Storyforge
Clients Sabrina Rucker and Derek Rucker of StoryForge are on a mission to make publishing more accessible to everyone.
Overview
The CEO of Storyforge was working to get their graphic novel published but found it was a tedious process, and because of that, they wanted to create a platform to help other new writers start out.
Key deliverables
MY ROLE
UI/UX Designer | UX Researcher | Participant interview and Directed Storytelling Moderator and Note Taker
METHODS
Competitive Analysis | Secondary Research | Contextual Inquiry| Usability Testing | Directed Storytelling | Static Wireframing | Prototyping
TOOLS
Figma | Zoom | Microsoft Excel | Powerpoint | Google forms | Canva
Summary
Key Points
Problem: The existing publishing process diminishes diversity in content, resulting in adverse social consequences such as prejudice and polarization.
Process: My groupmates and I focused on doing research on how to implement gamification aspects into the already existing Minimal Viable Product (MVP). We learned from users what key things they would expect from an app like StoryForge that offers feedback from other users. We implemented our findings into the prototype we presented to our client.
Findings: We learned how to implement micro-competitions into the application through research. We also learned how to implement a reliable feedback system in the application. Lastly, we learned how to implement gamification aspects into our application.
Solution: A high-fidelity prototype was presented to the client with Gamification components such as challenges and rewards for users, writing contests that took the form of Micro-Competitions, a way to incentivize users to use in-application points to personalize their cozy library, progress bars, in-app leaderboards, and a an app store.
Research process
Problem Statement
The CEO of Storyforge was working to get their graphic novel published but found it was rejected repeatedly by the publisher, who gave no feedback as to why. Trying to get their graphic novel was a soul-sucking process, making them question the current publishing industry. Authors who are ready to get their work published often struggle to find editors to look over their work and publishers who want to publish their work. Publishers are incredibly picky when it comes to choosing things to publish; they often cater for the white, middle class, which further marginalizes BIPOC communities and people who have stories to tell that do not fall under that category. The current process lessens the diversity in what is published, which leads to negative social outcomes like bigotry and polarization. Creating an application where users can give each other feedback, help each other, and uplift each other, all while implementing gamification aspects to the application to keep the users intrigued, will increase diversity and accessibility in the writing community.
Working with with Xochitl Galvan and Khalid Hussein many tasks overlapped in the timeline and were divided between a research-focused team and a design-oriented team. I worked across both research and design activities, such as competitive analysis, participant interviews, usability testing, and high-fidelity prototyping.
The users consisted of people who...
People who have published books without a publisher
People who started their own start-up
Avid Readers
People who have used similar applications like Wattpatt
USers
development process
Comparative analysis
Secondary Research
Contextual Inquiry
Stakeholder Interviews
Directed Storytelling
Usability Testing
Development of Prototype
Sketching
Low-Fidelity Wireframing
High-Fidelity Wireframing
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Understanding the Landscape
Comparative analysis
Secondary Research
During the Competitive Analysis, we learned about other apps that offer similar things to what StoryForge has in mind such as ..
Wattpad
Offers writing contests like the micro competitions StoryForge wants to incorporate into their application
Critique Circle and Scribophile
Both applications incentivize users to use in-application points to get feedback
Have reliable systems to get free feedback.
The points are earned by giving others feedback
During our secondary research, we learned the best way to implement gamification aspects to StoryForge
Add challenges and reward users when completing
Include a progress bar that a user can interact with in real-time
Incorporate an In-App leaderboard to inspire users with friendly competition
Set objectives for users which will give them a path for what they need to reach the reward
Directed Storytelling & Stakeholder Interviews
Findings from Directed Storytelling and usability testing
"I really liked the gamification of it. The leveling up and all of that is a really neat way to keep people engaged."
During directed storytelling, our team learned…
Writers think having people with a similar background edit your writing is important
When they used apps similar to StoryForge they liked how they were able to receive feedback
During usability testing
Users liked the gamification part of the application because it kept them entertained.
Users mentioned the tasks were very easy to accomplish
On a scale of 1 being difficult and six being easy, users mentioned during usability testing that
2 users mentioned the shop was 6/6
Microcompetition were 6/6
Cozy Library was rated as a ⅚ and a 4/6
1 user said the theater was a 6/6, and a different user said it was a 3/6
Creating the solution
Sketching
Wireframing
prototyping
Deliverables
Creating Affinity Groups: People who self-identify as part of a group could receive feedback from others who also self-identify from the same group.
Adding a cozy library competition where users would be able to show off their customized libraries and compete for diamonds
Continue to do usability testing on wireframes to make sure they are as foolproof as possible
Next Steps
During the sketching part of the project, we wanted to incorporate our findings from our previous research. My groupmates started out by sketching out ways we could implement gamification aspects into our design like
incentivizing users to use in-app points
showing progress bars
showing how users would be able to create their own cozy library
Creating low-fidelity wireframes we continued to prioritized gamifications aspects
we started to implement the design system given to us by the client
brought to life what the progress bar, user ranking, and leaderboard would look like
During the high-fidelity wireframing and prototyping, we continued implementing our findings like…
Writing contests that took the form of Micro-Competitions in the StoryForge application
A way to incentivize users to use in-application points to personalize their cozy library (Main Screen)
Gamification components such as challenges and rewards for users, progress bars, and in-app leaderboards
Incorporate the mascot of StoryForge, Draft everywhere possible
We delivered a 15-minute presentation our project to a general audience, conducted a client handoff meeting, and created a digital assets package to provide the client the tools they continue building on our work in the future.