PROCESS
THE

FAKE IT

MAKE IT

THE ASSUMPTIONS

Build a web experience that makes it simple for book publishers, aspiring authors and craft hobbyist to upload, proof, and ship physical books for selling or keepsake purposes.

THE

PRODUCT
GOAL

 

BOOK

CREATION &

PUBLISHING

BOOK  PUBLISHING

ONE CLICK

ABOUT

NOOK Press is a publishing service provided by Barnes & Noble that allows users to self-publish books
for on-demand purchasing and

printing at retail locations.

ROLE

I was assigned this mission in 2014 for Pivotal Labs Palo Alto, CA. My role was
to lead research, design and consulting.
I collaborated with product mangers, engineers, and stakeholders on the execution and delivery of design deliverables.

 ASPIRING AUTHOR – – –

ABOUT

 

 

Works a full time job

Does writing on the side

Likes writing clubs

24 - 45 in age

Computer savvy but not publishing savvy

First time Author and longtime writer

Has never been published before

 

Behavior

 

 

Is usually really busy and "wrapped" up in work

Writing is a passion and spends time doing it

Always working on that Novel....

Spends time and money to invest in their career

Working local events to get out and look professional

Spends a fare amount of time building a social presence

NEEDS/GOALS

 

 

Needs to get their novel/manuscript done

Needs to get published or self published

Needs a good editor and book designer

Needs to look professional at events

Wants people to know who they are

Wants to learn more about self publishing

Wishes to become a big time author

Wishes they could write all day and not work

 

 

 

 

 

PAINS

 

 

 

Always working, not enough time for writing

Trouble-shooting software, when editing and designing

Challenging to stand out in a large market

Not knowing enough about the business of publishing

 

 

 

 THE CRAFTER – – –

ABOUT

 

 

Helps run/host/volunteer for fundraising events

Non-profit over self profit

Volunteer, part-time job and crafter on the side

Has a grasp of software and computers

Likes to memorialize

Lives in a nice neighborhood

23 - 45 in age and has a family

 

 

Behavior

 

 

Helps gifting and funding at local non-profit events

Takes time out to help non-profit over self-profit

Does volunteering and enjoys DIY crafting.

Takes lots of photos and gets crafty around the house

Enjoys making custom/unique gifts for friends and family

 

 

NEEDS/GOALS

 

 

Needs to get a gift for a family member

Needs to gather and create content

Needs to create found raising material

Will do extra for unique and personal experiences

Wants and likes to preserve memories

Wants the gift receiver to feel special

Wishes to one day they will make a big impact

Wishes this gift will be shared with others

 

 

PAINS

 

 

Getting stuck in software and computer errors

Buying and or creating bulk is expensive

Having to gather on the pictures or make content

Time managing event deadlines and material needs

 

 

 

ENABLEMENT GOALS

Enable the current nook team and business with agile methodologies and processes.

 

Use user centered design philosophies to enable and connect the business and it's goals with the motivations of it's customers.

 

 

 

 

 

MEET THE
CUSTOMERS

" IT'S ALL

  ABOUT THE

  OCCASION "

 

" I WANT

  TO LOOK

  PRO "

 

 

Behavior

 

 

Does a lot of writing and business development

Spends time on marketing, sales and analytics

Cares about maintaining a professional view

Works on new material for audience specificities

Spends time online and on social media

 

NEEDS/GOALS

 

 

Wanting to hit new markets and broaden spectrum of writing

Needs a good cover designer

Wants more sales and less cost producing

Wishes there was less red-tape and production fees

Selling more on-demand orders

 

 

 

 

 

PAINS

 

 

Being managed with publishers and agents

Fears of not staying fresh

Dealing with digital rights & red tape

Not selling enough

Having to do their own book layout, editing and design

 

QUOTES

I created my own book to the size required for CreateSpace. I wasn't a big fan of the service. I thought it was too expensive per book.

I ordered 30 physical books of my comics for comicon last year using blurb and it was time consuming.

 

"

"

I used microsoft word to create

a photo book and then I had to re-create
it when I found out there's a bigger size
I could have created.

"

Trying to get published is a big deal to
me. Having books and other material on the
table at my comedy events show that I'm
professional and that I take this serious.

"

 

Build a new customer market and increase revenue

in the on-demand printing market by developing software

that allows customers to upload books for self publishing,

gifting and keepsake purposes.

 

Bridge Nook's online publishing business and attract

aspiring authors to sell books they uploaded in the Nook's

on-demand book store.

 

 

 

 

BUSINESS 
GOALS
- CARD -

Sorting

 

There is enough

aspiring authors with

book making needs to create a business.

All personas have
knowledge of

bleeds and margins

 

 
THE RESEARCH

begins

the

INTERVIEWS

2 WEEKS

5 8 3
- ASPIRING AUTHOR -
- CRAFTER -
- EXPERT -

INTERVIEWS

INTERVIEWS

FEATURES FROM
OUR COMPETITIVE

REVIEW ANALYSIS

INTERVIEWS

HOUSE CALL REMOTE CALL HOUSE CALL REAL WORLD
CONTEXT GENERATIVE

"

"

"

"

User

All personas know how
to create and upload
a print-ready book

 THE PRO AUTHOR – – –

ABOUT

 

 

Likes being self-published

Professional fiction writer

Has specific reading audience

Has time now, then before

Likes business and analytics

College educated

Usually has family

35 + usually has family

 

 

" WRITING

  IS MY

  BUSINESS "

 

NOOK Press wants to create new on-demand printing opportunity for inspiring authors and professional authors by building a web application that makes it simple for users to upload their own books for on-demand printing as well as keepsake printing. Barnes & Noble assumes that normal consumers could use this too and that they would know how to create and upload a “print-ready” book.

THE PROBLEM
LEARNING GOALS

THE ASPIRING AUTHOR

 

Aspiring Author motivations?

Understand the Technical Knowledge?

Pains/joys and magic wand?

 

 

 

THE CRAFTER

 

Craft and Book Making Motivations?

Understand the Technology Knowledge?

Pains/joys and magic wand?

 

 

 

THE EXPERT

 

Understand Author Business?

Technology Knowledge needed ?

Business Learnings to share?

Pains/joys and magic wand?

 

 

 

KICK OFF
MEETING!

 
USER INTERVIEW

Scripts

TOPIC MAPS - ASPIRING AUTHORS

TOPIC MAPS - CRAFTERS


THE

Synthesis

COLOR

STICKY NOTE

 

 

EACH USER IS REPRESENTED BY A`

After learning about this service at a Barnes & Noble store, Amy Author goes online and submits her Cover Design, PDF interior, approves a proof, enters payment and ships a printed version of her book.

 

TOPICS &
THEMES

 
 LEARNINGS & FINDINGS

Only some of the crafters/authors
were NOT able to successfully upload
print-ready books due to the complexity of design tools and the software on the competitive market..

 

Online "book builder" tools made it easier for the crafter market but the Author market didn't trust it. Also, all the aspiring authors had already  created books in other layout tools.

Everyone we talked to had knowledge of margins and bleeds. We found the authors were more tech savvy then the craft persona.

 

We learned that handling bleeds, margins and now cover spine are challenging error cases in current competitive software.

We found the aspiring authors need to have professional printed books to look professional at events. Generally they're exited about the opportunity to publish and sell their physical and online books on the Nook platform.

 

Authors also have a need for book cover design, copy writing editing help and interior design layout services.

 

ASSUMPTION

ASSUMPTION

ASSUMPTION

LEARNING

LEARNING

LEARNING

There is enough
aspiring authors with

book making needs to create a business.

All personas have
knowledge with

bleeds and margins

 

All personas will know

how to create and upload
a print-ready book

WHAT DOES
THIS MEAN?
1

The professional author and aspiring

authors have more of a need for
physical books then the crafter persona.

They aspiring authors are reacting well
to the nook business opportunities.

 

2

The crafter market does have a need for physical book creation but not as often. When they do have a need they aim for simplicity and don't seem to be aware of the price differences for bulk ordering vs single one off keepsake books.

 

3

There's an opportunity for both markets,
if the experience can be easy enough for

crafter yet cheap and good enough quality

for the authors.

4

We found that there wasn't a strong enough need for the expert persona to have any more user focus. They will now become subject matter experts

for any questions we have going forward.

Design a book uploading experience

that is easy enough for the average crafter

persona. It must be able to provide clear steps
and helpful support during error moments.

THE MISSION THE SCENARIO

CLUSTERING

THINK

 

MAKE

 

CHECK

 

ASSUMPTIONS

EXPERIMENTS


THE

Sketching

SKETCHING WORKSHOP WITH CLIENTS


    WE GOT AN

  Concept

ALIGNMENT & SHARED OWNERSHIP COLLABORATIVE WHITE BOARDING


MODEL THE

Customer Journey


    THE BUILD A BOOK

  Work Flow

SKETCHING WITH OUR USERS MORE
 
 LEARNINGS & FINDINGS

We found stopping to summarize  was really helpful for the user to see down stream decision before they created an account.  Plus, it gave another opportunity for quantity and pricing.

 

It was found to be very confusing for a user to have just selected a 5" x 8" file size and have to then upload a 5.125" and 8.25" file size.

Not really. Not needed for MVP.

We did pretty good on this. They way we have visually shown what the exact error was helpful. We did find we needed a stronger CTA when the user lands on the page. We found the users that did review the education content before upload did better when there was an error.

We made a lot of assumptions on
this one. We found that setting up a full cover spread and spine are very difficult to do. We found authors and crafters can set up a page but not
a cover spread with spine. We're assuming that templates will not
work due to the "it's too much work." behavior of these folks.

We definitely need to show them a preview for the cover design and the interior layout. It's helpful in that, it gave a since of approval and gave the user a since of location.

QUESTIONS

ANSWERS

How do our customers think about the front and back cover spread?


Will customers need
the interior layout and cover preview?

 

Are templates helpful?

 

 

Are the error cases easy enough to understand and fix?

 

 

 

Is a quote summary
needed for MVP
product strategy?

Is it confusing and painful if a book size of 5" x 8" will require a file upload size of 5.125" x 8.25" to accommodate

for bleed

Overall, the testing went well and we caught some assumptions we weren't aware of. We did pretty good on the build-a-book work-flow and learned a lot about the interior and cover design uploading process.

{ CLICK AROUND & BUILD CONTEXT }

WHAT DOES
THIS MEAN?
1

We made a strong opinion that when a
users selects the book size of 5" x 8" then

the file upload requirement will be 5" x 8"
and not account for bleed.

 

 

 

2

When creating a cover, we found that users do a front and back as separate files. We're going to follow that behavior and split the cover upload into sections.

 

3

Our assumption of book spines changed when we found it was mostly impossible for our user base to create a cover design spread. So we're going to auto create a spine for users with the choice of their custom color and text.

4

We found many more opportunities for

help with text layout, editing and cover design coming from the expert and inspiring authors that we can explore.

BUILD-A-BOOK WORK FLOW

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

Further learning on the build-a-book order of information.

Stay away from creation of account as long as we can.

Look for helpful content opportunities that are missing.

SUMMARY & 
PRICE QUOTE

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

Is a quote summary needed for MVP product strategy?

How can we test any pricing learnings?

COVER UPLOAD 
AND SPINES CREATION

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

How do our customers think about cover spreads?

Is it more helpful to do the cover in sections or spread?

How do our customers make this already?
Are cover templates helpful and more so than interior?

Any templates and if so, what software/education is needed?

Will our customers know how to set up trim and bleeds?

 

COVERS 
PREVIEW

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

Is this needed for MVP product strategy?
Will customers need the interior preview and when?

Is this a good place to point out errors?

Is pressing approve clear that's the final approval?

 

PAYMENT 
WORK-FLOW

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

Is ship to local store enticing?
Once the expectation on cost & free shipping?

Anything missing?

 

UPLOAD BOOK
INTERIOR

UI ASSUMPTIONS & LEARNING GOALS

Is it confusing and painful to select a book size of 5" x 8" but will it comes to the file upload the file size that is required is  5.125" x 8.25" to accommodate for bleed?

 

Are templates helpful?

What upload requirements are important to restrict the user on?

Are the error cases easy enough to understand and fix?

What kind of support channels should we include and when?

Is preview proof a need for MVP product strategy?

SCREENS & UI ASSUMPTIONS

THE

user testing

12 USER TEST

 

MANY ITERATIONS

  THE

Wire Frames

  DIAL UP THE

 Design Fidelity

TAKE A PREVIEW

OUR SOLUTION FOR
INTERIOR & COVER EDUCATION

Upload interior PDF

Your Interior Dimensions:

7" x 9

Embedded Fonts

HOVER
YOUR MOUSE

COVER UPLOAD

Upload back cover

Your Cover Dimensions:

7.25 x 9.25

 

HOVER
YOUR MOUSE

ERROR CASES

Upload interior PDF

Your Interior Dimensions:

7" x 9

Embedded Fonts

MARKETING PAGE CONCEPTS

{ we tested a couple concepts for the marketing team }

 

 

The "Your Book" story

WINNER!!!

CHECK OUT THE FINAL

 

TAKE A LOOK

PROTOTYPE

>

ON BEHALF OF THE TEAM WE

 

THANK YOU