Context

People make highlights from readings for various reasons, such as to retain important information, to revisit key points later, or to share insights with others.

Problem

Readers use highlighting to draw attention to important information in a text to refer later. However, with multiple platforms used for reading, these highlights often get lost.

but, why should we revisit highlights in the first place?

Research

I wanted to understand how avid readers manage and revisit important parts of what they read, and the challenges they face while doing so I conducted interviews with six individuals who read at least one book or article per month.

Through these conversations I synthesized the following user paint points

and the key takeaways from Market Research were

View Detailed Market Research

Target audience

So, let's help readers like Lisa!

Prioritizing features based on their impact on user satisfaction and delight

The UX of Emphasis is based on the Kano model, categorizing user preferences into five categories: basic, performance, excitement, indifferent, and reverse. The high level characterization for Emphasis is based on user expectations and how to exceed them:

Expected features

Features for delight

Early explorations

To ensure a readable and usable experience, I first sketched out the essential screens that users would need to access their highlights. Following that, I proceeded with creating wireframes for early testing.

Iterations based on user testing

Based on early user testing, one of the main insights was the importance of being able to filter highlights according to customized topics or moods.

Interaction Design Principles

Final prototypes

1. Onboarding

   I aimed to create a fast, effortless, and enjoyable onboarding process. The wording used is meant to enhance predictability. If given more time, I would investigate simpler methods for logging in and linking reading accounts.

2. Filter by mood/custom tag

   Users have the ability to sort their highlights using custom tags or default tags that they assign. To improve accessibility, with more time, I would investigate an option to scroll through different tags at the bottom of the screen.

3. View context of each highlight

   To view the context of a highlight in the book, the user can simply perform a long press on it. My research had shown that readers often need to see the context to fully understand the highlight.

4. Monetization model

   Initially, the plan is to monetize through a subscription model. However, I will further explore other options to reward and monetize as time goes on.

Establishing the brand identity for Emphasis

1. Building a recognizable & memorable logo

2. Choosing typography for readability and clarity

3. Testing the scalability of Emphasis brand identity

Learnings & Reflections

and now..

If you reached the end of the case study, I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback or just anything you'd like to share!
Please feel free to reach out at gunjan.ux@gmail.com 😁