Case study: Add a feature to the Goodreads app
Note: There is no affiliation with Goodreads, and this is a solo, conceptual project.
Let’s Begin!
Goodreads is the world’s largest social network for book readers. Having over billions of books added to their catalog, users can save, find recommendations, and leave reviews on their favorite books.
Though over 90 million members use Goodreads, many users comment on the outdated UI and lack of intuitiveness. After Amazon acquired Goodreads in 2013, why haven’t they redesigned Goodreads? Though it’s difficult to be certain about the reason, they may lack the motive for change because they are the monopoly within the social network of books.
If I can’t redesign Goodreads as a whole, maybe I can help ease some frustrations users experience while using Goodreads by adding a feature.
Design Process
This is the design process I followed and referred back to throughout this case study.
Empathize
I first started by empathizing with users. I compared Goodreads to other apps currently in the market, evaluated user-generated feedback, and conducted user interviews to get a glimpse into how users feel about Goodreads.
Competitive Analysis
I analyzed 6 different apps competing with Goodreads and I quickly understood why people prefer Goodreads over other apps. Other competing apps had a more engaging community, more personalized recommendations, and an intuitive UI. However, Goodreads has a massive library that authors themselves can engage with readers and it is free. I mean come on, who can beat that?
Here is a link to a more thorough analysis of these apps!
Feature Analysis
Next, I identified features from direct competitor apps and compared them to Goodreads. Goodreads had most of the features that the other apps provided — which was surprising, considering that users have a lot of feature complaints on the app.
Heuristic Evaluation
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest flaws and complaints users have about Goodreads is the outdated and unintuitive UI. I performed a heuristic evaluation of the app to define and fix the basic issues.
Evaluate User Feedback
What do the app users have to say about their experience? Let’s take a look.
There are a massive amount of reviews mentioning the unintuitive UI and poor navigation, but we knew that already. Users mention wanting to link Audiobooks to Goodreads like the Kindle and wish to see more relevant information on their feed and their book recommendation.
User Interview & Analysis
I conducted 6 user interviews to gather a deeper insight on pain points users may experience while using Goodreads. I created an interview guide and analyzed the outcomes.
Define
Moving onto the second step of the design system, I’ll be creating a persona and empathy map, identifying business and user goals, and coming up with a problem statement that reflects the project goals and user frustrations.
Persona
By creating a persona, it’s much easier to imagine the type of person I would be designing for. Meet Casey. Here, you can see her motivations, goals, needs, fears, and frustrations.
Casey works in marketing and is an avid book reader.
Empathy Map
I dove a bit deeper into Casey’s persona by creating an empathy map to map out a typical day for Casey. What goes through her mind? What unconscious thought does she have? I identified obstacles Casey might come across while using the Goodreads app.
Project Goals
Though I’m unsure of the business goals, I tried my best to think from the business perspective and aligned business goals to user goals.
Problem Statement
How might we add a feature to the Goodreads app to increase user engagement?
IDEATE
The third step of the design system — generating a range of crazy, creative ideas (1).
Feature Matrix
I did some idea brainstorming for possible feature additions. Initially, I couldn’t think of any ideas for adding a feature but the more time I spent on it, the more creative my thoughts became. Next, I created a feature matrix to list possible feature addition ideas concerning their impact and cost.
Thinking back to the problem statement:
How might we add a feature to the Goodreads app to increase user engagement?
I decided that syncing audiobooks to Goodreads will in turn increase app engagement and is the best solution to the question. This option has the highest impact and low cost. Understanding that Audible is also a subsidiary of Amazon and is its outlier within audiobooks, I designed specifically to sync Audible to Goodreads.
For the sake of this project, I wanted to do something a bit more and add an extra feature for better app engagement. I decided on a share and chat feature as well.
User Flow
From here, I created a user flow with three pathways that fulfill all feature additions. One pathway for the Audible syncing feature and two pathways for the sharing feature via chat.
Information Architecture
Here, I organized all the pages of Goodreads within the specific user flow pathways and the three journeys. I identified all items seen on a specific page and indicated a clear call to action.
Sketching/Low-Fi Wireframes
Sketching was not the easiest task. I struggled to draw my thoughts out on paper. The chat feature was actually somewhere hidden inside the app. I decided to bring that to the homepage so users can more easily interact with fellow book readers.
Prototype & Test
As we get closer to the end of the project, the more confident I feel about my design. All that is left is to create the product and implement it!
Mid-Fid Wireframes
I developed mid-fidelity wireframes that mirror the three journeys users will take with Goodreads. Here, I also started putting together a UI Kit. I tried to keep the design as close as possible to the original, but there were many inconsistencies with this outdated app. Thus, I performed a heuristic evaluation of the app and tried to fix basic issues.
UI KIT
Here, I also started putting together a UI Kit. I tried to keep the design as close as possible to the original, but there were many inconsistencies with this outdated app. I considered the heuristic evaluation and continued designing.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
It’s finally time for the high-fidelity wireframes! Below are my high-fidelity wireframes separated into three different journeys.
- The user links the current account with Audible.
- The user uses the share feature to share a book.
- The user uses the share feature to share a shelf via chat.
Usability Testing
After completing my high fidelity wireframes, I conducted usability testing with three individuals through Zoom and watched the participant with screen share as they follow the task.
The first task:
Step 1: Sign in to Goodreads using an email account.
Step 2: Link your account with Amazon to add the Audible sync feature.
The second task:
Step 1: Search for the book “Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love”
Step 2: Share the book to a chat with your friend Eleanor Pena
Below is the before and after changes I made with the insights from usability testing.
Prototype
Make sure to check out the final prototype!
Reflection
What Next?
- Goodreads require a massive change especially in user interface and information architecture. This is a priority.
- In the next steps, I want to explore the first feature addition. As an initial stage, I decided that users can sync their Audiobooks to Goodreads because Audible is an outlier with over 3.8M ratings on the app store. They are also placed #1 in the Book chats on the Apple Store. However, I wondered what I could do about users who don’t have Audible.
Lessons Learned
This was an eventful experience. As a novice designer, I felt incapable of accomplishing a task like “add a feature” because who am I to add something to an app millions of people use? True, this is a theoretical project, but through this case study, I gained confidence and faith that I would become a great designer.
I enjoy reading books in my free time and use Goodreads mostly for checking reviews of my next book. I never used the app before so it was interesting to see the differences between the website.
