UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE
Reduced friction in a stressful student purchasing flow
Client: University Book Store
Role: UX Designer & Capstone Manager
Team: 3 Researchers, 2 Designers
Timeline: 8 months
Tools: Figma & Figjam, Photoshop, Illustrator & Discord
How might we improve the textbook ordering process with the University Book Store to provide the best experience for students as possible?
What we’re solving
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.
Why the Book Store cares
When students feel unsure, the rush gets slower for everyone. The Book Store needed clearer expectations around readiness and fewer avoidable rush-hour bottlenecks.
So we focused on making requirements and timing easier to confirm.
What we built
DubsBooks gives UW students one clear place to manage course materials from planning to resale. With a UW NetID login, students can view required materials for each class, compare Book Store and third-party options, and use built-in return or resale pathways after the quarter ends.
What this enables
A clearer, more student-first textbook journey
DubsBooks brings discovery, price comparison, purchasing, and resale into one clearer flow.
Reduced friction by connecting registered courses to required materials without platform-hopping.
Increased trust by making pricing, availability, and purchase options easier to compare.
Set clearer expectations around readiness and key dates for pickup, returns, and resale.
What we learned
When the University Book Store first approached us, they wanted to understand the end-to-end steps students take to find and buy materials in person. We focused our research on the start of winter quarter and the start of spring quarter, when students hit the problem at full volume. At the same time, the Book Store was redesigning its website and student materials section, so constraints shifted while we designed.
Contextual inquiry: Shadowed employees during rush prep and pickup to pinpoint where time and info break.
Survey: Asked students about behaviors and decision drivers to quantify what students do and why.
Stakeholder interviews: Talked with Book Store sponsors and professors to capture constraints and what needed to be true behind the scenes.
Intercept interviews: Checked in with students during peak buying hours to capture real-time emotions, pain points, and frustration.
What we found
High satisfaction
In both our survey and our intercept interviews, students were frequently satisfied with their experiences.
Information gaps
A majority of respondents make purchase decisions during the first week of the quarter, and get their information from course syllabi.
Purchasing decisions
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.
Grounding the concept
To keep the work grounded, we designed for three buyer types and mapped the full service behind them.
In-store pickup planners: need order status and pickup timing they can trust.
Digital-first buyers (eBooks and Day One Access): need upfront cost, opt-out deadlines, and “what’s included” clarity.
Deal seekers and secondhand buyers: need price comparison, trust signals, and an easy resale path.
Goal: make requirements, cost, and timing obvious in one place.
We used a service blueprint to map the full journey and expose handoffs that were breaking trust.
What exists today
Students bounce across sites and logins just to answer basic questions.
What we proposed
One predictable path that makes requirements, cost, and timing obvious.
How we designed
We used two anchors: the buyer types (what students need to feel confident) and the service blueprint (what the system must support). The buyer types defined what “good” looks like. The blueprint showed where the current journey broke.
Once we mapped what exists today, we shifted from “map the process” to “build the product.” We translated the biggest handoffs into screens, data needs, and trust cues, then iterated from there.
With those guardrails in place, we narrowed to three recommendations that shaped the final product:
Integrate course materials into the registration process
Give students readily accessible information
Create a peer-to-peer marketplace
How we iterated
Based on our design recommendations, we first explored two connected portals: one for students to purchase materials and one for professors to submit required course lists. The goal was to give students the latest textbook information directly through their registration flow.
Reducing our features
As we refined our low-fidelity prototypes, we asked stakeholders to validate the concept. Our sponsors flagged that a professor-facing portal would be difficult to support with current operational and technical constraints. Based on that feedback, we pivoted to a student-facing portal where students could log in with NetID or input their course list. We also added return window deadlines so key dates were easier to track.
How we validated
Using our mid-fidelity prototype, we conducted usability tests to find areas for improvement. Participants walked through four key tasks: locating the portal, finding course materials, purchasing a textbook, and listing a book on the student marketplace. We also asked follow-up questions about their preferences, expectations, and points of confusion.
What changed after testing
Course list hid required materials
Students wanted to answer one question fast: “What do I need for this class?” In testing, participants expected to see required materials from the course list (without clicking into each course).
Signal: Participants hesitated when materials weren’t visible from the list.
Decision: Added an expand-per-course pattern so students can view required & optional materials from the list.
Result: Fewer clicks to confirm requirements, and a lower chance of missing a required item.
Surfacing required materials on the course list reduced the click-in/click-back loop and made it easier to confirm what was needed per class.
Book listings made pricing hard to compare
When students compare purchase options, they’re trying to estimate total cost + best value quickly. In testing, participants wanted a clear range (ex: $70–$120) instead of wading through every individual price.
Signal: A single price didn’t feel representative (new/used/digital/rental, Book Store vs external).
Decision: Added price ranges on listing cards and separated external options into a dedicated tab.
Result: Faster, clearer comparison across options, without wading through every price.
Showing a price range per book helped students quickly understand the cost spread without wading through every pricing option upfront.
Marketplace buried key details
In the marketplace, students are evaluating listings quickly: is this the right book, at the right price, in the right condition? In testing, participants wanted more decision-making details surfaced upfront.
Signal: Participants paused and scrolled looking for key details.
Decision: Reworked the listing cards to prioritize details first, with images as supporting content.
Result: Faster evaluation of listings, with less second-guessing.
Rebalancing the card layout toward decision-making details helped students evaluate listings faster, with images supporting rather than leading.
DubsBooks
Designed for University of Washington students, DubsBooks turns registered courses into a course materials list, price comparison tool, and student marketplace. It helps students make more informed decisions before, during, and after the quarter.
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.
How it fits end-to-end
After testing and refining DubsBooks, I returned to the service blueprint to make sure the updated experience still fit the full journey. I mapped the prototype flow back onto the blueprint, replacing the older “search and navigate” steps with a more direct NetID login path to registered courses and required materials. This helped me validate that the changes improved the overall service flow, not just the interface.
Where it landed
What I learned
This project was the perfect culmination of my time at the University of Washington. For a majority of my graduate program, I’ve worked on designs primarily centered around improving the daily lives of students on campus, whether that be through improving the accessibility of the campus, or finding unique ways for students to interact with the biodiversity of the Seattle waterways. This project also treads uncharted territory for me, particularly with working on how we as designers could improve brick-and-mortar business through service design. Though I will admit my abilities as a leader were pushed to their limits, I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to work on this project and create one final product for students, by students.
What I'd do differently…
Dial in our research
Not enough focus on the business side of the textbook purchasing process
Redundant information muddied waters of development phase
Over reliance on personal bias
B2B Communication
Reach out to UW IT team and present our findings to the University of Washington
Understand the professors' perspectives and how to streamline both ends of the textbook purchasing process
Huge thanks to my teammates, Wilson, Harry, Karneet & Kshitij, and the University Book Store team for making my last project at UW HCDE such an amazing experience!