BookSwap
Project Overview
​Problem Statement
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The high cost of textbooks has become a significant barrier to education, disproportionately impacting students from low-income backgrounds.
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Project Goals​
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Reduce financial burden on students.
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​Promote sustainability by extending the life of textbooks.
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​Create a convenient and efficient platform for buying, selling and renting textbooks.
Approach
I approached the project in four phases :
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Target Users
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College Students
Graduate Students
High-School Students
Discover
User Interview
User Interviews were crucial for understanding the needs, behaviors and painpoints of the targeted users. By directly interacting with the users, I gathered valuable insights to inform the design and development process.
Methodology
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Recruitment : 6 students from DePaul University with diverse background were recruited as participants.
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Interview : Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and open-ended questions were asked to gain insights into:
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Textbook purchasing habits and preferences
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Pain points associated with selling used textbooks
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Desired features and functionalities of a textbook rental platform
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Data Analysis : Analyzed interview transcripts to identify key themes and patterns.
Key Insights
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Diverse Purchase Methods : Students use various methods (online, physical stores) to buy textbooks.
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Digital Preference : Many prefer digital textbooks for convenience.
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Price sensitivity : Students are cost-conscious and seek affordable options.
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Selling Challenges : ​Low resale value, time-consuming process and lack of reliable platforms are common.
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Platform Expectations: User-friendly platform with a wide range of textbooks, flexible rental options, secure transactions and fair pricing.
Online Survey
To better understand the challenges students faced when purchasing and selling textbooks, a online survey was conducted among 35 students to gather quantitative data on their
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Spending Habits
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Preferences
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Pain Points​​​
Key Insights
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Significant textbook spending : Significant amount of students spend between $51-$200 annually on textbooks.
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Diverse purchase methods : ​Majority of students use Campus bookstores, Online retailers and rental services.
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Major selling challenges : Many students sell used textbooks but face challenges like low-resale value and time-consuming process.
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Strong interest in rental platforms : There is a high-demand for user-friendly and efficient textbook rental platform.
Understanding student needs: A Focus Group Study
To gain deeper insights into students perspectives, I conducted a focus group with 5 college students. The discussion explored their experiences with textbook purchasing, selling and their expectations for a peer-to-peer rental platform, focusing on :
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High Costs​
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Selling Challenges
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Frustrations
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Desired Features
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The focus group revealed Key Points :
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The difficulty and risk associated with selling used textbooks and need for more affordable access to materials beyond just buying and selling.
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These insights directly informed the platform's design, emphasizing trust among students and integrating a rental feature alongside buying and selling functionalities.
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Define
User Persona
User Persona helped in understanding the target user's goals, frustrations, needs and behaviors. It helped in designing and developing this platform that truly resonate its users, leading to increased user satisfaction.
"Selling used textbooks is a hassle. I often end up giving them away."
"I wish there was a platform where I could easily rent or buy affordable textbooks."
"Textbooks are so expensive, it's hard to keep up."
Name : Alex
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Age : 20
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Year in school : Sophomore
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Major : Computer science
Goals
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Minimize textbook costs
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Maximize academic performance
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Balance work and school commitments
Frustrations
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High textbook prices
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​Difficulty selling used textbooks
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Limited access to affordable textbooks
Needs
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A platform that offers affordable textbook rental and purchase options
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Easy-to-use with a clear interface
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Reliable and secure transactions
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A wide range of textbooks available for rent or purchase
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Efficient customer support
Pain Point Analysis
Pain points analysis was conducted to identify key user frustrations and challenges with existing solutions.
Based on the research conducted, the following key pain points have been identified :
High Textbook costs
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Limited budget
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Impact on academic performance
Limited Rental Options
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Inconvenient rental process
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High rental costs
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Condition concerns
Selling Used Textbooks
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Low resale value
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Time-consuming process
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Difficulty finding buyers
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Shipping costs
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the competitors, a competitive analysis was essential for the platform development. By analyzing competitors, informed decisions could be made to build this platform that stands out in the market.
This radar chart provides a visual comparison of the five key features across 4 popular textbook platforms :
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BookScouter
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Chegg
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Textbooks.com
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CampusBooks
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Key Insights
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Platforms differentiate by focus​ :
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Chegg - rentals
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BookScouter - buybacks
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Textbooks.com - traditional
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CampusBooks - balanced/UX
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Target audiences vary :
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BookScouter for cheapest buybacks
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Chegg for digital rentals
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Chegg and CampusBooks leverage the digital trend and have strong UX.
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BookScouter : Strong Buyback focus, Weak in rentals and user experience​
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Chegg : Rental-centric, especially digital, also strong in buybacks.
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Textbooks.com : Traditional retailer, strong in physical rentals and buybacks, good user experience.
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CampusBooks : Balanced offering, excellent user experience, various acquisition options.​
Develop
Information Architecture
Information Architecture helped in defining how information should be organized, labelled and presented to the users. To create a user-friendly and efficient platform, a clear and intuitive information architecture was designed. Key components include :
Task User Flow Diagrams
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Primary user journeys were mapped out for 3 key tasks :
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User Profile setup
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Listing textbooks
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Searching textbooks, renting and buying
App Hierarchy
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A Hierarchical structure was established for the platform organizing content into logical categories like browse and sell.
Key Insights
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Following key features were focused :
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User Onboarding
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Seamless Login/ Signup Process​
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2. Core Functionalities​​
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Textbook Listing
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Searching
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Renting
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Purchasing
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Shipping Methods
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Secure payments
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Order Tracking​
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3. Community Features
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Join/Create
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Rate & Review
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Low - Fidelity Prototype
An online user survey of 48 DePaul Students was conducted to determine the most important search parameters for textbooks on a rental/buying platform.
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The results, expressed as percentages, identified :
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Textbook Name (primary search)
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ISBN Number
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Location
The homepage layout was divided vertically into two sections :
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The left section displays real-time user activity​
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The right section features a promotional module designed to help users find book​, encourage them to sell, message and other important parameters.
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​​The homepage was further segmented horizontally into 4 sections: ​
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Blue - Textbook browsing functionality, searching by title, ISBN or Location.​
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Green - Personalized textbook recommendations based on browsing history.​
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Red - Function for selling books.​
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Orange - Join communities based on genre and shared interests .
Based on the above findings :
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I included a prominent map interface with an integrated search bar that allows users to search by textbook name, ISBN or location, directly addressing the top three search criteria identified by the survey.
Deliver
High - Fidelity Designs
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The left sidebar displays real-time updates, including pending book requests and the status of currently rented books, showing time elapsed and remaining.
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A persuasive "word ad" in the next section encourages users to upload their textbooks, citing statistics.
Homepage
Prioritizes a clean, minimalist aesthetic with a subtle brown color palette for ease of use.
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User-friendly and recognizable icons are employed throughout.
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The top search features a prominent map with an integrated search bar, enabling searches by textbook name, ISBN or location.
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Below the map, a dedicated section provides personalized book recommendations based on user preferences, browsing, renting and purchasing history.
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The following section focuses on community engagement, facilitating the discovery and joint of relevant groups.
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Selecting a Textbook
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The left side displays a brief book description, cover page, rating and other revenant details, along with "Rent" and "Buy" options.
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The right side features a map displaying approximate seller locations within colored circles, allowing users to assess travel feasibility or choose delivery.
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Each circle represents a different seller, with corresponding seller information.
Payment Page
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This page displays order details, including item price, quantity, order summary, total amount and shipping cost.
Mobile Wireframes
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The mobile wireframe features a clean interface with a prominent search bar and a background map suggesting location-based discover. ​The design prioritizes search and visual browsing to facilitate a seamless book buying experience.
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The second page displays book search results, showing locations of sellers on a map with color-coded pins and offering options to either buy or rent books from the listed sellers below.
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The hamburger menu icon opens a slide-out navigation panel, providing access to secondary sections of the app beyond the bottom navigation bar.​
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This page allows users to search for a book they wish to sell, displaying matching titles with cover images and author names to ensure accurateselection before proceeding with the listing process.
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This page provides a comprehensive form for sellers to list their books, capturing essential details like title, ISBN, edition, format, condition, price, shipping options, and payment methods, culminating in a "PUBLISH" button to finalize the listing.
User Feedback
To validate the user experience of my newly designed book swap app, I conducted user testing with four participants.
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Methodology
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Recruitment : 4 students from DePaul University with diverse background were recruited as participants.
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Interview :To gain user insights, semi structured interviews were conducted with target users to gather feedback on the bookswap app prototype.
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Data Analysis : Analyzed interview transcripts to identify key themes and patterns.
Key Insights
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Positive reception : ​
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Strong core concept validation : Resonates with students due to cost and convenient factors.
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Positive UX foundation : Clean, intuitive interface and easy navigation provided solid base for positive user experience.
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Valuable feature direction : Sections like "top picks" , "my requests" and "did you know" indicated good feature direction.
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Negative Insights :
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Iconography Inefficiency : The "sell" icon was not effectively communicating it intend function, leading to potential user confusion.​
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Lack of reporting mechanism : Inability to report a fake or inaccurate listing exposes users to fraudulent activity, hindering platform credibility.​
Reflection
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BookSwap, a peer-to-peer textbook platform for students, was designed using a user-centered approach.
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I learned the power of synthesizing user research into a clear persona, Alex, which guided design decisions.
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Balancing feature inclusion with UI clarity was a challenge, overcome through iterative prototyping and prioritizing core functionalities.
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A Key learning was integrating location-based search via a map interface.
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User testing validated the concept and UI, but also revealed areas for improvement, like icon clarity and the need for a reporting mechanism.
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Overall, BookSwap significantly enhanced my user-centered design skills and highlighted the value of iterative development.
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