Apple Books

Today iTunes has become a vast software overloaded with many features. Users are not able to tap its full potential—they do not even know the full volume of functions. Our task was to analyse iTunes and afterwards we were asked to take out a certain feature. Furthermore we had to conceptualise an independent app which reconsiders the requirements and takes a new approach. I chose the bookstore as in my opinion it does not gain enough attention.

(image source: http://frasesaoar.blogspot.de/2011/12/eu-quero-mais-muito-mais.html )

OneSentence™

Apple Books gives the user a consistent overall experience for browsing and buying eBooks comfortable and easy.

The current solution in iTunes

Finding the bookstore in iTunes is difficult as the user has to pass several steps. Apple even provides an extra app (iBooks) which also includes the store. Nevertheless the store looks cluttered and completely overloaded. The different cover heights appear imbalanced. Additionally the individual categories have different views which might confuse the user. (See category „New & Noteworthy“ image above) There are many other imperfections that make the entire design carelessly and remarkably different compared to the quality of Apple we usually expect.

The approach of Apple Books

Based on the design of the website, Apple Books was reorganised in a more clean and straight way. First the user gets a suggestion of books according to his user behaviour (e.g. library, search queries, customers also bought). Afterwards a featured post of the author Dan Brown is shown, followed by a list of new releases as well as an enumeration of all books available in this category. Basically it is possible to extend the list with trending books, top sellers etc.