Redesigning Goodreads
Modern book discovery meets AI, emotion, and social delight.
I redesigned Goodreads as a solo project to explore how emotional UX, AI-powered onboarding, and social discovery could breathe life back into a stagnant but beloved platform. As both a UX designer and a lifelong reader, I saw this as more than a redesign it was a personal challenge to make Goodreads feel like magic again.
Role: UX/UI Designer and Researcher
Tools: Figma and Notion
Focus Areas: Discovery, onboarding, community engagement, mobile UX
The Challenge
Goodreads dominates the book-tracking space, but it’s outdated visually, socially, and functionally. For Gen Z readers, it fails to feel intuitive, inspiring, or even usable. The experience is:
Text-heavy, non-visual, and slow
Cluttered with legacy features
Lacking personalized or social discovery
Project Objectives
Since 80% of Gen Z readers surveyed discover books outside of Goodreads.
Make discovery feel intuitive and emotionally resonant.
Enable quick, expressive engagement through short-form reviews and mood tagging.
Create a modern, minimal mobile-first UI with clear visual hierarchy.
Streamline onboarding by leveraging AI and visual inputs.
Market Insight
Streamline onboarding by leveraging AI and visual inputs
Make discovery feel intuitive and emotionally resonant
Enable quick, expressive engagement through short-form reviews and mood tagging
Create a modern, minimal mobile-first UI with clear visual hierarchy