Goodreads
Goodreads is a social cataloging website where users can search for books, quotes, and reviews, as well as create personal libraries. Our team conducted usability tests to identify issues with the platform's organization, usability, and confusion experienced by new users. As avid readers and potential stakeholders, we aimed to improve Goodreads' functionality and overall user experience by identifying usability problems and offering recommendations.
Case Study
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Testing Overview:
Goal: The goal of the usability test was to uncover issues relating to Goodreads' organization and efficiency, while also identifying potential user frustrations and complications. We gathered both qualitative and quantitative data on user satisfaction, confidence in task completion, and task efficiency.
Methodology: We conducted in-person usability tests with interviews, focusing on four key tasks (saving books, rating books, discovering new books, and participating in discussions). The interviews were designed to feel natural, using a script and allowing for real-time feedback from users.
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Key Findings:
Positive Findings:
Goodreads provides a clear, intuitive path for logging books.
Most users successfully completed tasks without guidance, demonstrating a natural flow within the platform.
Users were generally satisfied with Goodreads' ability to meet their needs as a digital journaling tool.
Areas for Improvement:
"Read" Feature: Users struggled to add books to their “read” list due to unclear design. The dropdown for marking books as “read” was hidden and overlooked. A solution would be distinct buttons for “Want to Read,” “Currently Reading,” and “Finished Reading,” similar to Letterboxd’s “Rewatched” feature.
Review Feature: Users experienced confusion with the review system, including difficulty finding their reviews and issues with unclear terminology (e.g., “Hide review because of spoilers”). Suggestions include simplifying the review navigation and improving clarity in terminology.
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Goodreads is one of the most well-known social cataloging platforms for books, but it faces competition from other book discovery and cataloging apps like StoryGraph.
StoryGraph offers a more personalized experience with mood-based recommendations, detailed reading stats, and an intuitive user interface. Unlike Goodreads, StoryGraph allows users to track their reading habits in a more flexible way, catering to users who prioritize mood over genres and themes.
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User Goals
Improve User Experience: Streamline navigation and layout to ensure users can easily find and interact with key features. The focus is on reducing confusion, enhancing accessibility, and making the platform more intuitive, especially for new users.
Enhance Visual Design: Modernize the visual appeal of the Goodreads interface by incorporating a clean, cohesive design that aligns with current UI/UX trends, ensuring it remains aesthetically pleasing and functional.
Streamline Core Functions: Simplify tasks such as adding books to reading lists, rating books, and writing reviews, ensuring these functions are more intuitive and less prone to usability errors.
Persona
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Avid readers interested in tracking their reading habits and engaging with literary communities. They use Goodreads to discover new books, authors, and genres through recommendations, reviews, and curated lists. Interviews were conducted with eight engaged readers who fit this profile.
Usability Testing
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Instructions: Provide participants with oral and written instructions on a notecard for clarity. Key questions include: “How confident are you in completing this task?” and “How frequently do you perform this task?”
Probe Questions: Use open-ended questions during navigation, such as “What is drawing your attention right now?” and “Does this make sense?” If users pause or click, ask, “Can you tell me what just happened?” and “I noticed you paused. What were you thinking?”
Test Objectives: Evaluate Goodreads features like “Shelves,” “Rating System,” and finding recommended books. Each user will perform tasks related to these features. The entire test is expected to take about 15 minutes.
Research Highlights
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Data Analysis:
Quantitative Data: We measured task completion times and user confidence levels (rated on a 1-5 scale).
Qualitative Data: User feedback was collected through direct questions, observations, and discussions during the test sessions.
Conclusion: The usability test provided valuable insights into how users interact with Goodreads, revealing both strengths and opportunities for improvement. By addressing the identified usability issues, Goodreads can enhance the overall user experience and better serve both new and existing users.
Recommendations
“Read” Feature:
Issue: Users struggled to add books to their “read” list due to unclear design. The option to mark a book as “read” is hidden under a drop-down menu, violating the recognition rather than recall heuristic.
Recommendation: Implement distinct buttons for “Want to Read,” “Currently Reading,” and “Finished Reading” to improve visibility and usability. Consider adding a “Re-read” option to track different thoughts on a book.
2. “Review” Feature:
Issue: Users had difficulty locating their reviews and navigating the review section. The “close” link to exit pop-ups was confusing, and the term “Hide review because of spoilers” was unclear.
Recommendation: Simplify the review navigation and replace the “close” link with an “x.” Clarify the terminology to something like “Warn users of spoilers” for better understanding.
3. “Recommendations” Feature:
Issue: Users found it hard to locate books in the “Want to Read” section and were confused by the Discover page and Recommendations section, leading to longer task completion times.
Recommendation: Create a unified recommendation page and streamline the “Want to Read” section to avoid redundancy and confusion.
4. Discussions and Reviews:
Issue: One user had difficulty finding reviews due to a lack of clear navigation and filters. Other users followed the flow better but still faced issues with filtering.
Recommendation: Improve the visibility of review sections and add filters for “enjoyed,” “didn’t enjoy,” and specific rating categories. Make it clearer how to use star rating filters.
Solutions
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Research
Our research focused on evaluating the Goodreads platform to identify usability issues and areas for enhancement.
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Usability Test
We conducted usability tests to assess the interface's effectiveness in helping users discover, discuss, and track books. Key findings included difficulties with the “Read” feature, review navigation, and the recommendations section. We also observed challenges with the clarity of certain features and the overall user experience.
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Usability of Design
The research involved analyzing user feedback, task completion times, and navigation patterns. The insights gained underscore the need for design improvements to enhance usability and user satisfaction on Goodreads.