GOODREADS UI/UX REDESIGN is a self-initiated project inspired by my book-loving, Goodreads-using friends. We discussed how the app felt outdated, and how unwilling we were to move to other platforms due to the number of books we would have to re-add to our bookshelves. I took on the challenge of redesigning the app, finding ways to bring the sense of community back to Goodreads, and making book organisation ‘fun’ again.
01 INTERVIEWS & RESEARCH —
I began by conducting a number of interviews with semi-frequent to frequent Goodreads users. Questions I asked included the following:
- Do you use Goodreads often? If so, what are the main features that you use on the platform?
- How was your experience using the current Goodreads app?
- Why do you use Goodreads over other book-related apps?
- What features would you like to see improved?
- What new features would you like to see?
Below is a brief snippet of one of the interviews, and the key insights which I took away from all of the research I conducted.
02 CREATING A USER PERSONA —
Prior to the design process, I also created a user persona to further establish the audience for this app and who this redesign is best for.
03 THE DESIGN PROCESS —
A large majority of the participants mentioned during the interview that they felt the current design of Goodreads felt outdated. This was the main challenge — to modernise the look of the app, add fun and new features, but also to retain a sense of familiarity for users and keep the overall flow of the app feeling recognisable and intuitive.
View prototype on Figma︎︎︎
04 WHAT I LEARNED & THINGS TO IMPROVE —
Prior to this project, I had only worked on UI/UX projects on teams of other designers or with project managers who would share their ideas and critiques with me throughout the entire process. This was a new challenge and taught me a lot about end-to-end development. Additionally, I had a much smaller collection of interviews compared to other projects I have worked on as I had to do the research on my own, and would have benefited greatly if I had more insights to look back on. This also reiterated to me the importance of detail in consumer research.