Buddy Read
Connect with friends through books no matter the time or place.
Project Overview
The Product
People who love reading books with friends, need a dedicated place to share their thoughts and have virtual meetings to discuss books. In-person or phone call meetings aren’t always plausible, because of busy schedules, time differences or internet connection issues. Buddy Read offers a platform for users to host virtual books clubs and have facetime meetings as well as just posting to their book discussion board when meeting times can’t be scheduled.
My Role
UX Designer leading the app and responsive web design from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability tests, and iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
Project Duration
May 2022 - June 2022
The Problem
Holding book clubs in person or via facetime are great ways to experience novels you love through the eyes of your friends and family, but busy schedules, time differences and spotty internet can make this difficult.
The Goal
Create a platform that offers a virtual chat room and discussion board for hosting book clubs, so you can share a book journey with a friend no matter the time, place, or distance.
User Research
I interviewed several people who share a passion for reading and discussing their books in book clubs or just among friends. Many participants reported issues with having to wait until their monthly meeting to discuss thoughts on books but not remembering everything they wanted to say. Another issue that was expressed as well was not being able to meet up to discuss with friends on facetime calls because of time differences.
Personas
Daisy is a traveling photographer who needs a way to have book discussions with friends because living in different timezones makes scheduling facetime meetings difficult.
Natasha is a busy mom of 3 who needs a way to document and discuss her thoughts about a book as she reads because she often forgets some of her impressions before the next meeting.
Ideation
I did a short ideation exercise to decide how to address some of the pain points brought to light through initial user research interviews. My focus was primarily on creating ways to discuss and engage in a book outside of physical or virtual meetings.
Digital Wireframes
After ideating and doing some paper wireframes, I moved on to creating the initial design of the Buddy Read app. These designs focused on helping users stay connected outside of their schedule book club meetings.
Progress tracking makes it easy to see how far along friends are in comparison to the user so they don’t give away spoilers
Discussion board allows users to discuss their thoughts as they read without waiting until the next meeting
Low-Fidelity Prototype
In preparation of usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype connecting the initial designs, to simulate the user flow for creating an account and starting a new buddy session, as well as viewing discussion boards and tracking your friend’s book progress.
Usability Study
Parameters
Study Type: Unmoderated Usability Study
Participants: 8 participants
Location: Remote
Length: 10 - 15 minutes
Findings
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Navigation Menu: Without icons, users were confused about the navigation menu, as the titles of buttons were difficult to read at times.
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Button Size: People had issues properly selecting some buttons as they were too small.
Mockups
Based on the findings from the usability study I implemented some design changes like including well known icons to the navigation menu to allow for quick recognition of buttons.
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
Additionally, I increased button sizes to allow for everyone to be able to easily select sections of the screen.
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
High-Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity while also including the new design changes.
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Accessibility Considerations
1.
Clear labels that can be read by screen readers for interaction elements
2.
Personalized recommendations allow users to find new buddy reads and make more friends with similar interests.
Sitemap
After completing the app design, I moved on to creating a responsive website. I used the Buddy Read sitemap to guide the overall organization of the website to ensure the navigation was seamless and intuitive and similar to the app.
Responsive Designs
The designs for screen size variations included desktop, tablet and mobile. I arranged layouts to create optimal viewing depending on user needs and device size.
Desktop
Tablet
Mobile
Takeaways
The Impact
This platform will allow for users to read books and interact with friends without constantly worrying about schedules and internet connections or time zone constraints.
What I Learned
It’s important to decide what device you want to design for first, because features you could include on a desktop version may not make as much sense in a mobile environment or vice versa.
Next Steps
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Conduct more interviews on how successful the app is at meeting reader’s needs.
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Include an option to link Amazon Kindle and Goodreads accounts to your Buddy Read account.