Read together, at your own pace, without spoilers.
Margins is a concept app for buddy reads. Friends read the same book in whatever format they like, and every note is pinned to a chapter, so you only see it once you’ve caught up. I read a lot of thrillers, where one stray message can ruin an ending, so I designed it for readers like me.
Role
Product designer (solo, self-initiated)
Timeline
November 2026
Scope
Reading room, chapter notes, progress, onboarding
Tools
Figma, Figma AI for the felt illustrations
↓ Skip to the unlock moment
01 · In brief
The short version.
Problem
Reading with friends means either a group chat full of spoilers or waiting for the slowest reader.
My role
Solo product designer: desk research, flows, interaction design, UI and illustration direction.
Approach
Compare what existing apps do, read what readers ask for in public, then design around one idea: notes pinned to chapters.
Output
Fifteen high-fidelity iOS screens, a felt illustration system and a reusable design system. A concept, not a shipped product.
02 · Challenge
Everyone reads at a different speed. Conversations don't wait.
A buddy read starts with excitement and ends in a muted group chat. One friend races ahead and has to stay quiet. Another falls behind and avoids the chat completely. The conversation, which is the best part of reading together, is the first thing to go.
How might we
How might we let friends talk about a book as they read it, without anyone being spoiled or left behind?
03 · Research
What readers do today, and where it breaks.
I didn’t run interviews for this concept. I compared how StoryGraph, Fable and Goodreads handle spoilers today, then read StoryGraph’s public roadmap, where readers have asked for the same fixes since 2022.
Competitor check
StoryGraph already locks buddy-read notes by your logged percentage or time. Fable uses spoiler-free chapter rooms. Goodreads relies on manual spoiler tags. None say how mixed formats line up.
What readers ask for
“Add visible comments to buddy reads” (14 votes). “Unlock a comment regardless of your progress” (8). “Let audiobook users use chapter numbers” (5).
The key insight
Pages and percentages don’t survive a change of edition or format. Chapters do. One reader found the same passage at 67% in one edition and 79% in another.
04 · Key decisions
Three decisions that make it work.
Notes pinned to a chapter
Every note is tied to a chapter and a rough spot in it, and stays hidden until your progress passes it. Paperback, ebook and audio readers all line up.
Progress in one tap
Logging where you are has to be faster than typing into a chat: pick your format, tap to the chapter, mark start, middle or finished.
Nearby, not ahead
The room shows which friends are near your page, not a leaderboard of who is winning, so nobody feels behind.
05 · Interaction
The unlock moment is the product.
When your progress passes a friend’s note, it settles into place with a light haptic tick. Until then you can see a note is waiting and which chapter it’s about, and you can choose to peek.
06 · Design system
A lamplit reading nook, made of felt.
Type
Nunito throughout: Light for big, calm headlines, Bold for book titles and numbers, Regular for everything you tap.
Colour
Near-black chocolate for evening reading, cream text, and soft felt colours taken from the illustrations.
Components
Felt icons and portraits, book covers, chapter rows, open and locked notes, and the progress sheet.
07 · Iteration
Version one locked notes by page number. It broke.
My first design copied the obvious model: a note unlocks at page 120. Checking it against the research showed the flaw. Page 120 in a paperback is a different moment on an ebook at 31%, or an audiobook measured in hours.
So version two pins notes to chapters, shows a chapter label before you open anything, and adds a deliberate Peek anyway for rereaders. Next, I want to test it with real buddy-read groups who read in different formats.
08 · Edge cases
Chapters aren’t perfect either.
Audiobook tracks
Audio files often split one chapter across several tracks. Margins asks for the chapter title, not the track number, and matches it to the contents.
Different editions
Some editions add a prologue or number chapters differently. Everyone picks their edition when the read starts, and chapters line up by title.
Rereaders and racers
Someone rereading can turn on Peek for the whole book. Someone who races ahead just logs progress. Their notes stay pinned where they wrote them.
09 · Final design
The final design, from first note to a full shelf.
Six screens that carry the whole idea: your reads, the reading room, chapter notes, logging progress, the moment a chapter opens, and a felt bookshelf of everything you’ve finished together. Then the journey around them, from picking a book to finishing it together.
10 · Accessibility
Blur is never the only signal.
Text, not just blur
Locked notes also say “Opens when you reach chapter 8”, so the state is clear without relying on the blur.
Dynamic Type
Layouts are built to reflow at larger text sizes. A full check at the largest iOS setting is next.
Reduce Motion
With Reduce Motion on, the unlock becomes a simple fade.
11 · Measuring success
How I’d know it’s working.
Notes opened after unlock
The share of locked notes read within a day of opening. If people don’t come back for them, the unlock moment isn’t doing its job.
Groups that finish together
How many buddy reads reach the last chapter with everyone still posting. That’s the problem the whole app exists to solve.
How often people peek
Some peeking is healthy. A lot would mean chapter locking feels too strict, or the wait between friends is too long.
12 · Options I rejected
Options I rejected.
Most of these came from checking the competition before falling for my first idea.
✕ Rejected
Locking notes by page number
✓ Instead
Notes pinned to chapters, so paperback, ebook and audio readers all line up.
✕ Rejected
Percentages, like StoryGraph
✓ Instead
Chapters, because one reader found the same passage at 67% in one edition and 79% in another.
✕ Rejected
Manual spoiler tags, like Goodreads
✓ Instead
Notes lock on their own, with a deliberate Peek for rereaders.
✕ Rejected
A leaderboard of who is ahead
✓ Instead
The room shows which friends are near your page, so nobody feels behind.
13 · Reflection
Design for the moment people come back.
What I would do next
Test it with a few real buddy-read groups in mixed formats, and see whether chapter-level locking feels precise enough.
What I learned
Check the competition before falling for an idea. The spoiler lock I thought was my big idea already existed. The real problem was hiding in other readers’ feature requests.
Next project