Art is is a powerful medium for communication, motivation and inspiration. Creativity serves as both source of inner satisfaction and a means of livelihood for different individuals. But due to rise in population creators face challenges to reach to their audience. Through this project, I strive to create an environment where visual artists has the opportunity to shine and share their unique perspective with the world.
Due to the rising population in the Art field, Selling art in the art market has become a challenge to the struggling local visual artists. Despite traditional selling processes and online selling options, they face problems while showcasing art and reaching out to prospective buyers.
An app designed to offer a curated list of local business spaces and streamline the exhibit signup process for local visual artists. It aims to provide a platform for artists to effortlessly display, sell, and promote their art.
Starting with white paper research, I delved into articles on the struggles in the art market, the factors influencing this struggle, current methods, and available solutions. Through this research, I uncovered some facts.
81 percent of Americans believe the arts are “a positive experience in a troubled world.” According to a survey by The American Academy of Arts & Science, only 22 percent of Americans think artists' professions contribute “a lot” to society.
“The United States needs to recalibrate its market values and support systems to justify an inclusive attitude toward professional artists as essential workers of society.”
These are the most insightful questions that helped me finalize my six participants.
To empathize with visual artists, I conducted six user interviews with visual artists from art clubs, social media channels, friends, etc. I selected participants who were willing to sell their art and asked questions focusing on three main metrics.
Based on the information gathered from the interviews. I decided to create an Affinity Map. I generated codes from the insightful quotes and grouped them into similar themes. After synthesizing all the data, I came up with these main Themes. ( VIEW LINK HERE)
After identifying common themes, I created an empathy map to empathize more deeply with users. I developed two empathy maps to understand what they think/feel, hear/see to identify their pain points and goals.
I decided to create two personas to serve as a constant reminder of the user throughout the entire design process. It helped me understand the users' goals and desires versus their frustrations and motivations to sell and display their art. It will aid me in ideating a solution created specifically for users.
After developing a better understanding of my users and analyzing their needs, it gave me four "How might we" questions to create my solution designs. It also provided me with necessary MVP feature and nice-to-have features that I should include in my solution.
To visualize solutions that I synthesized and learned from the research process, I sketched my solution ideas. While brainstorming for my app design, I asked myself about my main goal and what I wanted to achieve. I extracted key points from the needs, pain points, and goals identified during the interviews.
After determining the epic story, I crafted user stories based on user personas and the expected features in "Art Space" to deliver. User stories played a crucial role in guiding my decision-making process, aiding in the identification and prioritization of essential features that needed to be included in the MVP. ( VIEW LINK HERE )
After getting a rough idea of how to structure and organize the application, I began mapping out the information architecture by creating a site map, defining user flows, and sketching on paper. These steps helped me organize the content in a logical flow. User flows provide a visual representation of how users can navigate through an application, guiding them from entry points to task completion.
The initial step to transform my ideas into tangible designs was to sketch paper screens. These sketches could be adjusted and tested before I created high-fidelity designs.
I continuously iterated throughout my designs. The first iteration occurred after guerrilla usability tests with five users. These tests helped me validate initial ideas and receive feedback early in the process.
I made all the necessary changes to the wireframes and created a wireflow by combining the wireframes and user flow. ( VIEW LINK HERE)
When delving into the style guide creation, I took into account color psychology and my brand platform as a whole. Ultimately, my choice of color was "Burnt Orange. It symbolizes a warm, earthy tone, a sense of reliability, trustworthiness, and stability. Yet, it also possesses a sense of excitement, encouragement, and motivation. Hence, it became my primary color. I took some inspiration from other apps and tried different designs for my app.
I used Adobe Illustrator to create the logo and illustrations for the app. While creating the logo, I kept the goal of this app in my mind.
I created my high fidelity mockups using Figma to bring my design decisions to life. I loved working this part because It’s when Art Space becomes the closest to what it will be.
While finalizing my high fidelity designs, I also conducted an accessibility audit and adjusted color according to WEB AIM guidelines.
Afterwards, I distributed a screener survey to recruit new participants for the conclusive usability test, focusing on high-fidelity designs. After selecting five participants, I conducted a 30-minute usability testing session. Participants were assigned tasks within the app to evaluate the resolution of previous issues and identify any new challenges.
This final usability testing round proved instrumental in revisiting and rectifying UX problems. In response to user feedback, I addressed and corrected several highlighted issues.
I learned that striking the right balance between speed and precision is essential to meet project deadline while maintaining the highest standers of quality.
Clearly organized information improves user understanding and navigation.
I realized that the sooner we start testing the better it is tend to assume user behaviors. Aligning design choices with user preferences and habits significantly enhances the overall user experience. Hence user feedback performs crucial role in enhancement of user experience. User comments or suggestion contributed to refining features and addressing the pain points.
