UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE
Dubsbooks
A student-first course materials platform concept that lets UW students see requirements, compare prices fast, and plan pickup, returns, or resale with confidence.
Role
Product Designer & Team Lead
Timeline
8 months
Team
3 Researchers, 2 Designers
Tools
Figma, Illustrator & Photoshop
My contributions
Research synthesis, service blueprinting, end-to-end prototype
Impact
33% fewer frontstage touchpoints
#service-design #UX-research #student-experience #university-book-store #seattle
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
47
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The problem
Where the textbook
journey broke
Course materials are a hidden cost of college. During the University Book Store’s first post-COVID restructuring and refresh, our team was brought in to make the textbook journey clearer while staying grounded in the Book Store’s core principle: serve our students.
At the time, students often didn’t know what was required or when an order was ready, and the process showed the same breakdowns again and again: communication gaps, low trust in pricing and options, and a disconnected path from registration to purchase, then pickup, returns, and resale.
(Three friction points kept showing up across every method we ran: students couldn't confirm what was required, prices felt unpredictable without a side-by-side view, and the whole process was split across tools. So we named them and designed directly against them.)
Why the Book Store cares
When students feel unsure, the rush gets slower for everyone. With UW Seattle enrolling more than 51,000 students a year, even small frictions scale into a widespread cost and time burden. The Book Store needed clearer expectations around materials, order readiness, pickup, returns, and resale so students could make decisions with less staff intervention.
Our guiding question
How might we improve the textbook ordering process with the University Book Store to provide the best possible experience for students?
#problem-framing #service-design #UBS-2025
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
12
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The Product
What Dubsbooks enables
UW students log in with their NetID and see their registered courses, required materials, and pricing options in one place. No account swapping, no hunting across platforms, no guessing whether an order is ready.
All of your courses, in one place
Log in with your UW NetID to see your registered courses and required materials in one place.
Compare prices, pick what works
Compare Book Store and third‑party options side by side, so you can choose what works best for your budget and timeline.
Buy used with confidence
Buy what you need, then return or resell it when it makes sense.
(Students had to find their materials on one platform and buy them on another, which added confusion and extra steps. Part of this was structural: the Book Store didn't have access to UW's NetID system, so students had to swap accounts and re-enter information throughout the process. The DubsBooks login was designed to fix that at the root.)
#product-design #student-first #NetID #price-comparison #student-marketplace #end-to-end-prototype #course-materials
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
18
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The Research
What we learned
We focused research around the start of winter and spring quarter — when textbook purchasing is at its highest volume. Four methods gave us a full picture of where the journey was breaking.
Contextual inquiry
Observed rush prep and pickup to see where timing and information broke down.
Why: we needed to observe the rush as it happened — the kind of systemic friction that's invisible in retrospect.
Survey
Quantified student purchasing behaviors and decision drivers across a broader population.
Why: after observing a narrow slice in context, we needed to check whether what we saw was representative or isolated.
Stakeholder interviews
Captured Book Store, professor, legal, and operational constraints.
Why: students couldn't explain why materials weren't listed on time — those answers lived with the people who owned the system.
Intercept interviews
Captured student emotions and pain points mid-purchase during peak buying hours.
Why: the Book Store floor on day one of quarter was the highest-signal moment — catching students in the act gave us frustration before memory smoothed it over.
Our findings
Satisfied but uncertain
In both our survey and our intercept interviews, students were frequently satisfied with their experiences.
Late purchase decisions
A majority of respondents make purchase decisions during the first week of the quarter, and get their information from course syllabi.
Information gaps persisted
Many students are unaware of which books to get and may ask for books that professors haven’t notified the bookstore about.
Fragmented experience
Students had to identify required materials on one platform and purchase them on another, which created confusion and extra steps.
#UX-research #contextual-inquiry #intercept-interviews #survey #stakeholder-interviews #n=21
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
31
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The Personas
The students we kept in mind
Three buying behaviors showed up consistently across research. Each needed a different kind of confidence.
In-store pickup planners
Reliable order status and pickup timing.
Digital-first buyers
Upfront cost, access deadlines, and “what’s included” clarity.
Deal seekers /
second-hand buyers
Price comparison, trust signals, and resale support.
#UX-research #personas #student-research #UW-students
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
45
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the system
How the textbook journey looked end-to-end
We mapped the full journey from course registration to returns, across both student and staff touchpoints. Here's what the system looked like before, and what we redesigned against.
Before: scattered handoffs
(Students had to find their materials on one platform and buy them on another. Part of this was structural: the Book Store didn't have access to UW's NetID system, so students had to swap accounts and re-enter information throughout the process.)
After: one connected student flow
(NetID integration collapsed the fragmented path into one connected flow. One login, one place to confirm requirements, compare prices, and manage pickup, returns, and resale.)
Real architectural reduction modeled from the blueprint, not post-launch metrics.
What this enabled
Service blueprint modeling showed a measurable reduction in system complexity, before DubsBooks, the journey required students to touch seven separate systems. After, it became one.
33%
reduction in frontstage
touchpoints
20%
reduction in backstage
maintenance steps
21
Intercept interviews
conducted
(These come from the service blueprint model, not from a live product. They represent real architectural reduction in the journey complexity.)
#service-blueprint #systems-thinking #before-after #UX-architecture #impact
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
26
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the design
From blueprint to product
We used two anchors to move from research to product direction: the buyer types showed what students needed to feel confident, and the service blueprint showed where the current journey broke.
Once we mapped the existing process, we shifted from "document the journey" to "design the product." We translated the biggest handoffs into screens, data needs, and trust cues, then narrowed around three recommendations:
Integrate course materials into the registration process
Give students readily accessible information
Create a peer-to-peer marketplace
Narrowing the direction
We first explored two connected portals: one for students to purchase materials, one for professors to submit required course lists. As team lead, I kept the project moving by aligning research synthesis, sponsor feedback, prototype priorities, and critique cycles around the student-facing portal.
Reducing our features
A professor-facing portal would have required operational and technical support the Book Store couldn't maintain. We narrowed to the student-facing flow, focusing on what students could directly control: finding materials, comparing options, and planning next steps.
#service-blueprint #product-strategy #team-lead #UBS-2025
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
44
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the usability testing
How we validated
We tested the mid-fidelity prototype with 4 UW students across four tasks: locating the portal, finding course materials, purchasing a textbook, and listing on the marketplace. The goal was to find where students hesitated and which decisions needed clearer support.
Three things changed
Materials visible from the list
Students expected to see what they needed without clicking into each course.
Signal: Hesitation when materials weren't visible from the list
Decision: Expand-per-course, required + optional materials on the list
Result: Fewer clicks, lower chance of missing a required item.
Requirements on the list. One less reason to click in and back out.
Price ranges made comparison faster
Students needed total cost at a glance, not one price across many formats.
Signal: A single price didn't feel representative
Decision: Price range on cards + external options tab
Result: Faster comparison without wading through every price.
One range per book. No wading through every format and price to get the answer.
Cards led with images, not answers
Students evaluate listings fast: right book, right price, right condition.
Signal: Paused and scrolled looking for key details
Decision: Details-first card layout, images as supporting content.
Result: Faster evaluation, less second-guessing
Details lead, images support. Listings got easier to evaluate at a glance.
Back to the blueprint
After testing, I mapped the updated prototype flow back onto the service blueprint, replacing the older "search and navigate" steps with a direct NetID login path to registered courses and materials. The changes improved the full service flow, not just the interface.
What I'd measure next: task completion, time to find required materials, purchase confidence, pickup-readiness confusion, and marketplace listing completion.
#usability-testing #iteration #service-blueprint #n=4
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
29
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the prototype
Explore the prototype
The full student flow, end to end: NetID login, course materials, price comparison, and marketplace browsing.
If this shipped
Moving toward build means defining what the system needs to support each student action.
Data needs: registered courses, required/optional materials, inventory status, pickup readiness, return windows, resale listings
Key states: no registered courses, unavailable materials, external purchase option, pickup not ready, return window closed
Operational handoffs: professor submissions, Book Store inventory, confirmation emails, pickup processing, and marketplace moderation
#prototyping #service-design #implementation #UW-HCDE
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
47
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the reflection
What I learned
DubsBooks felt like the perfect culmination of my time at the University of Washington. Much of my graduate work centered on improving daily student life on campus, from accessibility to everyday resources, so creating one final product for students, by students felt deeply connected to the work I had been building toward.
It was also my first real deep dive into service design, pushing me to think beyond individual screens and map the full system around a student experience. As designer and team lead, I learned how to translate a messy service journey into clearer product decisions, balancing student needs, Book Store constraints, and team momentum across an ambiguous 8-month project.
What I'd do differently…
Define success earlier: Clarify Book Store success metrics before ideation.
Prioritize research signals: Reduce overlap in findings and align faster around the highest-friction moments.
Validate assumptions sooner: Use structured checkpoints to separate team assumptions from student evidence.
Bring technical partners in earlier: Include UW-IT and Book Store systems stakeholders to understand integration constraints.
Close the academic loop: Share findings with professors or UW partners to validate the course-material submission side.
(Shoutout to Wilson, Harry, Karneet & Kshitij, and the UW HCDE program for making this the right last project.)
#reflection #service-design #team-lead #graduate-work #UW-HCDE
bel tee-graziose · 2024 - 2025 · UW HCDE
9