Case Study Summary
- Project Scope: Contributed to the design and rebranding of SweetSelf, a book summary app offering wellness and business summaries along with original “brain buster” lessons to combat cognitive biases
- Role & Responsibilities: Supported design direction, crafted a smooth and engaging onboarding experience, and contributed to interface design across the website and select mobile app screens to ensure a cohesive, user-friendly experience.
- Design Approach: Focused on user empathy by researching e-book usage, summary app trends, and audio learning habits, adapting designs to meet the needs of audio-first users despite personal reading preference
- Impact & Goal: Built an intuitive, visually engaging, and accessible platform that empowers users on personal growth journeys, making learning quick, personalized, and inspiring from the first interaction.
Overview
The Project
What is Sweetelf?
Sweetself is a book summary app that offers summarized nonfictions from bestsellers to new-rising authors specializing in wellness and business. It also offers original lessons to combat cognitive biases in easy-to-understand jargon “brain busters”
The Project
What is Sweetelf?
Sweetself is a book summary app that offers summarized nonfictions from bestsellers to new-rising authors specializing in wellness and business. It also offers original lessons to combat cognitive biases in easy-to-understand jargon “brain busters”
My Role
This project began as a concept developed by a peer, and I joined to support its design direction. My role involved helping with the rebranding process, designing a smooth and engaging onboarding experience, and contributing to the interface design of both the website and select mobile app screens, ensuring a cohesive and user-friendly experience throughout.
Problem /Solution
Objective
To build a thoughtful and engaging brand for a book summary app that empowers users on their personal growth journeys through intuitive onboarding, strong visual identity, and a seamless interface—designed to make learning quick, accessible, and inspiring.
Challenge
While I’m an avid book lover and a big believer in personal growth, my biggest gap came from not being an audio-first user. Designing for people who prefer listening over reading required me to shift my usual habits and truly understand a different kind of learning experience.
The Truth
I had to step out of my own preferences and design for users unlike myself. It pushed me to rely more on research and empathy—listening to others’ habits, frustrations, and desires, and letting their experiences shape the product instead of my own.
Objective
To build a thoughtful and engaging brand for a book summary app that empowers users on their personal growth journeys through intuitive onboarding, strong visual identity, and a seamless interface—designed to make learning quick, accessible, and inspiring.
Challenge
While I’m an avid book lover and a big believer in personal growth, my biggest gap came from not being an audio-first user. Designing for people who prefer listening over reading required me to shift my usual habits and truly understand a different kind of learning experience.
The Truth
I had to step out of my own preferences and design for users unlike myself. It pushed me to rely more on research and empathy—listening to others’ habits, frustrations, and desires, and letting their experiences shape the product instead of my own.
Research
To better understand the target audience and inform the app’s design, I conducted secondary research on e-book usage, summary app trends, and audio learning habits. This research helped me identify user behaviors, preferences, and pain points:
Reading Habits & Digital Consumption
The average adult attention span dropped to 8 seconds (Microsoft, 2015), highlighting the need for concise, digestible content — exactly what summary apps deliver.
of users abandon apps in the first month (Statista, 2022), I designed a simple, visually guided onboarding and made summaries easily accessible for quick engagement.
E-Book & Summary App Market Insights
The audiobook industry grew over 25% in 2021, marking its ninth straight year of double-digit growth (Audio Publishers Association)
The global e-book market was valued at over $18 billion in 2020 and continues to grow (Statista).
Behavioral Design / Motivation
Personalization improves user satisfaction and loyalty by 80% (Epsilon Research, 2018), This insight led to designing a personalized recommendation page and setting reading goals during onboarding.
Competitor Analysis
We examined the leading four e-book summary apps to identify design and feature gaps, studying what made them successful and where users’ needs were underserved. This research helped determine which popular features to prioritize and inspired opportunities to enhance the user experience and visual design
We examined the leading four e-book summary apps to identify design and feature gaps, studying what made them successful and where users’ needs were underserved. This research helped determine which popular features to prioritize and inspired opportunities to enhance the user experience and visual design
User Research
By analyzing the target audiences of similar e-book and summary apps, we identified key user segments, their behaviors, needs, and pain points.
User Research
By analyzing the target audiences of similar e-book and summary apps, we identified key user segments, their behaviors, needs, and pain points.
This informed the creation of detailed user personas, ensuring the app’s design aligns with real-world user expectations and preferences
Limitations
As this was my first end-to-end project with a focus on interface design, the scope was limited by time and resources. Formal user interviews and structured usability testing were not conducted. Instead, design decisions were informed by competitor analysis, secondary research, and informal user feedback, providing valuable direction while balancing practical constraints.
Design Process
How it Started
The eBook summary app featured a brown-toned palette with hints of blue and pinkish-red, but to explore a fresher, more modern appeal, research was initiated to assess visual direction and user preferences.
Colors Rebrand
Inspired by the name Sweetself, a candy red apple was chosen to bring energy, warmth, and a distinctive look that sets the brand apart from competitors, while deep blues and grays add balance and maturity—creating a playful yet professional feel. The colors were also designed to be interchangeable between the brand name and background for versatile use
How it Started
The eBook summary app featured a brown-toned palette with hints of blue and pinkish-red, but to explore a fresher, more modern appeal, research was initiated to assess visual direction and user preferences.
Colors Rebrand
Inspired by the name Sweetself, a candy red apple was chosen to bring energy, warmth, and a distinctive look that sets the brand apart from competitors, while deep blues and grays add balance and maturity—creating a playful yet professional feel. The colors were also designed to be interchangeable between the brand name and background for versatile use
User Style Guide
Onboarding
Onboarding Flow Map
After reviewing top competitors, I realized how essential it was to include informational screens during onboarding. These screens help introduce users to key features and guide them toward discovering book summaries that fit their goals—making the experience feel more valuable and personalized from the start.
Wireframe sketches
Created a wireframe sketch to explore the layout between the info and question screens, ensuring a smooth, clean transition that supports clarity and a better user experience.
Wireframe sketches
Created a wireframe sketch to explore the layout between the info and question screens, ensuring a smooth, clean transition that supports clarity and a better user experience.
Final Results
Onboarding
After gathering data and designing, I designed a tailored layout to help users quickly find content suited to their goals—enhancing personalization and streamlining the user experience
Onboarding
After gathering data and designing, I designed a tailored layout to help users quickly find content suited to their goals—enhancing personalization and streamlining the user experience
Website
Designing the website for Sweetself was my first experience creating for the web, so I made sure to include essential sections like a strong hero area, audio integration, and clear content blocks to guide users and highlight key features effectively.
Marketing
After launching the MVP, we tested social media posts and ads to validate the product and explore audience engagement. Minimal A/B testing provided early insights, though detailed results aren’t available.
Ads For Social Media
I explored various ad styles, from playful characters with colorful backgrounds and snappy phrases emphasizing how learning and growth is easy, to professional photos of people on the go learning while managing their busy lives.
App Store Screenshots
I designed the App Store screenshots to clearly communicate Sweetself’s value and key features at a glance. The goal was to make potential users understand the product immediately and encourage downloads, while keeping the branding consistent with the app’s overall look and feel.
