Finding the Book Beneficiary

Recently I moved, and I had a plethora of books with no idea how to give away within the limited time that I had in hand. I was stressed. All my books were in very good condition. That involved my collection of some of the hard bound anthologies, my kids books which they had outgrown, and many many more. I reached out to local library but they weren't accepting any donations that time. I asked my friends and they helped me by taking most of the books but I was sure that there could be many people who were really needing some of my books but I had no way to reach out. I was greatful to my friends but eager to know how I can find the book beneficiary who is looking for a book that I wish to give away.

The Challenge - The magic in 8 weeks

My high level goals were to:

• Easy and Quick user experience for all users
• Provide upto date information on the various options to get rid of books
• Educate users on recycling guidelines for books

My Role

Designing right from conceptualization till the end product in just 8 weeks, made me wear many hats as a Business Analyst, User Interface Designer, Web Developer, Copywriter, User Experience Manager, Tester and a Project Manager. Developing a project plan was crucial and extremely important.

Design Process

I decided to follow IDEO’s human-centred Design and Lean UX Design Thinking Process to make sure that design decisions are supported by feedback.

Kickoff & the Discovery

Online research was my first stop. I wanted to know what are the other options to get rid of books that are in good condition. I discovered that its a problem at large.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produces a biannual indepth report of materials in the solid waste stream, titled “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 2009 Facts and Figures.” Books fall into the “Paper and Paperboard Non-durable Goods” category, and the 2009 EPA report indicates that while 33.3 percent of books in the waste stream are recovered, approximately 640,000 tons are discarded into the landfill. Books comprise roughly 0.4 percent of total municipal solid waste generation. https://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Eco-schools/McGraw%20Hill/12-4-12%20A%20Research%20Study%20on%20Textbook%20Recycling.ashx https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials

GOOD BOOKS NEED A SECOND LIFE THROUGH REUSE!

Many library branches, or their associated nonprofit programs, take donations only during specific times of the year. Libraries may not have the room or immediate need for the donations, and your books will end up unused (albeit in a different location).

Selling used books online or with used book stores requires a lot of patience. The efforts are not worth the monetary returns. Resource : google search results, blogs, yelp.

Little Free Library ("take a book, return a book" hub). However resources shows that, that wasn't always (or even often) the case. There's a lot of taking with no returns, so a Little Free Library in your neighborhood — or starting one of your own — could go a long way. https://www.salon.com/2020/01/18/five-ways-to-recycle-your-unwanted-books/

Recycling of books and magazines needs to follow the process of recycling which involves cost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_U6UuFLEGQ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/micks2/

Findings from above online blogs and Facebook shares:

1. How to find people who will cherish books that I’m giving away
2. No idea how to find people who are interested in giving away their book treasure
3. Anyone interested in books that are old but are in great condition
4. No upfront up to date information on which organizations are accepting book donations

Deeper Insights - Survey, User Interviews

In order to find book donor and book beneficieries attitudes and preferences, I conducted a survey and 54 participants responded. The data confirmed some of my assumptions.

• User interviews were conducted to collect firsthand personal accounts of experience, opinions, attitudes and perceptions.
• 6 user interviews roughly for about 30 minutes in conversational format were conducted over zoom and recorded.
• Unique and diverse perspective was added because of interviewees varied income levels, ages and geographical locations.
• The questions to interviewee were related to their journey right from buying new or used books until getting rid of them.

Insights from user interviews helped to create a story with steps that helped me to translate my findings into organized insightful journey maps both for book donor and beneficiary in the second stage.

With good research findings and data, affinity diagrams helped me to analyze and synthesize user research findings by patterns and themes.

Reframing the Problem

THERE IS NO EASY AND EFFICIENT WAY TO CONNECT
BOOK DONORS WHO WISH TO GIVE AWAY THEIR USED HARD COPY BOOKS
WITH THE RECIPIENTS WHO NEED THE BOOKS.

It was confirmed that there is no connection between the donor and the beneficiary and there is a strong desire to give away books to someone who will cherish them or has a real need for them. Lack of knowledge of possible options of book donotion leads to frustration and wasted time. Recycling of books is not the first choice.

HOW MIGHT WE HELP BOOK DONOR AND BENEFICIARY TO GET CONNECTED?

Entry and Exit Points

A book donor's perspective

After through understanding of users and their inflation points, I worked on User flows and lo-fi wireframes that helped to understand and overcome technical issues from development perspective, especially how I can make the process of entering books in large quantity efficient and quick for the user.

Early Feedback

I transferred these lo-fi wireframes into Figma. Due to COVID, it wasn’t possible to conduct in-person paper prototype, I showed working prototype to the users. This early feedback from real users was extremely useful to test initial ideas early.

User Interface

The color palette was chosen based on the theme of environment, sustainability and soothing. Making sure that the color combinations are simple and at the same time are not confusing for color blind users.

Typography plays a crucial role in the success of a new design. A font was selected that optimizes readability, accessibility and usability, with overall graphic balance.

Introducing FREEBOOX

Test

To address the gap between how I want my product to be received and how it is actually received, its key to understand users experience. With the available time, I conducted usability test with Hi-Fi prototype over Zoom with 4 participants. Out of them 2 were the participants that I interviewed earlier and the other two were new users. I think this combination worked well to get deeper insight and to identify serious problems if any. Participants were given a set of tasks.

Closing Thoughts

This thesis project was a good learning experience for me. Especially, designing with limited time and resources was thought-provoking. It required me to think creatively in short time frame. Also, I learned about doing just enough research to get the project going. These scenarios are very much similar to corporate projects where you are often limited by resources.

Next Steps:

• Continue with user interviews and keep refining the product and its features.
• Introduce shipping experience which will allow book donors to complete shipping process at ease and quickly with less clicks.
• Integration with Alexa so that the users can search for a book or users will get notification as a book is available from their wishlist, as well as reminders for book pickups.

Thank You!