Goodreads - A redesign long overdue
An endeavor to overhaul and tackle the many pain points readers all over experience while using the Goodreads app.
Overview
Goodreads is a social cataloging website that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews.
My challenge was to visually overhaul the app and also add long pending feature requests that would improve user engagement and retention.
I set out to design a solution that would meet the needs of the target user needs and make the app a pleasure to use. Around 90% of the users had something positive to say about the visual overhaul of the app, and they wished the real app was in line with this redesign.
Project Length 3 weeks
My Role Research, interaction design & visual design
The Problem
Goodreads, the largest online community for readers and the biggest such place for them to gather and discuss books seems to have stagnated when it comes to innovation.
Upon discussing with many users and also reading the reviews of the app on the App Store and Play store, it is quite evident that a majority of the users are unhappy with what the app is offering.
Users think that the app has not risen above the basic list making capabilities it offers and is not even good at that. The uninspiring and rather dull user interface of the app fails to attract new users or entice existing users to keep using the app.
The Proposal
The aim is to build a clean and visually enticing app to try and overcome the existing problems faced by the user.
The end goal is to get more users to use the app, retain existing users, and to fix the system which has a great potential for stakeholders like readers, authors, publication houses and book clubs to interact in way to make reading more fun.
Design Process
The process usually varies from project to project based on the needs, goals, complexity and time. For this project, I started with identifying the opportunity through research & analysis followed by concept sketching, prototyping, evaluation, iterating and finally with reviewing the impact. The design process is straightforward, intended to be simple and effective.
User Research
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
I started by making a list of survey questions to determine the right user to interview.
One of the purposes of the survey was to find out what kind of reader the user was and how active they were on the Goodreads app.
The above results were obtained after I sent the survey to around 25 people.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Once we found out the right user, the goal was to find out what kind of methods or apps they employ to make a list of books they have read and want to read and how they decide on a new book to start.
I started conducting interviews either through video calls or phone calls, asking users a wide variety of questions.
Key Findings
One of the app’s key complaints of the users of the app is that it needs a visual overhaul, as the dull beige colors are not very enticing. Another key finding is that the app needs to be more than just a list-making place for users.
Ideation
Brainstorming ideas and narrowing of scope
Designing a new user journey within the existing app experience required me to brainstorm not only a new design but how I would introduce this new flow to users without inciting a knee-jerk reaction. Since the scope of this exercise is limited I could not implement every idea I came across, and that required me to select only a few points from a list of great ideas to work on.
Visual overhaul
Verified reviews
Private reviews
DNF shelf
Public & Private bookshelf
Sketching the Concepts
Wireframes
After obtaining the user's basic requirements from the interviews, the key features were identified and ideated through wireframes,
which helped me quickly get an idea of how the new features will shape up. Even though wireframes do not fully visualize a UI overhaul,
they provided me with a basic framework.
Test & Feedback
Design Feedback
Getting an honest review is truly a blessing, as it gives us a chance to go back and make improvements to the app which in turn helps the users at large. After creating the lo-fi prototype I took my designs for a critique session with the people I have surveyed and interviewed, and their constructive criticism helped me in the later stages of the redesign.
Many users pointed out how cluttered some of the buttons were and some of the users requested for a better way to view the private reviews as they said It was not very efficient to search for every book separately and look for private notes on each book.
Accessibility Improvements
To increase the accessibility features of this app I had to look closely for any design choices I have made that would put people with special needs at a disadvantage. One such design choice I came across is the bundling together of the thumbs up/down buttons and the share button.
Looking at it, I noticed that all three buttons are very small and quite close to each other making it difficult for people to see and tap them, sometimes even leaving to mis-taps.
Therefore I moved the Share button to the top of the screen making it a counterpart to the Back button and then increased the space and the size of the Like/Dislike buttons.
Iterate & Improve
High-Fi Prototypes
An easy way for me and the people who are giving me feedback to visualize the end product is to create High-Fi prototypes. Colors, textures and font go a long way in communicating the designer’s intentions to the stakeholders.
I included the private reviews under “My Library” section in the tabbed view, which I split into “My Bookshelves” and “My Reviews” using a segmented view. When users go to the “My Reviews” section they are shown all the reviews they have ever written, which are categorized as public or private. Here the user can always turn a private review into a public one and vice versa.
Second round of feedback
Having a prototype which is a bit closer to the end product helped the users to give me more constructive feedback and criticism, which helped me go back to the drawing board again to make the required changes.
Many were not happy with the minimalistic usage of colors and the light background, there was a demand for departure from colors which already existed in the app currently in use. Also some of the users asked for an option to write either public or private reviews.
Final Iterations
After observing the Key Performance Indicators and listening to the user feedback, I made the following changes to the app:
I completely switched to the dark mode since the original app used a lot of light and dull colors. Going dark enabled me to give it a totally fresh look which was one of the key requests.
Added a section where users can access all the reviews they have ever written including private reviews.
Added an option for users to create public and private bookshelves and also change an existing bookshelf.
Separated the Home Screen into three sections, namely For You, Friends, and Following, thereby giving users more control on the content they see on their home screens.
User Flow
Preference Selection Screen
Home Screen
My Library Screen
Search & Book Screen
The Impact
I shared my final clickable prototype with the same users with whom I had been collaborating, and they were very pleased with the usability of all the features I added.
I made video calls to each of the users and asked them to use the prototype on a different phone for me to have a look at their interactions. In some cases, I asked the users to record their screen and send it to me, thereby allowing me to understand how exactly they were using the app.
Around 90% of the users had something positive to say about the visual overhaul of the app, and they wished the real app was in line with this redesign.
Next Steps
The next steps would be to:
Increase the scope of this app and add more features identified in the Complexity/Value graph.
Work on the accessibility features as some of the colors do not pass the contrast test.
Work on UX writing or collaborate with UX writers to improve the text used in the app.