Goodreads Case Study - Reading Buddies

Team

1 Designer

Role

Product Designer

Timeline

Sep 2022 - Nov 2022

Final prototype

Screen Recording 2023-11-25 at 5.07.06 PM (1).mov

Have you heard the latest news? Reading is cool again.

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With the rise of BookTok, reading has been romanticized in ways we haven’t seen before. Books like My Year of Rest and Relaxation and It Ends With Us have gone viral, sparking conversations and inspiring new readers. People are sharing their thoughts and reviews online, making reading a social experience. Many people, myself included, have found themselves scrolling through the comments section of TikTok, looking for the reviewer’s Goodreads profile to discover more great book recommendations.

What Goodreads does well

As an avid reader, Goodreads has always been a great app for me to…

  1. Find new books to read
  2. Keep track of my reading progress and set reading goals
  3. Organize lists of books I’ve read or want to read

But as I used it more, I found that something was missing.

The social spark that’s missing

While Goodreads helps me discover books and stay organized, it lacks a social experience that would make my reading journey more fulfilling. I thought back to my time in elementary school, where reading felt communal: story-time on the carpet, popcorn reading, and my favorite—reading buddies. All of these experiences shared a common theme: connection.

This was my aha moment as I realized my Goodreads experience could be greatly enhanced if it were more social. I wanted the same sense of community—whether through reading clubs, buddies, or just someone to chat with about my latest reads.