The next step in my branding project is producing an app prototype for Open Books.
We spent our week 8 lecture in groups doing an in-depth UX teardown of NILibraries existing app alongside a competitor, ‘Libby’.
The UX teardown was really useful for my personal development of my brand and evaluating the steps that I would take towards my final outcome. The majority of my learnings from this are noted in my week 8 weekly blog, however there are a number of points which I will carry through to here as they will help me move forwards with my app design.
LibrariesNI’s existing app has a very poor app homepage. As a sub brand, I feel that its essential that I produce an app design that is strong and impactful, as this could push people back to using NILibraries digital services as many people may have avoided doing so after using the current app (understandable!). From my teardown of this alongside competitor Libby, I’ve noted a range of points that will help me kin my own project:
LibrariesNI’s digital experience is not personal at all. I really struggle to understand why no personalisation is included in their app, as this is likely why many users would install it. I want to include this throughout Open Book’s app, particularly as the target audience of youth who don’t read often will need this personalisation as a point of encouragement, drawing them into using the service.
I plan to have a screen when users sign in that allows them to select their reading level, experience and other preferences. Although it isn’t a library app, my idea is similar to how Duolingo asks users to select their speaking level.
Another thing lacking in the LibrariesNI app is books, the purpose of a library service! This is another issue that I think having a sub-brand like Open Books can help them tackle. Based on my teardown of libby and research of other competitors, I think that presenting the books visually and providing details of them is essential for a library based app. This could be including book covers, titles and descriptions. My lecturer suggested that a service of getting books posted out to people would be a great option for those unfamiliar with libraries and those with emotional and/or physical restrictions which make getting out to a library more difficult. I think this is a great idea that none of the competitors I’ve looked at do without making them buy a book permatley, and links back to my research where a service user pointed out that they don’t use libraries often due to travel restrictions.
I am taking inspiration from Libby’s bookshelf for this. Personally, I think the way that they designed this screen is perfect; it is plain and simple, clearly showing their current books, a timeline of books they’ve taken out and any important notices. I can see myself including a screen like this in Open Book’s app, as this will be a key selling point for drawing users into reading. I also plan to include tracking information on books as I intend to have a postal-rental book option for those unable to visit in-person.
