Social
UX Case Study: a dedicated community reading app
Role: UX Design & Research
Project Duration: May 2021 to August 2021
Social is a community reading app that aims to intuitively club e-reading with the social aspects of a book club and library. The app aims to make reading more enjoyable, and book selections easier, and encourages users to engage in active discussions.
Personas
The research took off with the identification of different types of users targeted by the product. 14 users were interviewed in the process. Being a reading app, the product needs to cater to the needs of a diverse group of people which resulted in the development of five personas, which is more than the usual number. However, the vast requirements encapsulated by the five personas resulted in the development of a comprehensive design that caters to the needs of a diverse set of users.
User Journey Maps
To better define the five personas, user journey maps were leveraged as they help to understand the nuances involved in the interaction process of each type of user, thereby guiding the ideation of the product. The final row which lists the 'improvement opportunities' at each stage directly informs the design of the product.
Wireframing & User Flow
After a round of ideation based on the pain points and user journey, 3 rounds of digital wireframes were developed to represent the critical pages and user flows. Shown below is the final digital wireframe after a round of usability testing with 2 participants.
The user flow diagram was parallelly developed to understand critical flows, points of controlled access, and information flow within the product. Based on the initial understanding of the product and user goals, a preliminary user flow diagram was developed.
A more detailed version of the user flow was further developed based on the preliminary version. Conditional looping was used to ensure all possible scenarios are considered, in the design, and not just the critical user flow.
This exercise also helped me understand the product in depth to inform the information architecture and hierarchy of its features and offerings. This further guided the development of the prototype.
Prototyping
Although it is common practice to start at low-fidelity prototypes for team discussions, the goal of prototyping, in this case, was to evaluate the layouts and flows with the users. Medium-fidelity prototypes, with partial visual design, were developed to improve the users' awareness of the ecosystem. The prototypes were revised thrice (shown below) based on user feedback.
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
This is the final working prototype of the Social app. Feel free to play around and let me know your feedback!