WormClub

A social reading app designed for teens aged 14-18—and beyond—aimed at fostering a lifelong habit of consistent reading.encourages a deeper connection with literature and helps them sustain the habit well into adulthood.

TEAM

3 Design Researchers
1 Visual Designer
3 UX Designers

ROLE

Design Researcher
and UX Designer

TIMELINE

September 2022 - December 2022
3 Months

TOOLS/SKILLS

User Interviews, User Persona, Affinity Mapping, Data Synthesis, Usability Testing, UX/UI Design

Context: With screens becoming increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, and perhaps influenced by our own experiences growing up, we wanted to explore how people's reading habits have shifted. A hobby we once cherished seems to have been overshadowed by new distractions like social media. Our goal is to revive the habit of reading, offering fresh incentives and encouraging people to start small, with a focus on making it a consistent behavior which positively impacts academic growth .

This project is grounded in the principles of the BJ Fogg Behavior Model, with the goal of user-centric design for long-term behavioral change, encouraging sustainable life choices that bring a positive impact to one's life.

Behavior = Motivation, Ability, and Prompt

Fogg behavior model

Internal and external triggers we are using is motivation and peer influence into doing something productive. Therefore, the presence of a social landscape in this app is crucial to the behaviors of our target audience.

PROBLEM DISCOVERY

Conducting interviews and forming a user persona.

To understand our user base and test our hypothesis of what we believe is happening from our personal experiences. In order to do this we created a test scripts, targeting teenagers aged 14-18 with potential pain points to dig deeper into the problem. We asked questions such as - How frequently do you read in a week? Have you always liked to read? If so, what made you lose that interest? List at least 3 ways in which you motivate yourself to read. Together, with my team we interviewed 11 teens, and created a persona that represents the goals, frustrations, and motivations of a 15 year old high school student.

Goals:

Has an interest in leisure reading, and wants to build the habit of reading more frequently.

Frustrations:

Reading is not fun for me anymore because it just feels like doing the other mountains of homeowrk. I would rather catch up with friends on social media.

Motivations:

Doing things with my friends make things more fun.

IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES AND MOTIVATORS

What are some things that help us turn an action into a behavior?

Here are key insights from user interviews that highlight what readers want from their experience. Some common requests include receiving more reminders and reducing distractions. Overall, the interviewees expressed a shared goal of having a platform that supports and encourages their passion for reading and helps them nurture this hobby.

Which leads us to the problem statement:

How might we develop the habit of consistent reading among teenagers by making it more engaging?

Empathy Maps

1/3

Creating empathy maps allows us to visualize user narratives and gain deeper insight into what they say, think, feel or do which helps us identify the key target behaviors to address in our solution for a more user-centered design approach.

WHAT CAN WE DELIVER?

Mapping insights and analyzing key behavioral patterns.

Prioritization Matrix- The chart below is a prioritization matrix that evaluates the impact and feasibility of interviewees' suggestions, comparing what they anticipate in a new product with what we can deliver in a future digital product.

PINPOINTING TARGET BEHAVIORS

All of our interviewees share a passion for reading and a strong desire to rekindle that habit. By examining not only the prioritization matrix but also listening closely to their stories about how they used to read, what led them to stop, and their suggestions for reigniting that love, we've gathered valuable insights. These "crumbs" of information have helped us identify three key behaviors that will guide our next steps in the process and warrant deeper exploration moving forward.

Receiving frequent reminders to read in order to instill the habit.

How others perceive a book, through reviews and ratings, helps the users evaluate if they would be interested in it.

Look for others who also enjoy reading in order to discuss shared interests, conversations, or content.

BRAINTORMING CONCEPTS

Storyboarding User Scenarios for Product Interaction

SNAPTESTING

Storyboarding User Scenarios for Product Interaction

The very core of our project, or the Minimum Viable Product, is to engage users with a shared text. In this step of testing, we wanted to see how people interact with a shared text. We printed out short stories and provided writing materials and pasted them on a wall on our campus. We noticed that many people preferred drawing over writing. Here are some more of our findings: