From Insights to Iterations: Enhance
iRead's Engagement
A Comprehensive Revamp with Gamified Dual-Design Solutions
Role: UX Designer | Duration: 7 Weeks
Team: 1 Researcher, 1 UX Designer (me)
Responsibilities
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Desk Research & Competitive Analysis
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Interviews and Research Insights Analysis
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Information Architecture Iterations
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Wireframes Iterations
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Proposal Presentation to Project Owners
Summary
This project reimagined iRead, a library app struggling with limited personalization and engagement features.
As the UX designer on a two-person intern team, I focus on translating diverse user insights into actionable designs and iterating strategically through critiques.
We explored dual design solutions—"Growth Seeker" for goal-driven readers and "Interest Explorer" for curiosity-driven discovery—allowing us to address the contrasting needs of different user groups while refining my design expertise through continuous iteration.
Background
This project was a practice collaboration within our UX agency to revamp iRead from the ground up. The digital library platform faced challenges in user engagement due to limited personalization and exploration features.
Our early research and interviews revealed two distinct user behaviors: some users sought structured, goal-driven reading experiences, while others preferred open-ended exploration. These insights sparked a key question:
“How might we transform research insights into strategic design decisions and iterations, that address diverse user expectations?”
We adopted a dual-approach strategy to broaden design perspectives and spark richer client discussions, helping us uncover not just which solution they preferred, but why—deepening our understanding and refining the final designs.
Core Experience -
A: Growth Seeker
Supports goal-driven readers with Trustworthy Content Recommendations aligned with professional goals.
Guides a Structured Learning Path through Goal-setting, Skill-based Tasks, and Progress Analytics that highlight knowledge gaps, enabling effective growth tracking.
Core Experience -
B: Interest Explorer
Inspire curiosity-driven readers to broaden their interests through Open-ended, Playful Discovery.
Through Gamified Challenges, readers unlock Themed Badges as they explore diverse topics, while Community Features foster personal insights and knowledge exchange.
Design Process
Desk Research: Aligning Goals and Identifying Opportunities
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Strategic goals: The library’s white paper outlines three key objectives: enhance collection diversity, promote library services, and improve mobile reading experiences.
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User Demographics: Young Professionals (25-34) are our primary target due to low borrowing growth and their preference for highly personalized digital experiences.
*Although also shows the least borrowing growth, Young Adults are primarily limited to borrowing academic materials.
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Competitor Insights: iRead’s current functionality limits users to a passive, basic experience. Positioning competitors on the matrix highlights two key opportunities for iRead: empowering individuals through 1) Personalised, Goal-oriented tools, or fostering 2) Exploration and Community Engagement for broader discovery
*Review of library, reading community, book-tracking, and eBook marketplace apps reveals market trends and user expectations
Interview Insights to key User Personas
We interviewed 8 participants (aged 25-34) to explore behaviors and motivations.
Key Findings
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Book-search Behaviours
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Digital searches are preferred for speed and precision, while physical searches offer serendipitous discovery and curated experiences.
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Trusted recommendations from friends, experts, or algorithms are highly valued.
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Reading Motifs
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Learning Habits: Knowledge accumulation and lifelong learning are common goals.
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Tracking Preferences: Engaging analytics to understand reading preferences and progress is appealing.
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Setting Goals: Some users appreciate structured reading goals but prefer them to feel fun and flexible.
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Community Interaction: Mixed opinions—some value social elements for insights and motivation, while others prefer solo-focused reading.
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Personas Develop
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Plotting all 8 participants on a matrix contrasting User Goals (Casual → High goal-orientation) and Impact (Fast → Profound). Two distinct clusters emerged, revealing two primary personas.
Design Strategy- Dual Approach
We therefore propose two design solutions to address the diverse needs.
Design Solution A: Growth Seeker
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Content Recommendation: Targeted suggestions aligned with professional goals and specialized topics.
- Growth Management: Goals setting, skill-based tasks, and analytics for identifying knowledge gaps to accelerate learning acquisition.
Design Solution B: Interest Explorer
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Content Recommendation: Broad, diverse suggestions to inspire cross-disciplinary exploration through serendipitous surprises.
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Gamification and Social Experience: Reward-based challenges, reading preferences analytics, and community engagement to foster unique personal insights and further exchange.
Design Iterations
Reflections
on Growth
Strategic Thinking
This project strengthened my ability to approach app design holistically—balancing research-driven strategies with innovative brainstorm of solutions. It enhanced my capability to synthesize diverse insights into cohesive, actionable designs.
Design Skill Improvement
Iterative critiques sharpened my attention to both fine details, like visual hierarchy and interaction elements, and overarching goals, such as creating engaging, gamified mechanisms that remain comprehensible.
Dual-Approach
Reflecting on our agency’s tradition of dual-solution proposals, I discovered its true value in facilitating deeper conversations with clients. Rather than focusing on a single “right” answer, it helped us explore user needs from multiple angles, uncovering the "why" behind client preferences. This richer dialogue led to more informed design decisions and strengthened mutual understanding, often resulting in blended solutions that better served both user and business needs.
Iterative Process
The iterative nature of this project taught me to embrace trial and error. Each Critique sessions helps me rethink my assumptions as a express my design objectives and answer questions, while constantly evolve ideas critically from feedbacks received.