Business apps
Bookshelf — book management app
An app that started from my own problem: wanting to keep a reading log, but giving up because entering each book was tedious. The whole design centres on cutting that effort down.
The problem
Whether a reading log survives comes down to the effort of adding one book. Typing the title, author and publisher every time is enough friction to stop after a few entries. And without something to bring unread books back to mind, keeping the log becomes an end in itself.
Design approach
Two things only: reduce the typing, and remind you before you forget. Rather than adding features, the priority was making the habit stick.
What was built
Searching by ISBN or title pulls book details from the Google Books API and fills the form automatically. Reading plans have reminders, with a daily batch job selecting what to notify. There are reports for reviewing your reading habits, and a public JSON API protected by token authentication.
My role
Planning, screen design, implementation and release — all handled solo.