[Case 03]
Goodreads – Dashboard
Healthcare
Goodreads
Boosting Conversion Rates for E-commerce Checkout
Dashboard & Navigation Redesign
Goodreads, the most widely used reading tracker, has strong brand recognition but suffers from outdated design, limited review tools, and weak social features. This redesign focused on modernizing the interface, strengthening discovery, and reintroducing community features to improve user satisfaction and engagement.
[Problem Statement]
Goodreads struggled with low engagement and poor usability. Readers faced an outdated interface, unreliable search that often forced them to use Google, and limited review tools like the lack of half-star ratings. Community features felt static compared to modern platforms such as Letterboxd or StoryGraph, leading to frustration and disengagement.
[Industry]
Healthcare
[My Role]
Lead Designer
[Platforms]
Desktop and Android
[Persona]
Joao Rui Manso
Occupation: Architect
“I enjoy books that make me think, and I love talking to people with similar tastes.”
Age: 28
Location: Chicago, IL
Tech Proficiency: Advanced
Single
[Goals]
Build an influential online reading presence and discover trending books
Connect with readers who share similar tastes
Track detailed reading analytics and share achievements
[Frustrations]
“Why can’t I easily tag friends in posts or see what books we both loved?”
Expects Letterboxd-level social features but finds basic commenting
Uses Goodreads + StoryGraph + BookTok because no single platform meets all needs
[Process]
[Measurement Plan (KPIs)]
Increase engagement time per session.
Improve in-app search success rate.
Growth in community activity (lists shared, clubs joined).
Higher satisfaction scores in usability feedback.
[Competitor Analysis]
Compared Goodreads against StoryGraph, Bookly, and Letterboxd. Findings revealed that:
StoryGraph excelled in data visualization and half-star reviews.
Letterboxd’s social engagement highlighted Goodreads’ stagnant community features.
Bookly provided more modern UI design.
These gaps confirmed opportunities to modernize Goodreads with half-star ratings, stronger social interaction, and cleaner navigation.
[User Interviews & Surveys]
Conducted surveys with 200+ respondents and follow-up interviews. Findings showed:
Readers were frustrated with outdated UI and laggy performance.
Many bypassed Goodreads’ search tool in favor of Google.
Long-time users emphasized the need for better organization and duplicate edition cleanup.
Across demographics, half-star ratings was the most common request.
[Heuristic Evaluaton & IA]
Goodreads showed key usability issues:
Status visibility: Search gave no feedback on failed results.
Consistency: Duplicate editions and no half-star reviews broke trust.
Efficiency: Lists and groups were buried in menus.
To address this, I simplified the IA to three core areas: Home, My Books, Community. This reduced cognitive load and highlighted top user needs — discovery, organization, and social features.
[Wireframes]
[Core Navigation & Modes]
[Features]
Reduced navigation to Home, My Books, Community, cutting clutter and reflecting the three most-used flows.
[Home]
[Features]
Highlights progress, recommendations, and updates from friends, making discovery and social engagement front and center.
Clean layout improves scannability, prioritizing relevant content over outdated clutter.
[Breadcrumb Navigation]
[Features]
[My Books]
[Features]
Clearer filters and shelf structures help users manage large libraries efficiently (solving Katya’s clutter problem).
Supports half-star ratings and edition cleanup, addressing long-standing user frustrations.
[Community]
[Features]
Groups, clubs, and challenges consolidated into one space, making social interaction accessible and active.
Added tagging, shared booklists, and discussion prompts to foster continuous engagement.
[Projected Outcomes]