Kindred: Social Audiobook App
Designing an audiobook app that helps people stay engaged while listening and connect with friends through a shared reading experience.
Overview
As someone who loves audiobooks, I’ve noticed they often become background noise rather than something you fully engage with. I also enjoy discussing books with others and sharing what resonates. That insight inspired Kindred, my graphic design senior capstone project, completed over four months and exhibited at the senior capstone show. Through user research, competitive analysis, surveys, and interviews, I designed an audiobook app that helps listeners reflect on what they hear and easily share meaningful quotes with friends.
Role
Tools
User Research, Prototyping, Branding
Figma, Adobe Illustrator
Timeline
Details
4 Months, Spring 2026
Academic Project
The Problem
In today's distraction-filled world, audiobook listeners want to read more and share their experiences, but often struggle to stay focused and remember what they've heard.
User Interviews
After defining my problem statement, I interviewed three audiobook listeners to validate my assumptions and better understand their listening habits, frustrations, and motivations. My research focused on focus, retention, bookmarking, and social connection.
The interviews revealed three key insights:
Saving audiobook moments should be effortless
“I clip it. It's very arduous. With Audible there's so many steps.”
Listeners want more ways to connect through books
“I never have meaningful discussions about it.”
Shared reading motivates people to finish books
"I feel obligated to finish it so that I can be there for the other person."
Competitive Analysis
For the next step of this research, I wanted to look at the current space of apps and tools used for audiobooks and social reading, where people connect over books. This included both direct audiobook platforms and indirect competitors focused on book tracking and community discussion. The goal was to understand how existing products support listening, retention, and social connection, and where there might still be gaps in the experience.
Overall, most platforms focus on either listening to content (Audible, Libby, Everand) or social connection around books (Fable, Goodreads), but not both. This creates an opportunity for an app that blends seamless audiobook listening with simple, low-friction ways to reflect and connect with others while reading.
User Persona
I summarized the most glaring user motivations, goals, and frustrations into a single persona to guide my design.
User Flow
I mapped out how users achieve a core goal: sharing a quote while listening. I focused on a decision point allowing users to choose whether to open a chat or return to their book. Making community engagement optional invites spontaneous connection without disrupting the core listening flow.
Final Interactive Prototype
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