Cape Gallery for Aspiring Artists

This is an app designed for a hypothetical art gallery called “Cape Gallery for Aspiring artists”. It is intended to provide art students with resources to aid in their studies, provide a collaborative platform for aspiring artists to gain exposure, to provide information about the gallery and its featured artists, as well as offer an online shopping portal for those interested in purchasing art from this gallery without the hasstle of having to visit it in person.

Goal

Simplify the buy of art, provide a platform for easy collaboration and exposure, and offer valid sources for the academic art community.

Problem

Users were frustrated about a lack of legitimate and secure sites to buy art from. Other users had trouble locating authentic and accredited academic sources for studies. The gallery thought that a new and interactive online presence would renew and increase interest in the gallery after COVID-19 and attract a larger audience.

Role & Responsibilities

UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer, Lead UX Designer, UX Writer. For the purpose of this project, I fulfilled all of the required roles.

User Research, Analysis of Research, Wireframing, Prototyping

Duration

February 2023 – June 2023

Design System

Empathize

User Research - Summary

I conducted two moderated usability studies during this project. I initially thought that my designs were straight forward with an obvious user journey and that it had sufficient information, but my research opened my eyes to pain points and gaps in my designs that I missed.

User pain points

Lack of sources

Art student often need to write essays, conduct research, and at the end of their degree, create a thesis. There tasks all require credited sources, as pages like Wikipedia are not accepted by universities and colleges.

Therefore, the ‘student’ login section will be primarily focused on containing useful sources that will be available to art students for such purposes.

Untrustorthy sites to buy art from

During my interviews, one of the participants drew my attention towards the fact that art are often sold as a scam. She, herself, once ordered a painting online and it looks completely different to the one in the description. Because of this, I created a secure section where art can be purchased directly from the gallery, with a helpline and a legitimacy statement.

Lack of places to gain personal exposure

Many aspiring artists need go find an agent to promote their work, physically go to art galleries with their portfolios or use social media as a means to gain exposure. I wanted to create a platform where users can upload their own work to a shared online section of the gallery and stand a chance to be selected to exhibit in the art gallery.

Define

Problem statement:

Pete Aldrin is a university educator who needs an app with accredited sources because he wants to help his students easily find useful sources for assignments.

User journey map:

Peter Aldrin’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a multi-functional app for an art gallery.

Ideate

Paper wireframes

I tried to create a design where the homepage contains all of the starting points for the user journey. I also wanted to include a navigation toolbar at the bottom. My design changed completely towards the end, but I kept the toolbar.

Digital wireframes

I wanted to create a platform where necessary information is readily available to the public without them having to visit the gallery first. Map for visitors and users to easily be able to locate the gallery for visits. Contact information and other important information for users and visitors to access easily.

I tried to create 3 distinguishable branches from the login page. These can clearly and easily be accessed. From there, the home pages are all specific to their distinctive purposes and they all have clear buttons that indicate the next step in the user flow.

Prototype

Low Fidelity Prototype

View dedicated mobile app: https://www.figma.com/file/A9W9pqKSlNPoUH51OnC46G/Artist-Bio-App?type=design&node-id=0%3A1&mode=design&t=cPiiGCtGMsw5EreJ-1

The basic user journey in this prototype is ‘Log in’/ ‘Artist’/ ‘Work with us’/ ‘I’m new’/‘Upload’/ ‘Insert’/ ‘Submit’/ ‘Return to home page’. Alternatively, the user can log in as a student or visitor and follow the user flow.

Mockups

I created a clean, simple home page where the user flow is clearly indicated by the prominent orange buttons. so that other elements don’t distract users from this one. (These iterations are based on my second usability study, after I decided to redo my entire design.)

Before second usability study

After second usability study

At first, I thought that it would be simple enough to add the editable personal information underneath the main heading in a lighter grey. Participants, however, had trouble noticing that this is where they needed to edit the information. So, I added arrows that led to consequent screens with a bright orange ‘edit’ button. (These iterations are based on my second usability study, after I decided to redo my entire design.)

Test

Usability Study

Study Type:

Unmoderated usability study (2 participants) & Moderated usability study (3 participants)

Participants:

5 participants

Location:

South Africa, Cape Town (some remote)

Duration:

10-15 mins/ participant

Usability studies findings

My usability studies produced very valuable insights that made my designs better and more user friendly. I discovered that users value a more simple flow with a clear user flow than a fancy design with frills and patterns. The second usability study revealed that the users found my second design to be more user friendly and accessible than the previous version.

Round 1

Unclear where settings is.

2. Unclear that the buttons in settings are buttons.

3. Slightly unclear where to find artist profiles for more information about them.

Round 2

1. Lack of artist bio information.

2. Need for a helpline or space for enquiries.

High Fidelity Prototype

View prototype: https://www.figma.com/file/A9W9pqKSlNPoUH51OnC46G/Artist-Bio-App?type=design&node-id=3%3A9&mode=design&t=cPiiGCtGMsw5EreJ-1

Accessibility considerations

1.

I included the option to switch to dark mode for a stronger contrast and to be softer on the eyes.

2.

I used clear language within the design to make sure that the flow is easy to comprehend and not much thinking goes into understanding the user flow and the UX language.

Some participants from my usability study said:

"This was very easy. I am not very good with tech stuff, but I could still figure it out.“

"Very easy and straightforward. A dumb person would easily be able to use this app."

3.

I applied a strong colour contrast to text (dark grey against white) and bright orange contrast colour to buttons and some other elements and placed it mostly against white, neutral backgrounds. This would make the design more accessible to nearsighted and dyslexic people, because not much reading is required to notice the buttons that indicate the main user flows.

Going forward

What I learned:

I learned that less definitely is more. Upon conducting my usability studies, I realised that users prefer a simple, straightforward design. During the design process, I realised that I need to have a design that I believe in, which is why I redesigned the whole thing.

Impact:

"This was very nice, a lot more user friendly than other similar apps." - Participant

"This app is useful, because you can look at the artworks in the gallery and buy them without going to the art gallery itself.“ - Participant

"This is functional and easy. I can use it to ask other students who are also looking for the same answers I am looking for.“ - Participant

"I definitely think this is a very useful app. One wouldn't need an agent to collaborate with the gallery. It would also be great for aspiring artists who need to gain exposure.“ - Participant

Next steps:

I’d love to give this project another review at some point to see which features I could improve on. Ideally, I’d launch it and iterate based on reviews in order to create a better, improved version.
I’d add a filter to the shopping section so that customers can find artworks specific to their search criteria.
I would also like to add greater variety of sources under student login. These resources and sources would include a section for existing artists. All of the sources would be made more visually appealing and there would be added to all of them.

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