How to make sure that every book finds its reader? Bookarang, part of NBD Biblion, has been working on this issue for over 10 years. Through different products, inspiration for finding books is stimulated, for instance WelkBoek (a book recommender) and Blieb (a playful youth book kiosk for public libraries). In my role as UX designer, researcher and coder, I worked on improving usability for existing apps, and on totally new apps.
For example, I designed and implemented a new dynamic homepage for the Welkboek-web application, in which slowly scrolling covers provide reading inspiration (even before making a choice!). And another project: for the fantasy / science fiction collection of a large public library project in Dordrecht (archived link), I created the designs and an iPad-based prototype. For this, I conducted user research & brainstorming within and outside the Bookarang team. The app combines hand-drawn content and playful ways to enter one’s preferences (e.g. the types of sci-fi one is interested in). What especially appealed to me in this process was immersing myself in the topics and the collaboration with avid fantasy and sci-fi readers.
header image: excerpt from NBD Biblion’s WelkBoek homepage