Reimagining digital reading experiences
Redesigning Apple Books through the lens of emotional design, exploring how the application could evoke emotion and foster a deeper connection between readers and their digital assets.
Duration
March 2025
My role
UX design, research
Process
Research, ideation, prototyping, design
Reimagining digital reading experiences
Redesigning Apple Books through the lens of emotional design, exploring how the application could evoke emotion and foster a deeper connection between readers and their digital assets.
Duration
March 2025
My role
UX design, research
Process
Research, ideation, prototyping, design
Reimagining digital reading experiences
Redesigning Apple Books through the lens of emotional design, exploring how the application could evoke emotion and foster a deeper connection between readers and their digital assets.
Process
Research, ideation, prototyping, design
Duration
March 2025
My role
UX design, research
The goal
The goal is to shift the app’s focus from commercial transactions to immersion, creating a space that promotes relaxation, minimizes distractions, and makes the reading experience feel more personal.
The challenge
Reading on digital devices often comes with distractions and the temptation to multitask. Apple Books is functional and integrates well with the Apple ecosystem, but falls short in providing an immersive, distraction-free reading experience. It places heavy emphasis on purchasing and browsing, which detracts from the experience of reading itself.
The challenge was to transform Apple Books into a space that not only encourages focus and engagement but also supports relaxation, allowing users to unwind and immerse themselves in their reading without interruption.
The goal
The goal is to shift the app’s focus from commercial transactions to immersion, creating a space that promotes relaxation, minimizes distractions, and makes the reading experience feel more personal.
The challenge
Reading on digital devices often comes with distractions and the temptation to multitask. Apple Books is functional and integrates well with the Apple ecosystem, but falls short in providing an immersive, distraction-free reading experience. It places heavy emphasis on purchasing and browsing, which detracts from the experience of reading itself.
The challenge was to transform Apple Books into a space that not only encourages focus and engagement but also supports relaxation, allowing users to unwind and immerse themselves in their reading without interruption.
Object mapping
I used object mapping to understand Apple Books’ core and supporting functions, along with the emotional reactions they trigger.
overemphasis on commerce – The app prioritizes shopping experience, putting the core function of the app (reading) in the backburner.
lack of features to support immersion – There are no built-in features to help users transition into a relaxed, immersive reading state.
minimal personalization – Users have little control over their library organization or the overall look and feel of the app.
Object mapping of core and supporting functions & emotional reactions.
FigJam board for a more detailed look here.
Embodied research
I wanted to understand what contributes towards feeling of being relaxed and immersed in general. This was done through embodied research. In this research method, one is to emulate and experience what elicits a similar emotion to what I had planned for the redesign. I synthesized the experience into a moodboard, that eventually helped inspire the redesign. To emulate a relaxing situation, I engaged in breathing exercises and distraction-free reading.
Timeline of the day when I conducted embodied research
Observations I made during the embodied research
Object mapping of core and supporting functions & emotional reactions.
FigJam board for a more detailed look here.
Object mapping of core and supporting functions & emotional reactions. FigJam board for a more detailed look here.
Ideation
During the ideation phase, I explored ways to make Apple Books more immersive and personalized. Through collaboration with classmates, I brainstormed features such as customizable book displays and relaxing visuals - both of which I adopted in the final design.
Another key discovery was that I developed an idea for a new structure and user flow for the application. It simplified navigation and removed unnecessary steps that hinder focused reading, specifically the overt commercial elements.
Group ideation gave me many ideas for redesign
Early Hi-fi prototypes of the library view and userflow of the to-be state
Prototyping
The biggest challenge in this project was finding the right balance between personalization and clarity. It was important to give users enough control over their curated library, without making the experience feel complicated or cluttered.
I leveraged existing Apple Books navigation and visual style, while pushing the boundaries on how to reimagine the library view and the supporting functions to drive relaxation, curiosity and immersion.
Introducing features like calming visuals and smart home integration required thought to ensure that they in the end support the project goals rather than becoming another distraction. The opt-in nature of these features ensures that the user may decide what to incorporate in their reading experience. There’s still room to iterate through feedback sessions and testing.
Finally, there was a moment when I had to go back to my earlier iterations when I proceeded to Hi-fi prototyping too early. Oops. I look forward to exploring how lessons learned in this project inform my future designs!
Onboarding
Onboarding presents options for personalization and immersive features the user may choose to include in their reading experience.
Embodied research
I wanted to understand what contributes towards feeling of being relaxed and immersed in general. This was done through embodied research. In this research method, one is to emulate and experience what elicits a similar emotion to what I had planned for the redesign. I synthesized the experience into a moodboard, that eventually helped inspire the redesign. To emulate a relaxing situation, I did breathing exercises and distraction-free reading.
I wanted to understand what contributes towards feeling of being relaxed and immersed in general. This was done through embodied research. In this research method, one is to emulate and experience what elicits a similar emotion to what I had planned for the redesign. I synthesized the experience into a moodboard, that eventually helped inspire the redesign. To emulate a relaxing situation, I engaged in breathing exercises and distraction-free reading.
Curating
Entry into the application and reading happens through the library.
The user is invited to build their library by starting to categorize their books.
The categories form bookshelves in their library
Reading
When the user starts reading, they are greeted with breathing exercises to help them relax, as well as the option to customize their environment via sound and lightscapes.
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Impact
The redesigned Apple Books app aims to create a more immersive and focused reading environment by reducing distractions and introducing features that enhance relaxation. Users have more control over their reading space, while integrating calming elements the app encourages deeper engagement with books. This shift from a transactional interface to one centered around personal experience helps users feel more connected to their reading.
I decided to go with a skeuomorphic visual look, paying homage to the 2010 Apple Books bookshelf.
Timeline of the day when I conducted embodied research
Timeline of the day when I conducted embodied research
Observations I made during the embodied research
Observations I made during the embodied research
Ideation
During the ideation phase, I explored ways to make Apple Books more immersive and personalized. Through collaboration with classmates, I brainstormed features such as customizable book displays and relaxing visuals - both of which I adopted in the final design.
Another key discovery was that I developed an idea for a new structure and user flow for the application. It simplified navigation and removed unnecessary steps that hinder focused reading, specifically the overt commercial elements.
Group ideation gave me many ideas for redesign
Group ideation gave me many ideas for redesign
Prototyping
The design process we relied upon was the Double Diamond approach, with most of the emphasis on the first half, phases that I would call emphasizing and understanding users’ true needs. This part of the design process was very crucial for me to develop, as it creates a solid foundation for all future learnings as a designer. The fact that the research and interviews were mostly done as a big group, really set us up for success when we were refining our individual design proposals. For that I am very thankful for my classmates.
What I took away from this intensive and challenging project, with its fast pace and complex subject matter, is that I feel alive and thrive when I listen to people and uncover their sometimes hidden needs. Every person has a unique story to tell and unique needs to be met, if only someone would listen and make it happen. I want to be the one who listens and makes things happen.
Early Hi-fi prototypes of the library view and userflow of the to-be state
Early Hi-fi prototypes of the library view and userflow of the to-be state
Reflections
The biggest challenge in this project was finding the right balance between personalization and clarity. It was important to give users enough control over their curated library, without making the experience feel complicated or cluttered.
I leveraged existing Apple Books navigation and visual style, while pushing the boundaries on how to reimagine the library view and the supporting functions to drive relaxation, curiosity and immersion.
Introducing features like calming visuals and smart home integration required thought to ensure that they in the end support the project goals rather than becoming another distraction. The opt-in nature of these features ensures that the user may decide what to incorporate in their reading experience. There’s still room to iterate through feedback sessions and testing.
Finally, there was a moment when I had to go back to my earlier iterations when I proceeded to Hi-fi prototyping too early. Oops. I look forward to exploring how lessons learned in this project inform my future designs!
Impact
The redesigned Apple Books app aims to create a more immersive and focused reading environment by reducing distractions and introducing features that enhance relaxation. Users have more control over their reading space, while integrating calming elements the app encourages deeper engagement with books. This shift from a transactional interface to one centered around personal experience helps users feel more connected to their reading.
I decided to go with a skeuomorphic visual look, paying homage to the 2010 Apple Books bookshelf.
Onboarding
Onboarding
Onboarding presents options for personalization and immersive features the user may choose to include in their reading experience.
Onboarding introduces options for personalization and immersive features
Curating
Curating
Entry into the application and reading happens through the library. The user is invited to build their library by starting to categorize their books. The categories form bookshelves in their library
Entry into the application and reading happens through the library. The user is invited to build their library by starting to categorize their books. The categories form bookshelves in their library
Reading
Reading
When the user starts reading, they are greeted with breathing exercises to help them relax, as well as the option to customize their environment via sound and lightscapes.
When the user starts reading, they are greeted with breathing exercises to help them relax, as well as the option to customize their environment via sound and lightscapes
Send an email to receive a picture of my cat!
Send an email to receive a picture of my cat!
Send an email to receive a picture of my cat!