Neighborly Reads

Mobile App for Social Good
Project Overview
This was my third and final portfolio project for Google's UX Design Specialization Course. The purpose of this project was to design both a dedicated mobile app and a responsive website that center around social good. For the project, I chose to design a tool for neighborhoods to ensure that everyone has access to books.

I am a firm believer that libraries and books have the power to change and save lives. Since a very young age, I have been an avid reader and I am not sure where I would be today if I didn’t have the library available to me.
My Contributions
The entire project was a complete end-to-end project that included all 5 stages of the UX Design process methodology: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.
The Problem
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Not everyone has access to books. Whether they have a disability that prevents them from going to a library, have a lack of transportation, or have a busy work and family life and cannot find the time to go.

Local libraries currently offer this service for individuals with disabilities, mobility issues, or advanced age, but those with a lack of transportation or single parents juggling work and family are excluded from this service.
Goal
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Design an app for a local neighborhood that will increase library book access to its residents. It will allow residents to submit a book request form with their genre preferences, the number of books requested, and more, so that the volunteer can choose appropriately.
User Research and Personas
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For my user research, I conducted interviews with a variety of people in my own neighborhood who classify reading as a hobby.

My questions focused on:
- What digital medium the users prefer, as this is a tool that will be applicable to users of all age groups
- What their day-to-day routines are like
- How often do they read?
- How do they access books right now?
- Do they visit the library? How many times per month?
- Is there anything preventing them from visiting the library independently? If so, what are those challenges? (transportation, time, work, etc)

My goal was to find out how Neighborly Reads could be useful for them and what features should be included, what challenges or obstacles are preventing them from accessing books, and what their reading goals are.

During the interviews, the main points I learned were:
- Users would love to have a way for volunteers to bring them books and they do not know of anyone who currently provides this service or they do not qualify
- Users would spend more time at the library if they were able to, but physical limitations, transportation, and free time are huge challenges
Competitive Audit
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The goal of this audit was to understand the various products and features currently available in the marketplace and to see how some or all of those features could be combined to provide a better neighborhood library book delivery service. I compared one direct competitor (St. Charles County Library) and two indirect competitors (Library on Wheels and North Dakota State Library) across different points like target users, offerings, features, accessibility, desktop/mobile experience, etc.

Some gaps I identified include:
- St. Charles County Library and Library on Wheels are only accounting for those within a certain demographic, and not expanding the service to others in different situations
- Library on Wheels and North Dakota State Library do not have an online form submission option
- Library on Wheels and North Dakota State Library do not have a clear call-to-action area 
- North Dakota State Library has weak information architecture
- North Dakota State Library is overly descriptive, with small font and no accessibility tools
Wireframes
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For the ideation process, I created paper wireframes for the main user flow of the app: submitting a book request form. The paper wireframes included 5 initial designs and 1 final design for each page of the user flow, with the final design being converted into a digital wireframe.

Usability Study - Lo-Fi Prototype
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Feedback from the usability study was positive, but there were a few pain points discovered:

Users prefer the lengthy form to be split up into sections, with a progress bar indicating where they are in the process.
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Users would like to see more genre choices, so they do not have to manually add in the notes section.

Some users are only able to read large print books, and would like to see that as a format option.

Users would like to be able to cancel the form if needed.

After the usability study was complete, I created a second round of digital wireframes addressing the issues. (images shown above)

Design: Mockups & High-Fidelity Prototype
Figma
When creating the designs for the app, I kept the color palette simple with buttons that stood out against the neutral background.

The sticker sheet includes the color palette I created, typography throughout the app, icons, button styling, and logos I created with Adobe Express.

The mockups and high-fidelity prototype both take the user through the entire user flow of submitting a book request form.
Responsive Designs
The second part of the projected required us to create responsive designs for use on a desktop or tablet.

I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size. The main user need for the mobile app is to complete a book request form. For the desktop and tablet, I wanted to highlight volunteer and donation information as an additional use case.
Takeaways
Impact:
‍Users shared that the app is something they would regularly use and it would help them meet their reading goals. One quote from peer feedback was that “Neighborly Reads is an app that helps bring books to your neighborhood and raises an awareness of the importance of reading and community.”

What I learned:
‍I learned that even though solutions currently exist for the problem, it makes a bigger impact when you extend the service to those who do not fall within the qualifying parameters of the existing programs. Thinking outside of those parameters, and putting myself into the shoes of those users, really helped me design this app for the needs of the target user group.
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