UI Design: Amazon Kindle Mobile App Redesign

This project focused on practicing my UI skills at a rapid pace without the constraints of conducting user research. For this project, I was able to dedicate my time towards improving the information architecture and visual design of my selected app, the Amazon Kindle mobile app.

I first started to reproduce a few existing screens, auditing each screen as I designed. From the screens that I analyzed, I noticed various violations of heuristic principles. In my heuristic evaluation, the main violations were with Consistency and Standards, and Aesthetic and Minimalist Design.

Original Design for Amazon Kindle Mobile App

Consistency and Standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.

Violations:

• Icons are very inconsistent (some are blue, others are gray)

• Navigation bars are inconsistent (some have rounded corners, others are pointed, and the icons are in different positions)

• Font selection and sizing is very inconsistent

Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed.

Violations:

• The home page is very visually cluttered

• There are too many different types of recommended books

• The user does not need to see their reading streak at all times on the home page.

Once my heuristic evaluation was completed, I created an app map of the current information architecture, as well as a map of competitor information architectures. This allowed me to really understand the necessary information to include on my home page. In order to stay inline with the Aesthetic and Minimalist Design principle, I could only include necessary content.

I then created a mood board and style tile for my redesign. Based on competitor designs, I stuck with rounded corners for content and made the colors reflect of the Amazon website. I used Figma to craft my redesign and ensure that both heuristic principles were fixed.