While working with a Panasonic Japan on re-imagining their digital book experience, the team also worked on a new direction which focused on infusing a social experience for the readers on the platform. Users could annotate, discuss and share their opinions and thoughts while reading which would create a unique experience that would help attract and retain users to the platform.
Social networking isn't just a term for the 21st century. In fact, social networking dates back when cavemen draw on the walls in order to communicate and 'network' with other cavemen. Since then, societies in different countries have become more modern and pushed for social networks.
In 21st century "The internet" changed how like-minded people can connect through online platforms like Six Degree, Myspace and Facebook etc. Since then the social networking became mainstream.
I too contributed in the space of social networking in the world of digital reading by infusing a social experience for the readers on the platform. Users could discuss and share their opinions and thoughts while reading, which would create a unique experience that would help attract and retain users to the platform.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have modified and obscured confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
The aim of the project was to conceptualize on infusing social networking experience on e-book reader through online books & magazines.
The main challenges were building understanding of the ecosystem of the users who like reading on e-book readers, discuss and share books with friends and also an active user of the internet and social networking in India.
In addition, visualizing the whole ecosystem and translating it into the design concept & model of commenting and having a conversation over the book is also very challenging as some of these books are online, shared with a friend's etc.
I drove this project and lead one of the concept which was finalized by the client. I was involved and have worked from initial to final delivery of the project. I have contributed to primary & secondary research, conceptualization & interaction model for the project. I was closely working with other designers on the team and helped visual designer and animator to understand the design proposition for various transition and visuals activity. I was closely working with design team lead, design manager and clients for timely feedback. I was also acting as a point of contact for the development team.
In this phase I have done netnography on various topics and gather information like usage of internet, social networking, users with the data network, social network trends in India & global, magazines and their categorization, languages in India etc.
Also I have researched on various readers and their reading preferences, behavior and habits of reading by time and devices. This data helped me in categorizing my users for primary research.
India is a very diverse country based on languages, culture, food and population. Based on census data the major spoken language in India is Marathi and Kannada.
Based on netnography I have found that in metropolitan city most of the youth buys & read magazines like Fashion, Entertainments, Comics among kids, novels (English). Though there is a small category of people who buys novels in Hindi.
Vanitha (Malayalam) (Fortnightly) – Women's Magazine 30.35 lakhs
Saras Salil (Hindi) (Fortnightly)22.09 lakhs
India Today (English) (Weekly)22.09 lakhs
In the current scenario, there are two types of users:
Users using print media Users using virtual media
Contextual inquiry was planned with various categories of users who are active socially via the internet, like students, professionals, travelers and homemakers. Apart from that they should be a physical as well as digital readers.
Professional 
Housewife 
Frequent traveler 
Exchange Student A detailed user research was conducted. The data were recorded for transcript purpose and later used for analysis. There were very few data points which came from observation.
Me & my friend has a common interest and we share lots of books and discuss in person whenever we meet.
We end up discussing on various characters and topics from these books and it's really fascinating to have
discussed and understand the other's point of view. I wish I could have more friend with whom I can discuss.
I love reading and my interest lies in cooking so generally end up reading a lot of cooking magazines and
online topics also views lot of videos. Sometime I feel disconnected when I view the recipes and want to discuss it
with my friend and have their opinion on because I feel adding some more ingredient can make the dish better.
Post primary & secondary research, I have analyzed the data using an affinity mapping tool. This helped me in categorizing the must, want and shall have feature requirements and translating it into user needs and goals.
Important features desired in an SNS based e-book reader
Possible interactions
Applying visual thinking approach, the overall
ecosystem was depicted based on the understanding built from research data to showcase how the experience dashboard will look like.
Design goals were defined based on the requirements and carried forward into concept design to provide users with the seamless reading and social networking experience on e-book readers.
The information architecture was designed for the proposed social networking based e-book reader based on the finalized features list. The main focus area was commenting functionality and the task associated with it.
I have done multiple concepts for the application and majorly focused on defining the interaction model for the commenting on the book. The concept was generated keeping design goals in mind and how flawlessly user can access the functionality without impacting the reading experience.In the concept on demand comments was overlaid on top of the book and side menu appear in the thread view. The user can expand sub comments inside the menu and can swipe out a particular thread on top of the book. The user can read, reply, tag, etc. on individual comments.
The concept inspiration was derived from various objects which we see in our day to day life like sliding curtains, doors, window, etc. The same behavior was used in the concept.
Based on various features for social networking based e-book reader, especially reading and commenting module, I have detailed out use cases to show various tasks associated with it. Along with this I have detailed out various edge cases which could occur while completing the task.
With the help of use cases I have defined overall navigation containers which includes primary, secondary & tertiary menus. On the other hand, I have defined the overall interaction model & the behavior, it's functional containers and various state of posts & messages.
After freezing on navigation model and initial concept, I have detailed out the concepts with various workflows to define the overall experience and interactions. The workflow helped the team and clients to visualize the overall experience which users will get and to help a development team to plan and implement accordingly.
As a lead for the project I was working closely with the visual designer, I helped them in visualizing the theme & transitions for the application. I would like to appreciate them in bringing the visual and transition effects as expected. The transitions helped developer to understand and implement the effects on the actual application.
With the help of social networking on e-book readers, I have provided the platform for the users of digital content readers to communicate, discuss and share their thoughts on various topics of their interest with other users through online books & magazines. The client was happy with the final outcome of the project as it exceeded their expectations.
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