Young adults can't read for extended periods without getting distracted.

Short-form video addiction has made it harder for young adults to spend time reading

Watching too much TikTok, Reels, and Shorts has led to shorter attention spans and reduced focus among young adults. They now struggle to read without getting distracted. They keep going back to watching short-form videos for quick entertainment, leading to excessive unproductive screen time.

Who am I designing for?

Young adults (18-30) who spend excessive time watching short videos but struggle to stay focused and engaged while reading.

Breaking unproductive screen time by building a reading habit through gamification

I designed Readjoy, an app that uses gamification to help users build a reading habit. For every article users read, they earn read coins, which can be used to redeem discounts on products such as electronics, accessories, and more.

Personalised onboarding for tailored content

During onboarding, users learn about the key features and select topics of interest, giving them control over the articles they see on their home page. As they engage with content, the algorithm adjusts recommendations to match their preferences, like showing more football articles to frequent football readers.

Introducing Reading Mode — A better reading experience

Once users choose an article they want to read, they enter reading mode. Reading mode is a swipe-based reading experience where articles are broken down into segments and users swipe up and down to navigate through the article. First time users are introduced on how the reading mode works.

Earning Read Coins by reading an article

The article read time equates to the amount of read coins user can earn from reading that. For example, if the article is a 3-minute read, the user needs to spend minimum 3 minutes inside the reading mode to earn 3 read coins.

Buying products with Read Coins

I found that the rewards must feel meaningful for users to keep engaging with the app. In Readjoy, users can browse the shop and use the read coins to redeem discounts on various products, including electronics, accessories, and gift cards.

Research by the numbers

Too much consumption of short-form videos has led to a decreased ability to focus on books and articles.

• Short videos are short, personalised and easy to consume. This makes them addictive and it gradually lowers the motivation for activities that require effort.
• Short videos are designed to trigger a quick dopamine response, leaving viewers excited to watch the next video.
• Short videos decrease attention spans significantly making it harder to focus on activities that require sustained concentration, like reading.

I ran 2 surveys. One to explore short-form media consumption habits and another to explore the impact of short-videos on reading.

Findings from survey 1 provided an initial hypothesis that short-form content affects attention spans and productivity, leading to assumptions about its potential impact on reading.

Findings from survey 2 validated the hypothesis from survey 1 and provided direct insights into young adults' reading habits, which shaped the design decisions for the app.

Key themes from the surveys

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" How might we encourage young adults to read more in an era of digital distractions? "

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Why focus on articles and why not books?

The survey revealed that users prefer short and quick reads. Based on this, I made an informed decision to focus on articles, as they are

• More accessible.
• Require less time commitment and mental effort.

Rethinking the reading experience

Building on the insights from the surveys, I designed a swipe-based reading experience where articles are broken down into digestible segments. Users move through the article by swiping up and down, similar to how they navigate short-form videos.

Testing revealed that users found the scroll-based format familiar but enjoyed reading in the swipe-based format

I gave my participants both the scroll-based format and the swipe-based format and observed their interactions. Then I asked them a few questions to get feedback on how the experience could be improved. See the user testing feedback here.

Now, how might we make reading more engaging?

If reading was to become truly engaging, it had to be designed not just to be enjoyable in the moment, but to become a natural part of daily routines. This led me to explore habit-building strategies.

A habit is built using the TARF loop.

Trigger: This is the signal that prompts the user to take action.

Action: Once the trigger is activated, the user performs the desired action or routine

Reward: After completing the action, the user receives a reward.

Feedback: Users need to see their progress, which reinforces the habit.

Other reading apps do not focus on helping users build a reading habit

For my competitive analysis, I first looked at other reading apps. Then, I looked at habit-building apps to understand how they’ve used habit-building strategies to make an activity engaging. I’ve collated my findings here. Check it out.

Using gamification to make reading engaging

Most habit-building apps use a compulsion loop to keep users engaged. The user performs an action, receives a reward for that action, another possibility opens, and the cycle repeats. This pattern inspired me to add gamification to Readjoy, since I had the same goal of keeping users engaged while reading.

Few key screens and the why behind the design

Notable design explorations

Things I learned from this project

It is important to have strong intuition when moving fast

Since I was working under time constraints, I could not back every decision with extensive research. I had to make informed assumptions based on insights from the surveys and secondary research. Receiving positive feedback during testing reassured me in my intuition and helped me move forward confidently.

Always critically analyse your ideas with someone

You never know how good or bad your ideas are if you don't discuss it with anyone. Critically analysing my gamification ideas with my brother helped me identify gaps I hadn’t considered and refine it to a point where the whole experience felt more engaging.

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