A digital platform for French-language readers abroad

LirEncor is a French-American nonprofit offering access to recent French-language books through a fully digital reading program. Launched in 2022, it first relied on a Canadian white-label platform before evolving into a partnership with Bibliothèque Orange, a long-established international reading network.

As Visual Communications Lead, I support the platform’s evolution across brand, content, and digital experience.

For French speakers living in the United States, access to recent publications in their native language is often limited and expensive, making digital lending particularly valuable.

Beyond access, the platform supports a reading culture and helps maintain a shared connection to language and contemporary literature. Monthly book club discussions extend this experience. They offer a space to share impressions and, for some members, to simply practice French.

LirEncor is a portmanteau derived from the French phrase “lire encore,” which means “keep reading.”

Current LirEncor homepage (March 2026), reflecting the platform’s mature structure and positioning.

Bridging traditional reading habits with digital access

For an audience unfamiliar with digital borrowing, the shift to tablet-based reading could easily be perceived as a barrier and required reassurance as much as instruction.

Designing for mixed levels of digital confidence

The core audience included members with varying levels of digital confidence. The interface had to work for all users, from tech-savvy readers to members unfamiliar with installing apps or importing digital books. This reflection shaped the tone, the structure of the content, and the overall interface of the platform.

Evolving the brand for digital reading

The original logo had been created internally but lacked contrast and legibility, especially on smaller screens.

Rather than replacing it entirely, I approached the redesign as an evolution, focusing on clarity, stronger typographic structure, and improved contrast. Pairing the book and the tablet became a central idea, framing digital reading as a continuation of existing habits.

The typographic system relied on open-source Google Fonts (Plain and Catamaran), ensuring consistent and sustainable use across platforms. The horizontal logo format was designed to maintain legibility across responsive layouts. I delivered a concise brand guide and a shared asset library to ensure consistency across platforms.

This helped position the platform as familiar and accessible, rather than technical.

From the original in-house logo to a mobile-optimized final version.

Designing for a white-label SaaS environment

Based on past experience, I expected structural limitations and approached the project with a pragmatic mindset. This platform operated with strict constraints:

• No technical documentation was available
• Fixed layout zones
• Limited UI customization
• No access to CSS
• Customization requests were not supported by the vendor

Working Without Platform Documentation

With no available documentation, I conducted my own audit to understand the system’s constraints. Once those limits were clear, I avoided investing in customizations that were unlikely to be approved.

Instead, I defined clear integration guidelines, covering logo dimensions, color codes, and accessible contrast ratios, to ensure consistent implementation within the platform.

Integration documentation prepared for the Saas Vendor, specifying logo dimensions, color codes, and WCAG-compliant contrast ratios to ensure accurate deployment.

Within the partner’s fixed layout zones (960×250 format), I designed a serie of recurring promotional modules integrated directly into the platform landing page. 

These modules were created before the design system was fully defined, during an early phase of the project.

They served as a real-world exploration of the visual direction, helping shape the system while introducing the Reader character and establishing a consistent visual language.

The design system was established with the first version of the site and evolved over time through regular updates, including a major strategic redesign in 2023. Even with a relatively simple structure, maintaining it helped ensure consistency over time.

The version presented here reflects the March 2026 update, with a stronger focus on accessibility, including upcoming keyboard focus states.

The design system uses WCAG-validated color scales and minimal components.

Early high-fidelity mockups explored a more product-driven imagery, using devices to communicate the digital nature of the service. However, this direction felt too technical and startup-oriented for the association’s audience. We shifted toward a more human-centered direction, moving the focus from the device to the experience of reading.

Introducing “The Reader”

Instead of showing a device, we introduced a character absorbed in her book. This a feeling that most readers instantly recognize. The Reader represents the pleasure of reading, simply transported into a new format. The joy remains unchanged.

From the original mockup to final UI Direction.

After its first year, LirEncor entered a new phase, with changes in its technical and distribution model. This growth called for a refinement of content strategy and positioning. Instead of rebuilding, I adapted the existing structure to support these changes:

• Refining content strategy and information architecture
  
• Strengthening visual credibility through original photography
• Improving SEO with more contextual and authentic imagery

Because the system had been designed for flexibility, these adjustments required minimal redevelopment.

Visit the website: lirencor.com

Original photography: Stephanie Lesperance