The inception of this project began nearly a month ago when my cousin (a book blogger) and I started discussing things we’d like to change on our kindle. The existing model is brilliant and its features have allowed it to become the most popular e-reader. I took up this redesign as a challenge to myself and also as a learning project. Due to the massive size of this project, I decided to dissect it into smaller components and attack those individually.

This is the second part of the study which will be focusing on the most significant feature of the kindle — The Reader Screen of the PaperWhite.

Approach

Approach for Redesign Process

The goal for me was to interact with users and identify what their needs are. With a deeper understanding of user behaviour, I defined a set of objectives — solve their current issues, enhance existing experience and improve overall usability. The next stage involved ideating to meet solutions for the objectives defined. Finally, the last stage was translating these ideas into mockups.

UX Research

As an avid reader myself, I spend over 3 hours on my kindle in a day. Based on my experiences, I formulated a questionnaire to gauge whether other users had the same experience and displayed similar behavior.

I sent out a survey to a group of book bloggers as well as a few senior citizens. Involving both a young and old pool of audience helped me get a wider view of how the technology was used.

When asked to rate the interface, (1- Complicated and difficult to use 5- Perfect and Intuitive)

83% of the users rated it 4 or 5

When asked to name any issues faced while reading, the following was the result

User Pain Points

I categorized them into UI/UX issues, Performance and Hardware related issues. The size of the circle is indicative of the relative percentage of users stating the issue.

One particularly common complaint was that highlight texting that starts at the end of one page and continues to the next page is difficult.

Based on my own experience, I usually use only a single hand to hold the device and this makes it difficult to open up the menu or to adjust brightness.

How to bring up the menu using one hand

Single hand kindle usage data

One blogger mentioned that the highlight feature on other e-readers allows one to highlight in different colors, and this feature is extremely useful. Colour coding highlights allowed her to segregate quotes for review, character development points, and so on.

Defining Objectives

The results of the UX research brought about clarity on the areas that needed focus and attention.

Solve current issues

Highlight text in an easier manner

Page Turn interactions

2. Propose enhancements for usability

Solution for easy use of device using a single hand

A feature for categorization of highlights

Search Optimisation

Button to easily access Dark Mode (Color Inversion)

Ideation & Prototyping

The ideation phase followed after defining the objectives. In order to meet the objectives, I went through several iterative rounds. At each point, (since I didn’t have any stakeholders) I shared my thoughts with a few users and built on the feedback I got.

The bottom bar reduces the weight of the top menu and creates a specialized zone only for reading features

By introducing two buttons for brightness and dark mode, users can easily customize their screen without having to visit the settings panel.

Addition of two features “One Hand Reading Mode” and “Highlight Mode” that addresses some of the issues faced by users

Replacement of Store and Goodreads tabs from the top menu with a specialized search

One Hand Mode

This mode is ergonomic in design. By placing common controls in easy to reach areas, the user’s strain on the hand reduces significantly.

The photo of the left shows the areas which are easy to access while using the kindle with just one hand.

In order to bring up this side menu, the user would need to double-tap at right-hand center.