Evolving Libby: Transforming Public Library Access into a Unified Digital Content Platform
Redesigning Libby to improve personalization, multi-library management, and content discovery across all media types
My Role
UX Designer
Industry
Digital Media
Timeline
2 months
Toolkit
Overview
Shifting from rigid task execution to a modern, discovery-first media experience.
Libby is widely trusted for digital library access, yet the current experience confines users to transactional workflows (simply borrowing and returning books and magazines). This project conceptually modernizes Libby into a premium, habit-building reading and media ecosystem.
To fully understand the strategic impact of this redesign, it is crucial to look at the three fragmented pillars currently dictating the digital public library landscape:
OverDrive: The parent corporate enterprise that secures digital distribution rights from publishers and licenses database catalogs directly to public library systems.
Libby: OverDrive’s flagship mobile application, currently restricted by design to handling text and audio formats only (ie: e-books, audiobooks, and digital magazines).
Kanopy: A video streaming platform also owned by OverDrive, which hosts films, documentaries, shows, and indie cinema, which library cardholders access through a separate application.
Framing the Problem
Fragmented ecosystems and high cognitive load undermine content discovery
Public libraries have done an incredible job expanding their digital catalogs over the past decade, but the digital user experience hasn’t kept up with this fast-paced growth. Instead of feeling like a seamless extension of their beloved neighborhood library, locating and borrowing digital media today feels unnecessarily complex.
Let’s examine together some of these areas of friction:
Cognitive Overload from Multi-Card Architecture: Managing multiple library cards introduces competing brand colors into a single interface. This visual noise forces users to rely on memory to identify which library a color represents, rather than intuitive recognition.
Semantic Color Misuse: The default application heavily relies on red and green tones. This accidental pairing visually mimics error and success states, triggering false systemic anxiety during the user journey.
Frictional Logistics: Borrowing and placing holds forces users to manually cross-reference wait times, loan availability, and queue lines across multiple linked library cards vs. calculating this on the back-end for the user by default.
Fragmented Library Content Experiences: Despite OverDrive owning both Libby and Kanopy, users must navigate independent apps to consume e-books vs. streaming movies or shows.
Blind Search Infrastructure: By default, the application restricts search queries to a singular library that is selected within user’s profile. If a title is unavailable at that specific library, it simply fails to appear in the search results, even if it is available for loan or hold on another card linked to the same account.
A Little About My Role
Stepping back to look at the bigger picture, transforming a complex system into an effortless, discovery-first experience
When I decided on this conceptual redesign, I set out to explore a fundamental question:
How might we transform an app that users rely on only for quick, in-the-moment tasks into an engaging, discovery-first reading and media platform?
I completed this project to challenge myself to envision the end-to-end design strategy. This involved moving beyond individual screen designs to analyze Libby’s current underlying system. I conducted a thorough comparative analysis of trends across modern digital media and content platforms, including ecosystem competitors like Hoopla, subscription services like Audible and Kindle, and major streaming giants like Netflix and Spotify. This research helped me to identify core friction points in how multi-library card accounts can better handle data and helped me in my process of mapping out a centralized architecture for the new all-library-media revamp.
Final Deliverable
My final deliverable focused on centralizing Libby’s fragmented formats and multiple accounts into a single experience. This included a proactive profile and notification center, a redesigned shelf for continuous reading, a curated explore feed for discovery, and a global search engine that scans all your libraries at once.
Before and After comparison of the original Libby experience versus the redesigned, unified media ecosystem.
A Little About my Approach
Designing a Smarter, More Fluid Ecosystem
To transform Libby from a transactional checkout tool into an inviting, habit-building media platform, my design strategy had to look beyond surface-level fixes. I focused on connecting thoughtful interface updates with a smarter backend experience.
From there, I designed and built a scalable, semantic component library from scratch. I redefined the color logic, layout spacing, and interaction states, I created a production-ready design system that does the heavy lifting in the background, making the app effortless for the user and bringing a modern aesthetic to the Libby platform.
Here are some of my core design & feature goals:
A Connected Media Hub: Bringing e-books, audiobooks, movies, and TV shows into a single, cohesive space. By leveraging the existing relationship between OverDrive and Kanopy, the new app design streamlines how users find and enjoy their libraries’ entire catalog.
Invisible, Automated Routing: Taking the guesswork out of having multiple library cards. The system looks at linked accounts in the background to automatically check out or hold a title using the card that offers the shortest wait time and has the greatest available loan slots.
True Global Search: Expanding the search engine to scan every single library card linked to an account simultaneously, completely eliminating the need to manually toggle between different libraries.
Designing for Every User: Moving away from the original app’s red and green color choices, which can be highly confusing for colorblind users. The new system pairs clear text labels with universally recognized icons, ensuring that system updates and availability states are accessible to everyone at a glance.
Streamlining the Visual & Color System
Eliminating interface ambiguity through a disciplined, semantic color specification
When building out the color system, I focused on creating a palette that not only modernized the interface but also communicated state and function clearly, reducing ambiguity and improving usability.
I introduced green, yellow, and red as state colors:
Green represents success or availability
Yellow is used for pending or warning states
And red signals urgency or error
These were implemented across components like availability badges, alerts, and system feedback—to help users quickly understand what actions are needed at a glance.
In addition to state colors, I also made a clear distinction between interaction and informational cues:
I used a bold black tone as the primary color for interactive elements (eg: buttons, links, and navigation), making it visually distinct and easy to recognize
I introduced blue as a secondary color, reserved for highlighting important information or content cues (such as customized content) without overwhelming the interface
By confining bright hues strictly to semantic system feedback (such as contextual badges like "Due Soon" or “for you"), the interface prevents cognitive fatigue.
Building an Adaptable Component Library
Structuring a flexible, atomic system designed to scale across varying media formats
I created reusable, flexible components, including media cards, action buttons, search bars, notification banners, and a full icon set. These are all aligned with the updated color and type system I established earlier.
A big focus here was making sure these components could adapt to different content types (eg: books, audiobooks, movies, and shows) without losing consistency or usability. That’s why, for example, you’ll see consistent tag placements, iconography, and button behaviors across formats.
I also paid special attention to interaction states (eg: hover, selected, disabled, etc.) to give users clear feedback and reduce ambiguity when navigating or borrowing content.
Final Hi-Fi Designs
Bringing the redesigned Libby experience to life through polished high fidelity designs
To validate the direction of the redesign, I created a series of high-fidelity interaction concepts exploring how the updated design system, navigation patterns, and personalization features could work together in practice.
These concepts focused on making the experience feel:
More engaging and discovery-driven
Easier to navigate across multiple libraries
More visually cohesive across content types
Better suited for long-term habit building rather than only transactional use
Exploring and Reviewing Titles
Encouraging browsing through curated and personalized content
The redesigned “Explore” flow shifts Libby away from a keyword-first experience toward a more modern discovery platform inspired by media ecosystems like Netflix, Spotify, and Apple Books.
The redesigned “Media Details” page introduce a clearer hierarchy for evaluating content.
This new layout introduces:
Personalized recommendations
Saved content
Trending titles
Cross-format suggestions
Contextual availability indicators
Cross-format recommendations, such as paired audiobooks
Genre, rating, and page-length visibility upfront
Recommendation modules and rich cover art help users browse more naturally while reducing the cognitive load associated with dense library interfaces.
Personalized browsing modules transform discovery from a utility task into a more engaging and curated experience.
The redesigned “Shelf” experience surfaces the most relevant actions upfront to improve reading continuity and discoverability.
"Shelf" and Reading
Prioritizing in-progress content and actionable next steps
The redesigned “Shelf” experience focuses on helping users quickly resume, manage, and organize their borrowed content.
Rather than presenting long lists of content, one title at a time (as the current libby format does), the updated interface prioritizes:
“Where You Left Off” content
Clear indicators such as “Due soon” or “Available now”
Waitlisted titles
Recently borrowed media
Faster resume actions
This creates stronger continuity between sessions while clearly displaying other available options if the user decides to try something else.
Profile, Your Recents, and Search
Combining utility and exploration within a single experience
The redesigned profile experience centralizes:
Notifications with loan info and recommendations
“Saved” content and “Collections”
Reading activity and library account(s) management
This reframes Libby from a passive borrowing platform into a more proactive digital media ecosystem.
The updated search flow expands beyond basic keyword matching by integrating:
Rich recent search history
Personalized recommendations based on your
Cross-library search logic
Immediate actionable buttons
Contextual availability badges
Users no longer need to manually search library-by-library, helping simplify the borrowing process for users with multiple linked accounts.
Personalized search, recommendations, notifications, and collections work together to create a more engaging and discovery-driven experience across books, audiobooks, movies, and shows.
Car Mode simplifies audiobook interactions through larger controls and a simplified visual hierarchy.
"Car Mode" Concept
Designing for safer and more accessible audiobook interactions when on-the-go
As part of the broader ecosystem exploration, I also developed a strategic “Car Mode” concept to focus on optimized audiobook usability while driving.
The interface prioritized:
Large touch targets to reduce error
Reducing visual clutter and minimized interaction complexity
Quick playback controls
Clear hierarchy and readability
This concept explores how Libby could better support audiobook listeners in limited-attention environments.
Conclusion
What this project taught me
I had a lot of fun on this project having the freedom to experiment with blending e-books, audiobooks, and video streaming into a cohesive digital landscape. However, I can acknowledge that creative processes can’t happen in a vacuum. While my design explores an ideal user experience, high-impact UX must always align with business objectives. My goal was to treat this redesign as a strategic solution that optimizes user engagement and promotes exposure for underutilized catalog rights, rather than just a visual exercise. Merging Libby and Kanopy wasn't only about simplifying things for the user, it was a realistic look at how consolidating sister applications could eliminate redundant operational overhead, unify data pipelines, and streamline platform management for OverDrive.
This project strengthened my ability to:
Frame ambiguous problems into clear product opportunities by identifying the gap between Libby and Kanopy, transforming similar workflows into a unified media ecosystem.
Balance user needs with business strategy and technical feasibility by studying how major streaming apps handle content, ensuring this new hub works realistically with OverDrive's existing setup.
Translate complex workflows into scalable product concepts by simplifying high-cognitive-load mechanics, such as cross-library holds and blind searches, into an effortless, discovery experience.
