For this project, I decided to add an feature into the existing Google Play Books in order to make it easier for users to import their own electronic publications.
This feature wasn’t an accident or something I thought of on the whim. In fact, this was a problem I personally had with the app as a average user. In school, I had to download a lot of e-publications for my classes, and instead of browsing through my downloaded file for these publications, I’ll much rather import them into an e-book application I already have. However, I found out that there’s no direct way to import the files from my device to the app unless I select the files from my device storage, which I suspect might be difficult for users who are not familiar with the app.
In order to confirm whether my suspicions are correct, I browse through the internet reading reviews regarding the app to see what others have to say. Just as I thought, I came across users who also had the same issues as me. Aside from the issues I address, they also had other dissatisfaction with the app. Here’s what some of them have to say.
Based on the online reviews of Google Play Books, there seems to be a lot of common complaints from the users. It is as followed...
To get a better understanding of the eReader Market, I conducted an competitive analysis to see what attracts and deters users from the app. This will help me understand what the Users are looking for in the app.
Having done all this, the next step is to create user personas, which will serves as a tool to understand and empathize with the target audience on a deeper level. Creating a user persona involves gathering information about the users' demographics, behaviors, goals, motivations, and pain points.
Now, we head back to Google Play Book App to create a site map of the app. The purpose of this site map is so that we can get a bird's-eye view of the entire information architecture, which will help us understand the organization of content and their functionality. At the same time, it will also help us with determining where we can place the additional feature.
Before we start, we must start with a low-fidelity sketch, which will serve as our blueprint of the essential framework. These sketches are build-ons of the original applications, with the addition of the newly added features. The purpose is to capture the essence of the design, mapping out the layout, placement of elements, and the overall flow.
The image below showcases the original framework of the application, plus the possible solutions.
After the low-fidelity sketch, we can move onto the mid-fidelity prototype. Here, we used the mid-fidelity prototype to bring structure into the design. They help us visualize the evolving design, and provides a more realistic experience compared to the abstract sketches.
At the high-fidelity prototyping stage, it is time to incorporate the finalized features into the original design. Essentially, this prototype will allow users to interact with a near-final version, providing a taste of what the end product will look and feel like. This is crucial for user testing, as it simulates a realistic user experience.
Finally, with our high-fidelity prototype completed, we can conduct a user testing by letting users try out this new feature and get their feedbacks regarding the new changes.
In this user testing phrase, the users were tasked with uploading an e-publication directly from their device file to the app.
After the user testing phrase, the participants had to share their insights on the new feature of the application. This stage is especially important because they will provide us with information regarding what works and what should be changed. Any challenges individuals encountered are listed below.
With the pain points listed, the next step is make iterations to the existing design by eliminating the problems users encountered while testing the new feature.
After we came up with the suitable solutions to counter the user pains, we implemented the solution to the whole application.
As the final user testing concludes, each of the participants were interviewed regarding their experience using the app. All of the user feedbacks were divided based on their likes, dislikes, as well as any pain points they came across. We then summarize the major pain points across all the users.
Finally, with our high-fidelity prototype completed, we can conduct a user testing by letting users try out this new feature and get their feedbacks regarding the new changes.
Try uploading a file directly from the phone using this new feature!
Throughout this journey, I learn that in order to truly understand the opinions of the general public and their concerns, it is important to utilize existing tools such as the reviews. In addition, adding a feature doesn’t mean you have to come up with an elaborate life-changing solution or make massive change to the app. in fact, sometimes small changes can make a big difference.
