Case study: Designing a book exchange app
During the days of lockdown due to pandemic, I was stuck at home where even online orders have stopped delivery. I was not able to find good books to read with me. Being a fan of experiencing the touch and feel of paper books I didn’t prefer ebooks. So, I checked play store for an app to exchange or buy used books from nearby people with affordable price. But, I was unlucky that i couldn’t find any app that worked for me.
So I picked this up to create a case study for a Book Exchange App. My primary goal was availability of books to the users.
Goals
- Make books available for the user even though he can’t find the book which he is intended to get.
- Explore nearby books efficiently
- Easy communication between buyers and sellers
User Research
user personas
Solving the problem of designing a book exchange app, I came up with 3 user personas chosen on basis of capturing my goals.
From the personas, the primary goals defined are
- Explore nearby books effectively with multiple features.
- Manage book collection by categories and statuses.
- Explore events related to book reading.
- Collaboration between users like posts, updates, book reviews.
Information Architecture
Site map
I have created a site map by analysing the user requirements from the personas and other basic requirements which I considered it is required for this app.
For a better understanding of the App Features, I have split the site map into two sections.
First, the features that can be accessed from home screen of the app.
Second, the features which can be accessed from left navigation.
User Flows
The user flows for the persona which i created gives a clear idea how the intended actions are taken by the user and how do they achieve their goals. Plotting the user flows allows me to track whether the goals are accomplished by the user.
Being a book reviewer, Burman searches the book add reviews to it or he add the book to his collection ‘readlist/ books to reviewed’. Burman also builds his community by searching his friends and following them.
Being in an unknown city, Willian’s purpose was to attend the book reader’s events nearby. So I have created a separate flow for events. Where the list of events are shown to the user based on the location he is in. The event details are shared in the app and if there is any entry fee, user will redirected the event organiser’s website. Also, User can place an Exchange order by choosing the book he has. so the nearby user if they find this post relevant can respond to the post by showing interest.
With very minimal steps, Renata can search for the used book from the homepage and send request. if she can’t be able to find the perfect match, she can also post a request mentioning the book name. Once a match is found, the both the user can be able to chat and share the location to exchange/sell the book.
Development
Initial Sketches
From the user flow, I have started sketching the designs for the app. Designing the home screen and the left nav was little challenging because all the app features should be easily accessible for the users from these two screens.
Wireframing
After testing the sketches and re-iterating them, I have started designing the wireframes for the app in Figma.
The Left nav screen shows the user name and status and the other features of the app.
The Home screen lists the posts of the friends and the ‘books nearby’ tab lets the user explore the orders listed based on the user location. A fab is added in the homepage to create a new order.
The Chat screen has notifications and messages tab. In individual Chats, the user can share location, which can be opened in other apps. User can also view their orders in it.
Create New Order
Once the user clicks on the ‘create order’ fab button in the homepage, he is directed to choose an update - Reading, finished reading or feedback for a book, or an order - Exchange, Request, Sell or Rent. Once user selects any of this, he will be choosing the book. He can search the book by typing or scanning the barcode in the book from the camera or from a picture he has in the phone.
For a sell order, user should mention the book edition, quality and the selling cost before posting the order.
Exchange Order
Once user opens a post, the screen has the distance of the post owner and the other book details. In exchange, the user can multi choose the books from his collection and send exchange request.
Requested Order
Once user opens a book request post, he can just show interest, where the book details are added from the collection. If not, he can ‘Add New’ where he can give the book details. Once the interest is shown, the status is updated. User can come to the order later and ‘edit’ the sell price or cancel the interest.
User can add a book to collection, with its edition and quality. In the posts, other users can like and comment. In the Events Tab, Events are listed with respect to the user location. The nearest location listed first and in event page the details like entry fee, location are shared.
The Final Step
I have named the app as Biblio, means the things which are related to reading/books. I have designed the visual elements for the app with visually pleasing UI in mind.
Thanks for reading!
Drop you valuable feedback or hit me up at vvenkateswaran7@gmail.com or connect via LinkedIn.
