Tehran University of Art Library App
Simplifying the library experience & enhancing access to academic resources
Role:
UX/UI Designer
Tools:
Figma, Figjam
Timeline:
Spring 2023
This app streamlines the library experience for students of Tehran University of Art by simplifying browsing, borrowing, and loan management. Alongside functionality, the project also establishes a cohesive brand identity, integrating visual guidelines and typography to create a unified, modern experience for the library.
The idea for this app originated from the absence of a cohesive and user-friendly system for students to interact with the university library. The existing website was poorly designed and failed to fully support essential services like browsing, searching, selecting, and borrowing books, highlighting a clear need for a more intuitive and complete digital design.
Students! like myself and my classmates who were studying there. Students who regularly struggled with the university library’s disorganized and outdated system. The checkout process was confusing, and there were no reminders for due dates, often resulting in missed returns and fines which we didn’t like at all! These everyday frustrations inspired me to design a smoother, more intuitive experience, one that addressed our actual needs and showed what a functional, student centered library system could look like.
To better understand student needs, I conducted informal interviews around the dorm, asking students from different majors about their experience with the library. Their feedback pointed out shared frustrations, like confusing navigation, unclear book availability, and missing return reminders which directly shaped the app’s features and user flow.
No onboarding process to guide new users
Lack of personalized book suggestions based on interests or major
No rating or review system to see feedback from other students
No option to save favorite or unavailable books for later
No notification system to alert users when a desired book becomes available
Borrowing, extending, and returning processes are confusing and unintuitive
No clear way to track due dates or manage current loans
Based on the identified problems, I created a HMW question to better understand the prospect of the project in a simple and cohesive question:
How might we create a more personalized and intuitive library experience that helps students easily discover, manage, and keep track of the books they need?
Based on the information gathered this far, I created a persona that would best represent a typical user of this digital product.
To address the issues identified through research, I implemented the following features in the app design:
An intuitive onboarding process that captures user interests to personalize recommendations.
A habit-building feature allowing users to schedule reading times, supporting both beginner and avid readers.
A simplified and streamlined book loaning process.
A robust review system enabling students to share and read feedback on books.
A comprehensive document management section for tracking current loans, managing checkout lists, extending due dates, and more.
Bilingual support: To make the app more inclusive and accessible, I designed it in both Persian and English. As the university hosts a diverse student body, offering language options ensures that more students cam comfortably navigate the platform.
One of the biggest challenges in this project was designing for a bilingual interface, especially when a working with two structurally different languages like Persian and English.
Typography posed a significant challenge; the sometimes drastic differences in x-height between two scripts required careful attention to maintain a balanced and readable layout. Even when you try to match typefaces thoughtfully, screen design often reveals mismatches, what looks light and elegant in one language may appear too faint or illegible in another.
To ensure consistency and clarity across the app , I established a set of visual guidelines. This included selecting a pair of typefaces (one for Persian and one for English) that aligned well in terms of visual characteristics, ensuring harmony in bilingual layouts. I also defined a cohesive color palette and set rules for layout and spacing to maintain a clean and accessible user interface.
Since the app was built from scratch, I created custom components such as buttons, text fields, and input forms based on the visual guidelines I previously defined. This ensured a consistent look and feel across the entire interface.
With the visual guidelines and components in place, I moved on to creating mid-fidelity wireframes. These helped me visualize and refine the app’s structure, layout, and user flows before diving into high-fidelity design.
The final interface was designed in both Persian and English to ensure accessibility and usability for a wider student audience or just for students who want to improve their English!.
Key screens were adapted to support right-to-left and left-to-right reading flows, with careful attention to typography, layout, and language specific UX considerations.
Onboarding
I designed an intuitive onboarding experience that helps users define their reading goals and interests like preferred days which aims to support and motivate users throughout their reading journey.
Book Page
The book description page was designed with clarity and ease of mind in use. It includes:
Clear call-to-action buttons for reserving or reading a sample chapter of the book before borrowing
A structured layout with a detailed information, book introduction, and student reviews
Interactive Review System
To encourage community engagement and informed decision-making, I designed a review section that allows users to:
Read reviews from fellow students
Write their own reviews and rate the book
Reply to existing reviews to start discussions or share thoughts
Reserve List
I designed a dedicated reserve list where users can view the books they intend to borrow. This feature allows them to:
See all reserved items in one place
See the status and location
Select a desired checkout date
Choose a preferred return date (within allowed loan limits)
Search Tab
The search tab was designed to offer a comprehensive and flexible discovery experience, Key features include:
A powerful search bar for finding books, articles, and other resources
Filter chips that allows users to quickly narrow results by type
Documents Tab
The documents tab provides users with a centralized space to manage all their library activity. It includes:
A section for tracking borrowed items, with options to extend due dates or view return deadlines
Access to their Reserve List
A notification center that informs users when a reserved book becomes available or when their loan request is approved.
This project deepened my understanding of the importance of UX writing in multilingual products. It’s not enough to simply translate English content word-for-word. For the experience to resonate with native speakers, language must be researched, localized and intentionally crafted. Every microcopy decision plays a vital role in how users understand and engage with the interface.
This experience has taught me how critical it is to design with empathy, adaptability and linguistic nuance.