BLOTTS - manga reader platform
category
brief
UI design
UX design
tools
Adobe XD
Pen & paper
To design an imaginary landing page for a Manga site, which is responsive as well.
BLOTTS is an imaginary platform that delivers the best manga reading experience. The brief developed for this was to design a current-trending platform.
platform
An Asian social comic cataloging website that allows individuals to search its database under the genre of Manga, Manhwa & Manhua, keep track of their reads, reading, and to read (library catalogs and reading lists). Users can also sign up and purchase these comics to receive hard copies.
back story
As a big bookworm & manga-manhwa reader, a constant issue I faced with Manga readers & apps was that the landing page would not be personalized to me but instead, showcased only the top popular comics and the latest updated ones only.
It becomes constant distress for users like me, in finding our last reads or comics that are similar to the ones we read or saved.
There are also many new (or latest launched) manga/manhua or manhwa that are displayed on the app, but they are only available to be bought on e-commerce platforms like amazon kindle or book-wagon. This then further upsets the user, who now needs to flip between platforms to read stories.
exploring
After reading up on a few case studies and shuffling through few apps, I was able to interpret an interface for this userbase.
Spotify, Mi, Netflix, Amazon Prime are used extensively by users because their design interface is both Useful & Useable. The Affordance of the system is fairly clear & limited, and they use proper signifiers to direct users properly.
the platform
I packed up all that information, explored lots of design directions and started sketching down rough ideas. And then created a wireframe.
After a few design directions, one design was closer to solving all the pain points. This design was then taken to the system and converted into a rough wireframe
One pain point that I had overlooked in the initial stage while making the brief was the visual performance for the reader. While speaking to a fellow reader to get some more details, it dawned on me that most of the book community that has shifted to online reading do read in the dark, which with a light mode would be stressful to their eyes. So the primary design is based on dark mode, but for the other readers, the light mode was incorporated as a toggle.
Like how 85% of U.S. Adults Read the News on a Mobile Device, similarly a very large population of bookworms and manga readers read comics on their mobile or tablet device. It is a necessity to have this web design responsive
