BookBeat – The Spotify of audiobooks

Overview

As Lead Product Designer at BookBeat, I played a key role in growing the subscription-based audiobook service from its launch in 2016 to over 250,000 paying users, expanding into numerous European markets. My focus was on crafting the user experience for the native iOS and Android apps, from concept to live implementation, covering all aspects of UX and UI.

Impact and Feedback

Through strong collaboration with the product team and a data-driven, experimental mindset, we raised the App Store rating from 3.0 to 4.6, backed by thousands of positive reviews, making BookBeat the top ranked audiobook app on the market.

Some other highlights with huge impact on revenue:
• Trial conversions increased by 40% (from 50% to 70%)

• Churn rate decreased by 25% (from 20% to 15%)

• Frequency of use grew by 25% (from 2.5 to 3.1 days per week)

Design Process

I conducted usability tests, led design workshops, collaborated with data science to develop bespoke product tracking and KPI's, and worked closely with developers to deliver new features. I designed and launched over many major features and countless smaller iterative improvements into the app. This process was driven by data, collaboration, and a user-centered approach.

Design System

I built and refined a comprehensive design system, ensuring consistency across platforms. Shared via Sketch and Zeplin, the system was integrated into both iOS and Android codebases, streamlining development and enhancing design efficiency. Back in 2016, design systems was still a pretty new concept for designers and teams and I took an ambitious approach as the only designer at the time and built out a full scale system of UI components, UX patterns, interaction design specs and tokenized color- and typography scheme.