Case Study
| Ilgoyo
2019
Ilgoyo
Employing delightful illustrations to promote good reading habits.

Overview

  1. Context
    Personal Project
  1. Roles
    Researcher | UX/UI Design | Branding | Illustration
  1. Notes
    Pen + paper, Figma, Procreate
    ‍80 Hours

Problem

Design a platform that affords users the ability to collect and consolidate content from various outlets and easily organize it according to personal preferences.

I read about multiple news pieces each day. However reading and being able to  recall what I have read are different matters. I wanted to design an application that reduces recall failures and encourages people to read more than the average 15 minutes. Ilgoyo lets users collect content while promoting balanced, intentional reading habits.

Solution

An application that delights users with light-hearted illustrations and promotes healthy digital consumption habits while meeting personal needs.

2019
eupnea Home

Building an intimate customer experience while shopping small online.

  1. Solution
  1. Client
    Eupnea Home
  1. My Focus
    Research
    Wireframes
    Visual Design
    Testing
  1. Notes
    Sketch, Figma, + Invision
    Ongoing project

In September 2019, I was approached by eupnea to build an e-commerce site that would cater towards their customers and grow a wider client base. eupnea is a small business that designs, creates, and sells meditation and wellness products. As a small-batch company, their product line is limited and they aim to be open and transparent with their customers.

Research & Empathy

How might I design a digital reading platform that promotes intentional reading habits to improve recall?

To answer this question, I needed to know what current short-form content platforms were on the market and how users interacted with them.

User Types & Motivations

Average Readers

Usually read what comes across their path directly from content creators. Doesn't use any organizational tools.

Habitual Readers

Searches for things to read and uses a bookmark tool or similar to organize reading list, but rarely ever reads more than a few pieces.

Power Readers

Uses multiple tools to search for and organize their reading lists and notes: like Evernote and Pocket.

Daily Readers

60%
mobile readers
15
minutes per day

According to Pew Research Center average readership is first and foremost taking place on mobile devices because it is more easily accessible and can be done in bite size pieces. The remaining 40% is made up of desktop computers, newspapers, television, and radio. [1]

Current Industry

I identified three major types of reading applications that focused on short-form content:

  • Content creators - e.g. New York Times and personal blogs
  • Content aggregates - e.g. Apple News and Pocket
  • Content creator-aggregates - e.g. Medium

Takeaways

Across all platform types, I identified two opportunities that give Ilgoyo a competitive stance:

  • Referencing content and having personal notes attached to articles
  • As of yet, there is no one working to promote good reading habits like long-form applications (e.g. Apple Books).

I synthesized user feedback from one-on-one interviews using the above empathy map and then compared this data with my exploratory research. I gleaned 3 primary user needs.

User Needs

Synthesis

Balancing user needs with business goals: how to leverage motivations to convert.

As a web clipper application, the user experience is dependent on the user’s current reading patterns. The type of reader they are and their interaction(s) with both digital devices and content outlets. This led me to create a user journey that placed Ilgoyo in contrast with existing tools and explored what it would mean for Ilgoyo to convert customers.

While developing this journey, it became evident that Ilgoyo's value proposition lay its holistic approach to good reading habits.

Unlike competitors, Ilgoyo treats reading as a daily ritual and uses metrics to motivate readers to intentionally consume content, not blindly.

Prioritizing utility without sacrificing Ilgoyo's value proposition: reading habits as an act of personal fulfillment.

Ideation

After working through a few sketches and notes to solve general structural challenges, I digitized my wireframes in Figma. My early concerns were about utility and legibility as Ilgoyo.

However, my biggest challenge was understanding what metrics actually motivate individuals. I conducted short interviews to gauge user reactions to different types of tracking and visualization. Interviewees were prompted to evaluate the following two designs:

In the process, I realized that I needed to be careful to avoid the pitfall of digital fatigue. Users like the idea of seeing their progress but want do not want another app set on optimizing personal habits.

  • Users had a preference for simpler, “at-a-glance” data.
  • Longevity views were fine in small doses, but not as a default.
  • Progress bars were preferred to larger circular progress charts.

To address these preferences, I modified the metric visuals to promote a less burdensome snapshot of performance.

A space to explore the written word: an outlook to distinguish Ilgoyo.

Brand & Identity

Ilgoyo was designed to celebrate why people read: discovery and pleasure. A personal place to enjoy learning new things while challenging yourself to find more time to read.

Using this message as a guiding principle I created a brand identity that was positive, light-hearted, and intentional.

By balancing a bright palette with a robust font, I hoped to establish a place between intentionality and positivity; print material and digital content; discovery and pleasure.

Traditionally, print sources usually employed a memorable wordmark. I opted to continue this trend but wanted to refresh the traditional form of a wordmark. I made it lower case, gave it some texture and color, and placed it in front of simple line drawings.

I also created a brand mascot that would delight users and provide relief from the text-heavy content. I went through various iterations to find a print-inspired drawing style that would be a playful counterpart to the textual elements.

Visual Design

Marrying the brand with functionality in order to create a delightful interface that alleviates pressure.

Onboarding

Slide 1

01

Providing feedback for users to understand the flow.

02

Allowing users to opt-out and get right into the log-in page.

Slide 2

Drawing attention and placing emphasis on following action with colored accents.

Slide 3

Signaling the end of a flow with a CTA and final location marker.

01

Date headline recalls print newspapers and functions to greet users.

02

Habit tracker is a non-invasive way to let users visualize their accomplishments.

03

“Today’s Rundown” gives at a glance summary and counter-balances a text heavy screen.

04

Leaving more space between sections makes the Extra Bold more manageable on the smaller screen but maintains brand identity and provides hierarchy.

05

The bright colors work well to draw attention away from the the weighted fonts.

Design Elements Tour

06

Here I varied the Daily Rundown tile to be a little smaller because when on the same page as the other graphs I was nervous that it would be overwhelming.

07

Instead of providing long-term views I opted for the ability to view different weeks at a time.

08

Simplified bar chart with color to give positive feed back.

09

Fun shapes and colors give visual variance to a screen filled with numbers.

10

Progress bars provide feedback without placing expectations or judgements.

Testing

Prototype
arrow pointing right

Takeaways

  • Challenges are a fun and even useful feature, but the flow needs to be fine-tuned.
  • Users loved the illustrations and felt it was a nice balance to text heavy content.
  • Changes were recommended regarding the text hierarchy and some copy edits.

Remarks

As a personally designed challenge, Ilgoyo was both a frustrating and rewarding project. Illustrations took an unexpectedly long amount of time to create a cohesive aesthetic that could would match the brand and be scaled out across the application. At the same time, I feel really good about having challenged myself to do something new.

arrow pointing right
Pinboard
Eupnea Home
arrow pointing right