SociologicalYOU
Overview
SociologicalYou (SY) is a digital introductory sociology textbook written by two sociology professors from Texas Christian University (TCU). The business started when a large publishing company dropped their book, but, being passionate about it, the two decided to go into business together and publish their textbook independently.
There are many competitor books out on the market. Professors are having a hard time getting students to read their textbook and students are having a hard time engaging with their textbooks. To increase reading rates of pre-class text, SY created a gamified digital textbook. As students read, they perform exercises which grant them points. These points, in turn, grant them access to things like study guides and practice exams.
Roles
Researcher | Branding | Copy Writing | Visual Design | UXUI Design | Web Design
Objective
The business has been working for years to promote their textbook. They were having a difficult time getting peoples' attention. While their target audience is sociology professors, the textbooks' design still has to appeal to students so the product works for the professors.
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Rebranding
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Marketing website
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Blog website
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Student book
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Marketing collateral (paper/print)
Solution
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Create a look that attracts the right audience (professors).
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Create a brand strategy that caters to the clients’ needs, not glorifying the book.
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Update the interface to make the product more engaging.
Define
After conducting research, we created a brand script to organize our approach to our audience. With our target audience narrowed down, we created user personas and a brand script to focus on their (user/clients) problems and how SY would solve them.
Discovery
To address the look of brand cohesiveness, we recommended the StoryBrand approach for the SY staff. After reading the book, they were hooked and eager to try it out. We researched common concerns with their audience and came up with 3 main issues: student engagement, work life balance and career advancement. We also conducted market research and completed a competitive analysis to look for ways to make SociologicalYOU stand out.
Design & Refine
After writing the brand script, we created visual brand guidelines so the visual style matched the brand voice. With a recognizable brand style, all aspects of the company could more easily be associated together (website, blog, social media, textbook, etc.)
Reflection
Looking back, I wish we would have polled their target audience more directly. We had a small sample pool that we were able to ask and relied on other studies’ results to direct our style. With more resources, I would be sure to incorporate more testing.
With that research, I hope to be able to prove the design works better for the client. There was conflict against updating the style and difficulty updating the interface. There were certain attachments to the original design that lead to the difficulty of changing the visual branding as well as the UXUI design. In the future I will make it more objective through research to prevent tension with other staff members. I will also educate clients on branding and the importance of it.
Discovery
Research
Competitive Analysis
Define
User Personas
Brand Script
User Flows
Moodboards
Design & Refine
Visual Guidelines
Low-fi to High-fidelity frames
User Testing
Marketing Campaigns
Design Process
Moodboards
After completing the brand script, my partner and I presented mood boards to allow the SY team to choose the visual style we would move forward with. We wanted everyone happy with the direction of the visual style to avoid wasted time developing other styles. The vote was unanimous.
User Flows
From this brand script and user personas, we decided necessary functions for the website and products, as well as essentials to their marketing approach. We created user flows to start the development of necessary screens, including the marketing website, the blog and the product itself.
Wireframes
From the user flows, we created wireframes, working our way up to high fidelity through feedback. The wireframes we needed included multiple break points for the website's pages.
StoryBrand
We structured the home page of the website within the StoryBrand framework. Down the first page, our content followed the structure of the brand script. We also created a lead-generating pdf as part of the framework. This brand voice also carried over into marketing campaigns, including email and social media.
