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UX Designer
UX Researcher
May-August 2022
Interaction Design
UX Research
Figma
UserTesting
Our vision for this project is to use the Amazon Kindle’s Gutenberg design language to create a visually beautiful landing page experience that is flexible and informative. We need to fix the outdated look, the mobile optimization, the information displayed, and the development flexibility. Currently, Kindle Direct Publishing has a help center, publishing resources, publishing tools, a community forum, and a pre-login page.
User flow of a new author visiting the current KDP pre-login page
This was the start of my UX process and strategy.
At first glance, the pain points are apparent. There are outdated designs, irrelevant information, and non-mobile-optimized pages. It is important that I research other information and talk to other people to gain more info.
Figure 1: Outdated pre-login page
How can you trust Amazon for your product?
Is Amazon the right choice for your demographic?
The main factor influencing it is whether you feel okay trusting Amazon 100% with “your babies.”
This research gave me a better idea of the author's sentiment when visiting KDP. We needed to make trust a priority for new authors
The new page must be beautiful and adjustable. This will differentiate us from the old KDP.
The marketing team heavily emphasized that the pre-login page needed a scalable and updatable page. The pre-login page is a significant opportunity to drive SEO through mobile-optimized pages.
With this in mind, I knew the page needed to drive marketing apart from looking beautiful and modern. This became a guide for the hierarchy and content of many of the page modules.
Lastly, I turned to competitors to see what they were doing well and what KDP was lacking. During my analysis, one noteworthy observation was the number of clickable options, potentially overwhelming users. Additionally, I identified a valuable tool in the form of the royalty calculator, which could greatly benefit authors by offering insights into their potential earnings with KDP.
To enhance KDP's user experience, it's essential to emphasize key features such as Bookshelf, Reports, Community, and Marketing, ensuring that users fully understand the platform's capabilities. Providing visual representations of KDP's advantages and disadvantages could be highly effective in conveying information. Addressing the need for transparent pricing would further contribute to improving KDP's overall appeal to both existing and potential users.
My main goal was to prepare web pages. They were designed with the intent of being transferable to mobile platforms and editable in the future for further iterations.
The final site map was broken down into a landing page and its three subpages: Earn, Publishing, and Writing Resources.
Scroll over and click through to see my low-fidelity and mid-fidelity wireframes.
Landing V1
Landing V2
Publish V1
Publish V2
About
Why KDP
Publish with us
Earn more
A detailed overview of my hi-fidelty proof of concept
The spotlight carousel was built to create more trust with the authors and to convey the message that they can succeed with us.
During a user interview, a notable piece of feedback stood out: the interviewee expressed a strong appreciation for the autonomy that KDP offered. The interviewee found the modules on the landing page to be reassuring. These modules triggered a sense of nostalgia, taking her back to her initial publishing journey, a time when KDP felt overwhelming. Opting for KDP was a deliberate choice because she could “be my own author AND publisher.”
The concept of this section is to present the initial stages upfront and then allow users to scroll through subsequent steps. This approach creates a progressive journey where users navigate through the process.
The decision to limit these stages to three and arrange them in a downward-scrolling manner aims to simplify the publishing experience for novice authors. Recognizing the large amount of information they'll encounter, I designed a streamlined process that eases their entry into the system.
I debated between download options, concise information, or links to other pages. I chose direct download links. In user interviews, both interviewees were unfamiliar with Kindle Create, downloadable software for formatting manuscripts.
To enhance user experience, we could show Kindle Create screens as an example, clarifying its functionality.
Previously, this module was buried in the help section on the KDP page. I relocated it to the earnings page, given the importance of pre-login visibility for KDP earnings. This decision was influenced by stakeholder feedback and author interviews that stressed the need for clarity in the earnings process. It aligns with the personas I introduced, highlighting the significance of monetization, even for hobbyist authors. This underscores our commitment to prioritizing earnings and transparency.
While working on these pages, it's important to remember the developers who play a key role in making these pages a reality. As mentioned earlier, using KDP's Gutenberg Design Language and Amazon LEGO content creation systems was essential for making this work well on both mobile and web.
These interviews were both positively received and provided constructive feedback. The authors offered valuable pointers and introduced additional considerations that could guide future iterations.
One particular thing we really wanted to gain insight into was the perspective of new authors. They value simplicity and ease, confident in managing their work independently. This insight will continue to shape our subsequent iterations, building upon the already solid foundation we have.
“There is no gatekeeper, you might have an amazing idea that you want to get to an audience. You don’t need anyone to give you approval. You don’t need anyone to decide for you, it’s just that easy. You can go through these few steps and your book can be live in 72 hours.”
I recommend that we also recognize the significance of mobile optimization, which is why we plan to leverage Amazon's web development system (LEGO) for building.
My time at KDP has been a valuable learning experience in the UX process, granting me substantial responsibility in areas such as scheduling, design, and study creation for testing purposes.
Through this journey, I've gained insights into the delicate balance between the design, research, and testing aspects of UX. I've discovered the importance of time management to ensure that studies and research progress concurrently and meet deadlines.
A year after my internship concluded, the KDP team has revamped its landing page. My proof of concept served as a starting point, and it's gratifying to see numerous elements and research reflected in the final product. I appreciate the team's confidence in me to contribute and publish a professional-level product, and I'm delighted to witness them utilizing my previous work to reimagine the brand.
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