Goodreads: A Redesign
This case study is a compilation of my process of redesigning Goodreads - addressing navigation challenges and user engagement issues through a cleaner interface, enhanced accessibility, and profile customization.
Introduction
As a digital haven for book lovers, Goodreads is popular platform to discover, connect, and share one's reading journey with a global community passionate about the written word. However, the experience of the website was hindered by certain visual and functional aspects.​​
The Problem Statement
This project was targeted at redesigning three of their primary features -
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Homepage
More time is consumed in trying to digest the cluttered information as it is filled with disorganized info and ads. Based on user research, the opinions remain similar.
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Author Interactions
This is an exciting and exclusive feature for the website which showcases its prominence. Many new users were unaware of this feature due to its present design.
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Profile Personalization
The current profile page seems to be a haphazard display of the users’ information and website-related details. Having a personalized profile would foster a connection to the website.
Heuristic Evaluation
The present Goodreads website shows potential for an enhanced, user-centered experience.
Undistinguishable hyperlinks that lead to important pages.
Nav Bar is overcrowded.
Extensive scroll with unused space
Features laid in
a disorganized layout
Objective
The redesigned Goodreads platform aims to introduces a cleaner interface, advanced recommendation algorithms, and personalized features, to enhance user engagement, streamline navigation, and provide a more tailored reading experience.
Miro
Figma
8 Weeks
Discovery & Research: 3 weeks
Design & Testing: 7 weeks​
Scroll Depth
Average Session Duration
My Design Process
empathize
User Research
The Empathize phase of the redesign involved user interviews and surveys, where they were asked a healthy mix of demographic and usage-based questions. The results from the interviews were insightful in understanding their perspective of the current website.
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A common opinion was regarding the findability on the website. This affects navigation and overall, information consumption. These factors were deciding factors in the redesign.
Yoshi, AZ
“Overwhelmed with the information display, this feels like I'm on Amazon!"
AD, NY
"I did not know there was a page to interact with the author?!"
Sandy, IN
"I don't want to display my bookshelves on my profile. It's something I want to keep private."
Survey: Findings & Analysis
The survey was intended to understand the average consensus and interest on the aspects of the redesign. Starting with the frequency of usage to enquiring about expectations from a website of this nature, the data helped uncover reasons and employ different techniques to design the best experience.
With a total of 20 participants, the results demonstrated the following -
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Average Usage
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Their interest in the Ask the Author page
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Their preference for a customizable profile page.
The first pie indicates the website's usage - with more than half being regular users.
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The second pie indicates user interest in interacting with the author. The higher percentage said no, mainly because they were not even aware that such a feature existed.
The third pie denotes the users' interest in having a customizable profile page to display what they choose to make public.
define
Objective
The redesign aimed to adhere to the following design concepts -
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Homepage
Utilize space on the homepage, make it interesting - and draw people in to scroll more.
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Ask the Author
Make it prominent, interactive, and interesting - include buttons, cards, and so on.
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Profile Page
Make it interactive, and customizable - widgets to display their info to the public.
Ideate
Sketches
The design concept was applied first through sketches. With a broad sense of understanding user expectations, the sketches translated to optimizing the usage of space and scroll in the website.
Prototype
Test
Testing Methods
Black Hat Test
A/B Testing
Usability Testing
Black Hat Testing
This testing was done in class in groups of 4. I managed to have the initial design or review and popular feedback was that the icons and text seem like too many elements concentrated in one place.
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The search bar also could be more prominent as it is a vast website and people might be using the search bar more. These concerns were addressed in version B.
A/B Testing
A/B Testing was employed to compare different variations of design elements, focusing on user engagement in terms of visual design and functionality. Since I had two variations for the homepage, I decided to conduct this test.
Users appreciated the uniformity of Version A, in terms of style and alignment. It was more predictive and effortless to use.
Version B outperformed Version A in terms of Scroll Depth, Average Session Duration, and Click-Through Rate. Although the participants appreciated the uniformity of Version A, they seemed to be more curious to explore Version B.
Usability Testing
Usability Testing focused on evaluating the redesigned system's ease of use and effectiveness in facilitating user tasks.
User Task 1
As a new user, find a book on the homepage and add it to your “Want to Read” bookshelf.
User Task 2
You have completed reading a book on your “Currently Reading” bookshelf. Rate the book.
User Task 3
You are a fan of the works of Stephen King and would like to join a discussion of his works.
User Task 4
You would like to customize your profile occasionally. Add your “Completed Reads” bookshelf to your profile.
Success Metrics
Black Hat Testing -> Header change
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A/B Testing -> Measured based on
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Scroll Depth
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Average Session Duration
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Click-Through Rate.
B is rated higher in these metrics.
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Usability Testing - The user tasks performed were straightforward, with minimal confusion.