Proposing an improved experience of Collecting Books the right way
The primary purpose of these online libraries is to disseminate books & knowledge for free or close to free, to achieve information & provide a community space for readers to interact around, but in the digital era of home delivery, people who like learning can face many problems. With CodaRed we propose an improved solution for Buying, Reading & Renting Books.
📅 Year & Agency
2019 – Txlabs Formerly known as Jiniguru Pvt Ltd
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🛠 Tools Used
Miro, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Protopie, Invision & Jira.
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Detailed Case study that I’ve worked on.
📝 Scope of the Project
The main request was to establish an MVP app for a major company in order to modernize the outdated experience by proposing new features and flow that could potentially engage the audience by providing anticipating many of the needed functionalities.
It was crucial for us to make something related to a very specific and small user group, in comparison to others & be as transparent as possible to facilitate users/stakeholders to achieve great results with minimum struggles with us. therefore, our attempts were focused on:
- Understanding the psychology, needs, struggles, or goals of the people who read books & serve them achieve this with one easy platform.
- Create a positive & trustworthy user experience including different aspects & aesthetic visuals.
✍️ Responsibilities
My role was to understand the requirements in a remote call together with the client and the management team, overtake the responsibilities of the project owner, fill in the gaps for the paper prototype presented with the necessary screens and introduce back to the stakeholders the optimum version of the mobile prototype as a story that illustrates the benefits.
Process for the solution
We formed an initial hypothesis of who the user can be based on the first meeting we had, Then worked with a group of readers & created a few questions for the Online surveys & User interviews, & while the answers were being populated, we jumped into Competitive Analysis & Market Research, the results from these led us to create Empathy Maps,& then in the next sprint we did some Brainstorming & based on that I started sketching ideas & then did Heuristic Analysis of the finding, Then worked on some basic wireframe & did some meetings with the client & our project manager & then finally started with the good stuff, that is Design, Tested the design prototype with the same set of users who helped with the surveys, & Then worked with the developers for handoff & QA & then worked on deciding the features for further development.
Online Survey
We surveyed 50 people on Online Facebook groups & Reddit with the most active group of readers, who also happen to face some problems which included the age group of 18-50 years roughly. The questionnaire consisted of a mixture of open-ended and close-ended questions, asking users about the experience they have with reading books and the problems they face in the reality or their opinions and what they try or use to solve the current problems. At the end of the survey, we also asked them what did they love most about the physical books, and the answers were very same, yet very different too! Below are the survey questions that were asked to the active readers & the insights that we got.
Points Noted here & Using existing research available online
- The active reading group mostly prefers physical books to e-books.
- We cannot replace the experience of physical books with e-books, i.e. smell & feel of holding a physical.
- Although eco-friendly, e-books are always going to be in less demand than printed ones.
- Renting services for books can be a pocket-friendly way, for active readers to save money.
- You cannot build a library near someone or lessen the price of a book but create a community who can share lend, and rent books with each other via our platform
Using Existing Research online
Competitive Analysis
Through the survey, we found out there were a lot of reading-related apps & websites people were using for reading/downloading e-books or buying second-hand books. These are the top 5 apps that we will be comparing
Empathy Map
Snippets of the early Ideation Phase
Welcome to CodaRed
After getting into the app for the first time, Since the user does not have an account yet, they can signup with any of the popular social media accounts for quick access or use his email id to get started
Splash Screen
Showing categories visually first thing increases chances of a user browse more categories then the ones they are actually interested.
Sign-Up Screen
Just the important information for a user to quickly get into the app & start reading.
Sign-In Screen
User can Signup or signIn manually or using the most common social media platforms or simply skip & browse if they are unsure, which adds to the trust factor & privacy of the user
Easy Onboarding
Onboarding is one of the essential phases of a mobile app user’s journey. Think of onboarding as meeting someone new. In the province of mobile app development, it is the first point of contact with your target audience where you are expected to establish a solid impression.
Effective app onboarding is a key element in the success of the mobile app and you should pay attention to it. The word of mouth publicity or good customer reviews are byproducts of good app onboarding where users realize the value of your mobile app and spread the good word about it
Onboarding Screens
- Allowing customers to immediately realize to product’s value and how it can improve their lives is a direct path to success and Guide users through the app with interactive features.
- The target area for the skip button was selected to decrease visibility, as it may be a boring but important feature for users, to help them get familiar with our app initially.
Customize your shelf
A reasonable navigation system and a stable path to the task provide users to rapidly achieve their goals and develop a fluid user experience. Shelves support a user to efficiently handle the books they prefer & categorize them based on their want.
My Shelf
The simplification of the user journey has a direct effect on the user’s viscosity and conversion rate of the product. hence the bottom nav bar.
Customize Shelf
Based on your liking either create multiple collections for the books or scan ISBN id etc to categorize them. Also, you can name them anything you want, or based on the category of your first book, the name will be automatically given
Enjoy your Liking
Just after the onboarding process, the user can determine their choices for the kind of content they are hoping to have on their feed by choosing the relevant Categories – Languages and Age groups. or skip this & browse giving the user a feeling of authority, allowing them to be in control instead of making them attend the whole process.
Wide Range of Categories
Wide range of categories & a wider range of sub-categories to choose from initially or later as per the user’s chooses.
User Preferences
During our research, we found age is a defining factor when it comes to understanding what they might like, for eg. the age group above 45 is more specific about their reading habits & categories they are interested in.
Empty States
empty states can be used to guide the user, offering a potentially great opportunity to help the user get started quickly, thereby reducing the chance of abandonment. Not making the user think twice by the use of an empty screen & the use of overlapping buttons to draw user’s attention
Reading Mode
So after a broad analysis we identified and worked out issues individuals had with the existing reading apps, Easy highlight and view later option for just the highlighted part with the subject title, copy option, Type size changes, Brightness, Clear navigation between chapters, and the settings that protect your eyes when you are reading for a long time. It keeps your eyes miles away from strain even when you read for hours.
Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1232
Sleep deficiency has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes, and cancer. “Thus, the melatonin suppression that we saw in this study among participants when they were reading from the light-emitting e-reader concerns us.
-Charles Czeisler
Customizable Settings
- Locks the brightness and orientation to your preferred setting so that your screen does not keep bugging you while you read.
- Puts down Ring/Notification volume so that notifications do not disturb you while you read.
- All these settings are user configurable to their best comfort.
Easy To refer back to later Features
Chapters in books for easy navigation & highlight option for people who like noting things while they ready, saving the highlighted part separately for easy access later.
Sumamry of the Research Article
To summarize the article; blue light is what causes you to have a bad night’s sleep after using a LED device (including E-readers). So, in order to reduce the blue light, you need to get rid of the bright colors. Programs for your computer and night mode for your tablet do this effectively. Of course, this isn’t a 100% solution, but it does help.
Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1232
ISBN Scanner
An ISBN Scanner is More Accurate & Faster Than Typing & it Boosts User Engagement The primary reason to build ISBN scanning in your mobile app is that it disposes of typing from your in-app processes. Human brains aren’t built for typing out long lists of irrelevant letters and numbers; it’s laborious, time-consuming, and often leads to frustrating errors. It’s therefore easy to perceive why mobile ISBN scanning is the better choice.
Source – https://anyline.com/news/isbn-scanner-app/
How can ISBN Scanner be useful
- Scenario 1: Imagine you find a book you like, simply scan the ISBN code & rent on the app.
- Scenario 2: Imagine you are at a library or a friend’s house & want to save multiple books for later, batch scan multiple books.
- Scenario 3: Search & save books for later instead.
Scan & Search
Simple scan screen with clear instructions to not make the user think even what would happen after the click or how scanning works. Flash feature for darker regions.
Scan History
After you scan the ISBN number a list is generated that saves all your scanned history & each number are a link that let you to the book itself.
Results & Further Development
The Pitch for the MVP was indeed won & well received and the module was bought by the company along with a renewal of subscription in the form of maintenance & updates. Project Handoff was made between me and our Project Manager and the development team who would further develop the mobile prototype
Client Experience
In the meeting, I started by announcing the major problems and business requirements and presented the app in the form of a story by highlighting every time the main benefits of using the app, these are:
- How each screen was carefully crafted by keeping the users in mind for maximum engagement.
- Increased engagement with optimal UX and modern UI.
- Personalized experience and content based on user preferences.
- Explained the Importance of ISBN Scanner & Reading mode in-depth with relevant case studies.
- Reward system & Community flow to be added in the Pro mode to increase engagement.
Lessons Learned
The main lesson I picked up from this practice was to prioritize and fixate on the main flows when you are offered time constraints So it pushed me to figure out to produce the flow based on the agenda. For me, this was special as I enjoy reading as well. Also, it was the first project I completed at the company, right out of the onboarding process. I had close to one working week to build the visual resources, optimize the UX based on the finest practices, and deliver and present the interactive prototype that was hailed with positive feedback.
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