finish.
Background
Some inspiration for this was the movie cataloging app, Letterboxd. I wondered why there wasn't as much buzz around a book-lovers equivalent. Perhaps I just hadn't heard of one, or did a market gap exist? I sought to really understand the landscape of book cataloging apps.
Process
This details the step by step approach I took when doing this project.
Research & Planning
To understand the state of the industry, I did a comprehensive competitive analysis on all the top apps in the space. I then checked their App Store reviews to see what users praised and what they complained about.
Ideation & Wireframing
I sketched out concepts and conducted paper tests with friends and family to test user flows and information architecture, then rapidly iterated until I felt comfortable making a clickable wireframe. I tested the wireframe with more friends and family to gain clarity on how I should approach a few key functions.
Design & Prototyping
I developed a small design system to work off and applied it to my wireframe which helped rapidly create the MVP I set out to build.
Next Steps
This is what I would do if I were to continue on with this project and truly build out my solution.
Build the App
The next step I would take is build out the app and open it up to early stage testing with real users.
Identify Key User Actions
I would want to keep an eye on key user actions such as profile completion, book logging, updating reading progress, and following friends.
Track KPIs
Of course I would want to follow the funnels of each task, but some success metrics I'd also be interested in are:
How many users complete their profile
Books logged per active user (monthly)
Active reading sessions
% of users actively updating their reading progress
Friends added per user
General retention rates
I would also monitor any surprises here to see if we have anything we could market as a competitive advantage.
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