SNIIP
is a fun, secure manga app with personalized features, author interactions, and a distraction-free reading experience.
Duration
Spring 2022 ~ Summer 2023
Role
Product Designer
For
An accessible, diverse, and legal manga reader
Kick starter funding
Collaborators
Gaby Ruiz, Vicky Wang
Overview
SNIIP: A hub of Manga Contents
With $2000 in funding, SNIIP revamped manga reading for Western audiences on a mobile platform, prioritizing accessibility, diverse content, and overcoming streaming and legal challenges.
My Role
Product Design Intern
With two designers, I co-led interface designs, new product features, user research, and design systems. I collaborated closely with developers from Oracle and UC San Diego asynchronously to ship features such as, customized libraries, algorithmic feed, and purchase method.
High Level Problem / Challenge
Manga Readers face the lack of a reliable and accessible platform
Why is this an important problem to address?
Many Manga websites are illegal, and they often crash
Intrusive ads disturb reading experiences with no accessibility on mobile
Only 10% of Manga is exported to western market due to lack of host platforms
There is less chance for both the artists and readers to provide and consume in the market
Final Solution
Mobile Manga Platform
Introducing SNIIP, a personalized, faster, and accessible manga platform
ONBOARDING
Picking Genres
Onboarding lets users choose favorite genres for personalized manga suggestions on the homepage.
SAVING & SUBSCRIBING
Personal Libraries
Users can add/delete manga in libraries, creating multiple categories based on their preferences.
EXPLORING
Reading and Author Pages
Explore manga authors and their works on the author page. Leave comments at the end of each episode to share thoughts on the stories.
SEARCHING
Browsing Manga
App showcases manga via genre rankings, personalized suggestions, and daily/weekly top picks.
#1 How Can We Question
How Can We make a mobile manga reading platform that....
Does not crash
Eliminates intrusive advertisements
Allows legal distribution of contents
High Level Problem
Manga Publishing in Japan in Western Countries
Huge gaps in the updates of episodes
Unfamiliarity with digital tools among publishers
Lack of artists due to requirements of long training and expertise
Illegal exports of manga into western countries through snapshots
Lack of editors to translate the manga
#2 How Can We Question
How do we attract more readers and artists in the scene?
Let more opportunities for small hidden authors to create Manga
Open up interactions between authors and readers
Make the updates more frequent to keep users engaged
Co-create values for publishers, artists, and readers
DESKTOP DESIGN
Rooms for Improvements
The original design team consisted of developers and marketers with little UX design knowledge and skills. The team of myself and two other designers took the role of revitalizing the old desktop design and potentially devising a mobile design for the product.
INTERVENTION
Landing Page
Onboarding lets users choose favorite genres for personalized manga suggestions on the homepage.
Formal Research
Competitive Research
Five platforms struggled with connectivity and lacked personalized manga content leading to a static and disengaging user experience.
Primary Research
Semi structured Interviews, Surveys
Utilizing Zoom interviews and Google surveys, out primary research focused on understanding the preferences and experiences of manga readers in college, both online and offline. Additionally manga publishers were interviewed.
Insights
Main Insights from Interviews
Through extensive interviews, we gained valuable insights into the challenges and pain points experienced by current manga enthusiasts using mobile and desktop platforms
I want to simply go to a site, select manga, and start reading it.
I don’t want to go to suspicious sites with a bunch of ads......I wish I could view manga just like I check weather on my phone
Watching is manga is such a hassle if you don’t own a hardcopy.......It takes a lot of effort to find an intact chapter online.
Users want to be able to freely communicate with each other when they enter the virtual space.
A lot of mangas are imported into western platforms through illegal downloading
My phone keeps getting alerts while I am reading manga.... I wish I could watch manga without interruptions of weird caution messages
I have noticed that the IP addresses of manga websites change all the time... Often I need to search a connecting site with a distinct link that leads to the actual site.
Users want a stable platform without legalization and stability issues
Manga has a very irregular update terms in between episodes... I wish it was easier to follow up
The existing platforms do not feel personalized enough to give me updates on manga I like... they feel like platforms that simply put all available manga together
I do not want to miss out on manga updates since these authors update manga without notifying the market or the readers beforehand. Also, it is likely readers have to wait long.
Users would like to get instant updates in the notifications to find who liked or followed their spaces or accounts.
Existing manga/cartoon platforms feel very limited in terms of genre updated
There are not enough filters that could separate the groupings of manga. this makes the platforms less personalized.
Youth is not used to writing resumes and conducting interviews.....Informal methods of application like phone calls or dms on social media can recruit more youth,
Users want clear categories and genres that they can access better
Defining Scope
Narrowing the Problem Space
Having identified user pain points, our team expanded the scope to delve into the root causes. This broader investigation revealed that the issues stemmed from the following underlying problems.
Many lucrative manga contents remain untapped in the Western market
Limited platforms for accessible and stable manga reading
Visualizing all the 3D and 2D contents takes a long time
complex meshes take longer to render
Modellings are exported as 3D meshes instead of codes
With other user interactions, 3d models take a lot of time to load
Existing platforms include too many features apart from 3D modelling
Web has a limited capacity to load contents
The service only allows users to upload contents like photos; no videos or music
these are constraints to uploading due to an attempt to reduce loading speed
The categories of works are not defined clearly.
The users of the service are mostly 20s and 30s
Users lose motivation to keep using the service
Not many users find the need to use a 3D virtual gallery
User interactions are minimal
The current service still includes a lot of bugs
The retention rate is low
How might we minimize the user effort in reading manga with...
SOLUTIONS
Gamification, Personal Libraries, Author Page
Gamification
Gamify the onboarding process to emphasize the customizing feature for users’ manga preferences
Personal Libraries
Libraries that can be categorized with different manga selections according to the user’s intentions
Author Page
More updates on episodes of saved manga from authors for the viewers as well as diverse ways of interaction amongst the artists and the audiences
More interactions with artists
Customizing features based on user preferences
PROTOTYPING
Team Sketching
2 rounds
Sketching important pages: Main Feed. Author Page, Reading Page, Manga Page, Profile Page, Explore Page, and Library Page
Synthesizing the sketches to narrow down specific components and layouts
Prototyping
Home Page
Gallery of popular manga
Continue reading feature
Personalized series features
Recommended manga
Explore Author compotnent
Genre pick
Explore Rankings
Prototyping
Author Page
Profile Picture
Bio
Follow
Socials
Works
Prototyping
Library Page
Mini Nav bar
Manga contents
Add Manga button
Download button
Prototyping
Manga Page Sketch
Manga’s detailed information
Sharing and Commenting
Subscribing
Prototyping
User Flow
Beyond functionality, we devised a User Flow map with icons and diverse in our prototypes—crucial for a functional end product.
User Test: Contextual-Inquiries
User Test #1
We Zoom-tested manga users, pinpointing micro-pain points: complex search and messy libraries. Adapted our prototype for a more user-friendly manga experience
Prototyping
Low fidelity prototype
User Test: Contextual-Inquiries
User Test #2
In the second round, we refined our prototype using the Wizard of Oz technique in Figma. Users verbally shared thoughts as they interacted, providing insights on the evolving design.
User Testing
Manga Page
Better Space Utilization
Resizing Components
Adding a summary overlay
User Testing
Library Page
Edited Add Button
Avoided pixel crowding
Less Color for highlights
ONBOARDING
Gamified steps to
sign up, pick genres, and create an account
RECOMMENDED SEARCHING
Continue reading, see your series, discover recommendations, and explore rankings
Manga & Author Page
View ratings and likes, subscribe, discover authors, and share with your friends
Reading and Commenting
Read, comment and interact on episodes where you left off,
Personalized Manga Library
Create your collections, search and add manga
