Tsundoku

After being read, books often end up sitting forgotten while readers nearby might want exactly that title. If readers had an easy way to make their library available to others nearby, they would be more willing to share books. How might we make sharing a book with a stranger feel as safe and personal as sharing with your trusted circle? Tsundoku offers a solution for that issue. Tsundoku is a community book-sharing app designed to make book sharing safe, personal, and meaningful. Research revealed that 94% of books sit forgotten, 73% fear books won't come back, 57% only borrow from trusted friends, and 0% were aware of a sharing platform. Readers want to share their books, but lack a safe way to do it. To solve this, the team designed for user personas like Mara—a 30-year-old teacher from Berlin who owns many books she will likely never read again and wants them to find readers who care. The team executed a UX/UI design process: Research & Concept Modeling, Visual Style, Wireframes, and Prototype. The platform is grounded in three main design principles: Trust & Safety, Design for Emotional Weight, and Close the Loop. Its visual identity uses a warm, personal, and trustworthy style reflecting the human exchange at the heart of sharing. Featuring clear user flows for uploading and sharing books, Tsundoku connects local readers safely.