Study of Iranian users in order to design a participatory mobile application for advanced search and purchase of study resources

According to the decrease of reading rate in recent years, the decrease of general and specialized knowledge of the community can be predictable. Too many reasons are known as the causes of reading rate decrease, but one of the most important of them, according to the related researches, is lack of information about books. The low ability of users to search for books, can be another reason of the proposed problem. Furthermore, economic problems of the publishers in informing and advertising of new published documents can be listed in the main causes of reading rate changes.Thus, the main goal of this research is studying Iranian users for designing a mobile application in order to make an opportunity for them to search the academic and non- academic documents efficiently, effectively and in a new attractive experience. By using this service and application, the users can become aware of all kinds of book information, purchasing ways, the relevant publishers, books table of content, selling rate and the level of reader satisfaction. Moreover, a creative and cost effective solution for economic problems in book advertising is another purpose of this research.The research hypothesis is that user's needs assessment and designing this application in an effective and user- centered way can lead a useful book searching process as well as making a good purchasing facility for the users. This study by purpose is practical and the required information was collected in a library and field study manner through observation and questionnaire. Also, the process of data analysis has been done by qualitative and quantitative methods.According to UCD Process, the context of use has been specified and used in design process. Afterwards, user requirements have been recognized accurately in order to be utilized in ideation phase. The ideation process has been done according to research goals and user requirements. Subsequently, by using user- centered design approach and related tools, the process of idea development has been done precisely too. So, various tools such as brainstorming, task- function mapping, function allocation, scenarios of use, user journey map, and information architecture have been used wherever needed. In the following steps, paper prototype and wireframes were made and became ready for the test. In this section, an entire evaluation has been done by two different groups of users and publishers and the evaluation results were used to finalize the design. Thus, the latest version of the design was obtained. The results of this research show that design of this effective and user- centered application, facilitates advanced book searching process and book purchasing. This application provides various benefits to the publishers and users. Easy retrieval of academic and non-academic books and resources, view and access to useful features of each document, finding the interdisciplinary resources, and being able to purchase them using various means are some of the system’s accomplishments for the users. Also increase of sales rate, direct and indirect marketing, and decrease of advertising costs are some of the beneficial results for the publishers.