2023 Academic Project
Best Thesis Award
Pie, Digital E-Book Reading Application
: Designing Everyday Reading Experiences with Efficiency
My role
UX Reseach & UX Design
I was involved in the entire process, from deriving insights through user research and concept modeling to shaping branding and interface design
User Research (60%)
Concept Modelling (70%)
Usability Test (50%)
Branding (40%)
Design System (30%)
Interface Design (70%)
Prototyping (70%)
Animation (100%)
Team
Academic
Advisor
2 UX Designers
Soyoung Kyung
Duration
Mar 2023 - Nov 2023
Timeline
Final product
Hmm, let’s see which one seems the most interesting to me today.
Takeaway
I realized the importance of designing for seamless integration into daily life to enhance behavioral engagement. Beyond traditional strategies like offering rewards, I explored another approach to fostering natural engagement by fundamentally shifting perceptions of books through changes in conventional formats and incorporating features like GPS-based technology.
One thing that really hit me was how important it is to design for all kinds of users. By looking at different habits, preferences, and time constraints, I saw so much potential to create experiences that help people make the most of their free time, not just during commute hours.
Define Problem
In Korea, it’s common for people to set a yearly goal of reading more than (number) books, but it often ends up being an unachieved resolution year after year.
Despite the growth of digital e-books, which have made reading more accessible than ever, adult reading rates in Korea remain stagnant. This led me to consider deeper, perception-based reasons beyond improved accessibility
User research - Survey
I explored how our attitudes and perceptions differ when consuming books compared to visual media. Understanding how we process information across different mediums is key to uncovering why books are seen as more challenging
*68 participants provided responses
Book
Visual Media
Everyday
89.7%
4~6 times in a week
1~3 times in a week
7.4%
2.9%
More than one book in a month
More than one book in a week
32.4%
7.4%
More than one book every three months or not at all
60.2%
Over half of the respondents reported reading 'one book every three months or less,' while nearly 90% engaged with visual content daily
1
Book
Visual media
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0~30m
30m~1h
1h~2h
2h~3h
more than 3h
16
20
17
15
0
3
28
23
7
7
[The time spent engaging with visual content/books for the longest period]
[Moments of consumption]
Book
Visual media
As soon as
waking up
While
eating
While
pooping
Moving
Before sleeping
on the bed
Other
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Visual content is consumed continuously from morning until night, whereas books are typically read in shorter, focused sessions, highlighting the greater burden of starting
a book compared to watching visual content
2
Responses revealed that reading typically happens in deliberate situations, like sitting at a desk or setting aside dedicated time, reflecting the behavior of treating reading as an activity requiring a 'specific condition and environment,' unlike watching visual media
3
[Moments of book consumption – Selected 'Other' responses]
When I can fully concentrate on
Such as for assignments
When going to the library
When it’s strictly scheduled
Answer 5
Answer 6
Answer 7
Answer 8
When I go to bookstores or libraries
I make time to read
I read only on holidays
I set aside separate time for books
Answer 1
Answer 2
Answer 3
Answer 4
User research - In-depth Interview
Findings Based on Surveys and Interviews
Solution
To further explore the reasons behind the difficulty in developing reading habits, I divided the process into five stages and structured the interviews around these stages to uncover key insights.
Through these two methods, I validated two initial hypotheses: people often feel overwhelmed by the current format of books, perceiving them as too lengthy to complete. This perception, coupled with the belief that finishing a book is the 'right' way to read, creates a significant psychological barrier to starting one.
Using user data, I identify their top three areas of interest and send daily highlight sentences randomly via notifications. This creates a seamless way to deliver engaging content while naturally driving app engagement.
Designing a System to Accurately Detect Public Transport Boarding Using GPS and Seoul City API, and Send Timely Notifications Immediately After Boarding by Monitoring Location and Movement Patterns
They begin browsing books without a specific goal in mind, such as "What book am I going to read?"
They mainly focus on bestsellers, popular book lists, or various book curation services.
They gather several books that pique their interest and quickly scan through the table of contents or contents.
They also sometimes choose books influenced by their girlfriend's reading list.
They frequently select books based on book curation, commercial advertising, or objective book usage data.
Although they have many books they want to read, they feel compelled to start and finish one by one, leaving them with lingering regrets about the books they didn't select.
When they simply follow along with the books their girlfriend reads, they begin to wonder if they lack their own judgment.
When browsing books through e-book services, they want to know more details about the content of the book.
However, when browsing books at bookstores or book cafes, they also want to know others' thoughts on the book.
They wish the transition between different books wouldn't be so loose.
While they have developed a habit of choosing only humanities books, they also want to explore books from other fields driven by their curiosity.
-
Upon learning how many books their girlfriend has read, they feel anxious and compelled to read books themselves.
They ignore all kinds of alerts from Millie's Bookshelf during work.
They make an effort to frequently place books on the visible side of the bookshelf to remind themselves.
They find themselves opening books only when they are in a bookstore or café.
At work, they read Book A on their iPad, while at the bookstore café, they read Book B in paperback format.
They feel obligated to finish any book they start, so they force themselves to read through dull content even if it becomes boring.
Due to slow reading speed and the need to attend to pending tasks, they find themselves unable to read more than 5 pages each time they try to read at work.
Although they plan to read books for a long time together with their girlfriend at the café, they quickly lose focus or get hungry, resulting in them closing the book sooner than expected.
They feel that the flow of reading is disrupted because the titles, contents, and formats of the books they read inside and outside of work differ.
They force themselves to finish each book, experiencing significant fatigue along the way.
While reading with their girlfriend, they find themselves engaging in conversations, which leaves them feeling disappointed as they realize they didn't have enough time to focus on reading.
Before starting a book, they feel disappointed when the content doesn't meet their expectations, which were based on recommendations they received.
They want to connect the flow of reading between their time at work and outside of work.
They wish to increase the time they spend reading books with focus.
Before starting a book, they hope that it meets their expectations and fulfills their anticipation for it.
Saying that they read books for a long time may sound easy, but putting it into practice is extremely challenging.
They feel disappointed in themselves when their concentration wanes after just 30 minutes of reading.
They want to read more books and spend more time reading than they currently do.
Since reading for a long time at once can be exhausting, they hope to read more frequently in short bursts throughout the day.
They want to utilize spare time to read books, but the thought of the tremendous effort and labor involved in reading makes it difficult for them to actually read during those moments.
Comparing themselves to others, such as how many books they've read, feels burdensome.
They find Millie's Bookshelf reading recommendations notifications bothersome, and at the same time, they feel disappointed in themselves for ignoring the notifications and not reading.
They hope to start reading books with a pure desire to truly read them, rather than out of a sense of obligation driven by comparison with others.
They want to utilize spare time to read books.
Indeed, browsing books is the most enjoyable!
With such positive reviews, it's exciting, isn't it? Can't wait to dive in and read it soon!
I know it's a great to read right now, but why do I feel so reluctant to read?
Even if it's boring... Once I've started, I guess I have to see it through to the end, right?
Today seems to be lost, let's
hope for better luck next time...
Explore
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Read
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Doing
Feeling
Thinking
Painpoint
Needs
Step
Participants
Purpose
Four interviewees in their 20s and 30s, who have a desire to read but struggle to take action, and have experience using various reading services
2
3
Examining perceptions of reading and reading education
1
Capturing pain points and emotional shifts during the reading process
Exploring the reasons behind the failure to develop reading habits
Interviewing with Participant B
Reading is perceived dominantly as a subject of learning and an act of energy consumption
1
Reading requires setting aside time, creating the right environment, and adopting the proper posture, which can feel burdensome before even starting
2
When reading is measured solely by completion—such as 'how many books' or 'have you finished'—people often lose interest in the content's quality and significance.
3
How might we split a long journey to complete the book
to offer different volume of book based on their interest and let them
make use of their spare time to read more efficiently?
Flow Logic for a Real-Time Notification System to Detect Public Transport Boarding Status via GPS
Notification UI on a smartwatch
Notification UI on a mobile phone
Fragment a book into partial units
Smart GPS-Based Notifications for Optimizing Travel Time
Sentence
1
Paragraph
2
New Partial Units
Full
4
Original Unit
Chapter
+
3
I’ve broken the book into smaller units, allowing readers to start with an intriguing sentence before moving on to a 10-minute paragraph. If they’re hooked, they can delve into chapters or the full version. This approach caters to varying attention spans, making it easy to read in short bursts or dive deeper when time permits, all while maintaining curiosity and engagement throughout.
The most common pockets of free time are during travel, especially when commuting on public transportation to school or work. It's a great opportunity to establish a routine since users can use that time for simple activities like reading while they're on a bus or subway. To make the most of travel time, I came up with a system that sends an alarm right after boarding, based on the GPS location change rate, allowing users to engage in activities throughout their journey
Estimated reading time
Read a piece of Sentence
Read a set of paragraphs
Read some of chapters
Read full version
Logo
Save
Info
Brief Description
of the book
Subject
Category
Menu icon
Book title
Phrase
Num of saved
Book title
Book Subject
Paragraph
Chapter / page
Author
Ranking info
Ranking info
Link to the
location of book
Close
Full version
Chapter
Explore others
Tab
Icon
Info
Button
Popup
Tuesday,October 29
8:30
Tuesday,October 29
5:50
Good Morning, Ellie!
now
Check out Today’s reading list and read
just within 10 min if you are going to work!
Good Evening, Ellie!
now
Check out Today’s reading list and read
just within 10 min if you are going home!
I feel like this is really intriguing!
I’d love to dive into it with a short
collection of readers’ favorites.
'This is exactly what I need right now!
I’d like to explore further, maybe
a few chapters or the entire book?'
Hypothesis about the Phenomenon
"I don’t like to show that I always stop reading a book halfway. It feels like I haven’t done it properly."
The difficulty in sparking interest in reading often stems from the ingrained belief that a book must be read from start to finish
First Hypothesis
"I’ve been reading this book for so long, but I’m still not done. I’m losing interest.. when will it end?”
Another challenge is the sheer volume of text, which can feel overwhelming and lead to fatigue and loss of interest
Second Hypothesis
It looks interesting, but the content’s a bit heavy, so I’ll just quickly read the two most fun-looking chapters and call it a day!
It was already intriguing after just
10 minutes in, so no second thoughts,
I'm diving in from the start!
Choose Chapter
Read Full Version
30 sec
5-10 min
Far more
2025 by Ellie Na
ⓒ