User Story for Goodreads

Gianna M
Jan 17, 2023
2 min read

Over ten weeks, I examined the journey of a user interacting with a specific digital product. My goal was to gain a holistic understanding of the process so that I could determine delightful moments in the user experience. By exploring the user's pain points, I uncovered how the Goodreads app can not only eliminate these frustrations but also provide joy. I leveraged my understanding of user personas and journey mapping to empathize with a key user. The final user story video is shown below.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7d4a22_fb9726dfe58942f98e73de0eefa4aa97/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Keep reading to learn about my process for creating this video.

User Persona

I created a user persona for a target user based on existing demographic information about Goodreads users.

Persona of Chloe, an avid reader and target user of the Goodreads app

Brainstorming

I explored the Goodreads app to determine its key features and how they might tell a compelling story.

Exploration of different scenarios to depict

Mapping the User Journey

After brainstorming the goals for each potential scenario, I considered which scenarios might contain a significant conflict and resolution, as those are key elements of a compelling story.

User journey for writing a book review in the Goodreads app

Drafting the Story Narrative

Then, it was time to create the story. With Chloe as my protagonist, I wanted to portray her as the "hero" in my story.

First draft of a narrative for the user story video

Storyboarding

Next, I considered the different scenes and images my video would require.

Creating Character Art

In this final step before creating the video, I illustrated the different views of Chloe and her facial expressions from the storyboard. I collected other visual assets, including plants and a bookshelf, and created phone screen mockups in a similar art style. With all of my script writing, visual assets, and sound effects prepared, I dove into Adobe AfterEffects to create a page turning animation and put the whole video together in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Closing Thoughts

This project challenged me to thoroughly understand the user journey. Empathy, narrative structure, design, and an understanding of a user's pain points and delightful moments all contributed to the success of this project.