Monzu
Role: UX researcher and UI designer (team leader)
Users don’t feel encouraged enough to pick up books and read them.
Problem statement: We have observed that people don’t pick up books to read because they don’t feel encouraged enough to do so, which is causing them to engage in other activities. How might we inspire people to read more through engagement, interaction, and rewards so that our readers benefit from reducing stress, improving concentration and memory, increasing their imagination, creativity, vocabulary, and enhancing their knowledge?
What are the common behaviors and pain points our users have?
It was important to determine what exactly the behaviors, demographics, and pain points from our prospective uses were. We formulated a series of questions and interviewed different users to determine all the key factors needed. We learned about their hobbies, wants and needs, goals, preferences, and time management. With this information, we analyzed it and used an empathy map to fully understand our users.
Our users and their thought processes.
We found out that our prospective users really had a desire for reading. There were several obstacles that prevented them from accomplishing this task. They wish they had the motivation to read but they are busy with their day-to-day lives. They said they used the same type of apps daily and some of these apps help them remember different tasks they need to complete in their daily life or they use apps for leisure or work.
Ideal user with all the data collected.
Our ideal user is someone is in their late teens and in their 20’s. Someone who wants to find more motivation to get into reading in order to utilize their time more wisely. They use their mobile devices for leisure or time management.
Ideation process
We put all of our thoughts and ideas for this reading app into sticky notes. We included any wants and wishes we had to accomplish our users needs. Some of the must haves were creating a reward system for every book or chapter read, daily reminders, fun customizable character. Our could haves were to join a virtual bookclub, be able to get the customizable character in physical form among other things.
After this, we organized all these ideas into gains, pains, and created our value proposition: With this app, you get the daily encouragement you need to enjoy the benefits of reading through interaction and rewards.
What can we learn from competitors?
We evaluated different competitors and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses. We learned how some had an assistant reader, daily reminders, timer, digital bookshelf, ability to see your reading progress, user-friendly UI, good variety of recommended books.
The name
We then worked on the name for this app. We wanted cute little monsters that could be customized by each user. We also wanted a name that would stick around in peoples minds, short and memorable. We looked up how monster was pronounced in Japanese モンスター (Mons-tah). From there we customize it to Monzu.
The characters
Once the user downloads the app, they can create their own character and begin reading. I designed different characters that are showcased in the app and there will be some base bodies to choose from and the user can build their character from there. Users are encouraged to use their imagination from the beginning of downloading the app and start interacting right away.
It’s wireframe and testing time
Once we had our wireframes ready, we user tested them to learn what changes might need to happen in order to make this app work to the best of its ability. We received very positive feedback with a few comments from users of wishes they had the app could do better at. There were some comments on how confused users were when creating a profile page or searching for a book. We analyzed this feedback and made changes accordingly.
But wait, there is more!
I wanted to add another device solution for this app. I thought it would be a good idea if Monzu could also be available on apple watches. The features available in this version of the app is the ability to add a book and start the timer to help the user continue with their book and rewards.