Media, publishing · Mobile Apps
Listening in pieces, picked up in one tap.
Iqraaly (اقرألي) is an Arabic audiobook app: novels, non-fiction and short daily programs, read by professional narrators. I designed the Iqraaly mobile app and its app icon, from the home screen and player to programs, search, shelves and downloads.
The challenge
An audiobook can run for ten hours or more. Most people hear it in pieces: on the way to work, while cooking, before sleep. Iqraaly also carries short daily programs next to its books. The app had to make each of those moments start in seconds.
Listeners return to the same book again and again over days. They need to land on the right chapter and minute without searching for it.
Long books sit next to short programs, like an evening news capsule, that are tied to a date. Each needs its own way in.
Many people listen on the road, where the connection comes and goes. Downloads have to be easy to start and easy to clean up.
The approach
I designed the app around the book you are listening to now, and kept the rest quiet until you need it.
The book you are on opens Home in its own card, with how far you are and the time left in the chapter. One tap opens the player, where the same progress bar shows what is played and what is left.
Every screen is built from the same pieces: a light headline, white cards on a warm page, small tinted icons and one plum button for the main action. The cover art carries the colour.
Listeners group books on shelves, each shown by its covers. Downloads work per chapter, show the space they take, and can be removed one part at a time.
In action
PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF
Home opens on The Midnight Library with 42 minutes left in chapter 3. One tap opens the player with its progress bar, 15-second skips, speed and sleep timer. Chapters shows what is done and downloaded, and the add sheet saves the book to a shelf.
DAILY PROGRAMS
Programs puts today's episode on top, with the shows you follow underneath: the evening news, the morning news and sport. Earlier episodes are listed by date, and a calendar marks the days that have one.
FINDING A BOOK
Search starts with categories, each shown by a book from it. Typing “Midnight” returns books and authors in one list, marked Free or Premium. All books keeps the free and paid filter from the catalogue.
SHELVES AND OFFLINE
My library shows each shelf as a circle of its covers, with books saved for later below. A shelf opens with play-all and download-all, and each book shows how far you got. Downloads lists every book with its chapters, the space they take and a way to remove one part.
Design language
Iqraaly's orange and deep plum come from its brand. The screens sit on a soft peach page with white cards and light headlines in Inter, so the cover art carries the colour. The app icon is a folder of books, the same idea as the shelves in My library.
I designed the Iqraaly mobile app and its icon: a home screen built around the book you are on, a player with chapters, daily programs by date, search, shelves and chapter downloads, in one calm set of parts.
