I was prompted to recreate the Goodreads UX/UI to create a more streamlined and user-friendly experience.
The Problem
Goodreads is an existing app that allows users to log, rate, and review books and follow their friends’ reading updates. The current layout is congested, outdated, and overly complex. I aim to create a more streamlined, simple, and aesthetic app.
Initial Research
I interviewed 5 users of varied demographics about what they would want in a reading app. Here are the condensed findings and a user profile.
The average user…
Says
Does
- “I like book reviews that are more critical, that don’t just go along with the popular opinion”
- “I think people are really big into decorating their bookshelf..it might make people want to join the app [if they could personalize their shelf]”
- “It’s way too confusing to put how many pages I’ve read and I don’t even know if anyone can see that or not.”
- “There are all sorts of creators now who read books and talk about them online…it would be interesting to see authors on there too”
- “I don’t like trash, I’m a very wholesome reader and I’d like to ability to filter out some content…some things can be triggering for people”
- Uses other platforms like Instagram and tiktok to find book content from book influencers
- Reads and seeks out detailed, honest, and nuanced reviews, like 2 or 3-star ones.
- Gets book recommendations through the books referenced in the ones he has already read
- Engages critically with books in communities through her online book club
- Gets attached to specific quotes from books and seeks out community online around those lines (she referenced her time on Tumblr in 2014 after The Fault in Our Stars came out and there was a large community around certain quotes)
Thinks
Feels
- I should have all of the information I need about a book in an easy-to-access place
- I want to show off my achievements and reading habits to my friends and family to get a sense of pride
- I want my profile to look cool and reflect my personality and style
- The discovery page of Goodreads is useless because their recommendations aren’t very personalized or intriguing
- I want my book club to be fun and easy to manage, right now it’s been frustrating to do. Having a platform where I could do everything would be awesome.
- Entertained: by influencers’ book-related content on other platforms like tik tok and Instagram
- Intrigued by what others in her life are reading because she wants more insight into what is going on with them
- Competitive about reading, he wants to compare himself to others as a motivator
- Annoyed by the outdated and clunky interface of Goodreads
- Confused by the structure of Goodreads with tasks like tracking books, adding friends, and searching for quality recommendations
User Profile 1
Juliana Miller
Age: 21
Education: Some College
Hometown: Urbana, IL, USA
Occupation: Waitress
“I want to share my reading and have an entertaining and social feed of book-related content from people who are important to me”
Goals
- Track reading status
- See what friends and influencers are reading
- Create personalized and organized bookshelves
- See recommendations and wrap up statements based on their reading
Frustrations
- Slow and glitchy apps
- Having to click too many times to do any given task
- Feeling restricted in terms of personalization
- Feeling overwhelmed by choice and busy page layouts
Juliana is a college student studying marketing. She enjoys reading in her freetime and frequently engages with book related content on tik tok. She uses goodreads to track her own reading, see what her friends and favorite book influencers are up to, and create shelves. With the final product, she will feel connected to those around her, entertained by a curated feed of book content, and understood because her profile is personalized.
User Profile 2
Juliana Miller
Age: 30
Education: B.A.
Hometown: Naperville, IL, USA
Occupation: Nurse
“I love creating community through a mutual love of books, I need an app that helps me manage my book club easily and in a fun way”
Goals
- Track reading status
- See what friends and influencers are reading
- Join communities and discussion about books they love
- Create their own groups for book clubs or just to chat with friends about books
Frustrations
- Overly complex apps
- Having to use too multiple platforms to maintain reading groups
- Not being able to easily find like-minded people to discuss books with
Seanah loves to read and discuss books with her virtual book club. She will use my app to find new books, message members of the club, find interesting questions to ask during meetings, and meet other readers through discussion boards. Her life will be improved because the stress of managing multiple platforms like imessage, zoom, goodreads, will be mitigated, reducing her stress and giving her more freetime to read.
User Flows
Based on user research, users need a home tab, messages, a create tab, a search/discover tab, and a profile. I created a site map and user flows to map out the functions of the app and how they interact. See the screenshot below, THIS is the full file.
Prototype
Based on these flows, I created a prototype that I could use to test the functions of the app and re-interview users. Below is a screenshot but THIS is the full file.
Below is a screenshot from the usability tests, but THIS is the full file.
The main issues users had with this version were the size of the buttons, feeling unsure if an action was complete, trouble finding the review function, and being overwhelmed by the challenge function.
Final Version
Based on all of the users’ notes, I adjusted the prototype and added branding and images to bring the project to life. Below are screenshots of the project, but THIS is the full file. You can interact with the project by hitting the play button in the top right corner.
Aurora Hone 