Company:
The Reading Room
Year:
2021-2022
Software:
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
Overview
The Reading Room is a social media platform for location-based storytelling. Initially developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform was designed to mitigate the effect it had on social interaction and going outdoors.
As the Founder and Design Manager of the team, I secured two rounds of funding from the Goethe-Institut, Karlsruhe, and BeFantastic. Through cross-collaborative efforts, we released an alpha version of the platform.
Team
Neeti Sivakumar, Anushka Trivedi, Ishwari Arambam, Oshin Padhye, George Panicker, Riyam, Shreya Pidikiti, Himanshu Erande
Problem
By defining our target audience to individuals aged 30-45 who enjoy traveling, I looked at creating an experience that builds connections between users through similarities in user content shared. As these individuals faced difficulties leaving their house due to concerns with COVID-19 and their proximity to more vulnerable populations such as children or elders.
The app consists three main features:
Geo-located user content
Uploading multimedia user content
Creative user interactions in response to user content: Hyperlinking, Commenting, and Sketching
Platform Versions
Lite: Simplified interface that filters stories via location.
Adventure: Creative interaction that allows users to post their content and link other user content.
Reflections
Through usability testing, we understood that sketching as a main feature does not appeal to the target audience, instead focusing on how individuals can respond to each other's comments. By creating two separate versions of interacting with stories, i.e., Lite and Adventure, the platform was appealing to both individuals who could venture outdoors as well as those who could not.
