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The goal of this self-directed project was to develop an idea from proposal to production in consultation with an academic supervisor as the final graded piece of my university studies. The result was a fully designed iPhone application, built to manage every aspect of running and participating in book clubs. As a solo major design project I worked on every aspect of the process myself, with creative input from advising teachers and classmates.
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Developing a lightweight business strategy helped to define exactly what functions the app would serve and how they could be utilised to generate revenue.
Th three main functions of the app I wanted to include were tracking/reading owned books, purchasing books and interaction with clubs, it is obvious to see what the first main stream of revenue would be purchases. Extending this ability to purchase books into a subscription based service is simple enough and an obvious choice in this day and age, but in order to really scale the platform I developed an entirely new strategy, leveraging the buying power of businesses and their desires to develop an exciting company culture.
Running book clubs is a common occurrence within large businesses as a way of bringing people together socially. These clubs often extend beyond the boundaries of departments and create opportunities for bonds to form all over the company. The goal of the bound platform is to be positioned as the next big tool in developing a strong workplace culture in the larger, multinational companies of todays economic environment.
Partnering with bound, businesses could set up enterprise level accounts and gain access to higher level management of the apps functionality. Setting up accounts for employees allows for the ability assign admin rights to club managers, bulk rent books and grant their employees access to the bound library for free.
To even begin thinking about how this application was going to come together, I needed to start with a brand. Leveraging my typography related skill set over illustration I opted for a type based logo to portray the brand personality and identity.
After some rough brainstorming my first chosen name for the brand was "booked". Some of the other ideas included; Readers Union, Readers Collective, Readiscuss, Literary, Book Hub, Book Bound and Nook to name a few. Although "booked" was my favourite of the group, it was definitely a working title, which held little weight and meaning in terms of the themes of groups, people, and books all in one. Hence the transition to the name "bound by books" then eventually simplified to "bound". You should notice a few of the ideas in my sketches come through in the digital exploration.
The final decision was made to run with the logo in the final set on the right. The Bound logo encapsulates everything the platform stands for within its colour and type. Rounded edges on proud, bold letter forms hint at comfort or happiness within a strong community. Although simply set in Signika Bold, the typeface perfectly displays these traits with a hint of character in its - what I like to call - "faux serifs".
Will Durn - Male, 28, Sydney Australia
Bio: Will is a front-end developer. He loves the lively employee culture in his workplace and is an avid believer that when coworkers are good friends, work becomes twice as efficient. He has a wife and 1 toddler who love to all read together. Will is also into personal development and is always trying to improve his skills in all walks of life, joining clubs, making new friends and learning everything he can. Being a developer/designer, Will is big on using platforms which perform their tasks seamlessly while looking practically wonderful at the same time.
Using the app: Wills focus is organising/moderating his club. Accessing this functionality must be seamless. Will loves to make decisions based on feedback from his peers, converses, runs polls and sets up meetings all through the app.
Samantha Kim - Female, 35, Sydney Australia
Bio: Samantha is currently studying part time at university to move into a more professional role in the work place. Always spending her free time reading Samantha has a huge pile of books in her room at any given time and is always looking to pass them on when she finishes reading them. As she lives in a small apartment this was also a strategic decision of hers to help keep her space as clutter free as possible. Samantha sometimes tends to forget what books she has read and embarrassingly enough has actually bought books which she had previously read years before. Kim has started a list of books she has read but always wishes there was a better alternative to her notes app.
With the ideal customer, business strategy and brand in place, it's time to work out a general user flow to get a feel for how the app will be used, how the different services will link together, and to ensure a smooth and logical navigation framework. The end result was a compact and web-like user flow for one main reason, I wanted to ensure users could access any part of the app within a click or two. The shelf and shop should ideally be integrated into a similar experience, as the main home screen of the app. After all it is all about your books! All other functionality of the app branches off of this "home screen".
With the short time period I had to develop the actual prototype, I opted to construct a few medium fidelity wireframes then jump straight into visual design and feel it out from there. These key screens I sketched out included the home/shop screens and the clubs. The layout of login screens, chat groups and reading an ebook, I felt were self explanatory and so I opted for designing these as fully realised screens as I went.
With these wireframes made to be a rough guide, layout of the screens functionality was open to change and of course being streamlined to fit screen sizing as the design came to life.
Onboarding
On start up, choose to log in, sign up, or set up a business account which unlocks various extra features for managing employees within your clubs. Onboarding includes a quick tutorial outlining the primary functions of the app and throws the user straight in, no fussing around.
Shelf/Shop
To minimise navigation steps and variance in design layouts, the shelf and shop have both been incorporated into one section, they are the home screen. From here, users can navigate to every part of the app. Swipe down on either of these screens to search for a particular book, club, author, genre etc. Users can also choose to add books to their shelf they might already physically own.
Clubs
Connecting with other users is done through clubs, view the current book your club is reading and what's up next. Post conversations, share opinions, arrange a time and place for your club to meet next. The app is designed to centralise all organisational aspects of running an in-person book club, although for friends and family who live long distance, clubs can be entirely run within the app.
Reading and Events
Create events within your club to help organise with your friends a time and location of your next meet. Add a description, name, location and date.The app also supports eBooks and audio books purchased from the shop, simply tap the desired book on the home screen and begin reading.
The bound platform aims to seamlessly integrate every aspect of a book club into the digital space to facilitate organising clubs in the physical space. While this is Bounds primary purpose, clubs can comfortably be run entirely within the app, reading, talking, voting, buying and sharing.
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