The Opportunity
Museum patrons frequent galleries to enjoy the art, they often leave feeling like they did not appreciate the art to its full potential. Aura is a startup that wants to design a way to improve the experience of viewing art.
My Role
A modified Google Ventures Design Sprint was conducted with only core exercises being used to develop a solution. Combining provided interview results with my own research, I designed an app from low to high-fidelity to cater to the unique needs of Aura’s users.
The duration of the modified design sprint was 20 hours over 5 days.
User Research & Interview
User interview data was supplied through the brief. Aura discovered that knowledge about art varies between museum goers, visitors often feel in the dark about art/artists information and are overwhelmed when trying to research about it themselves
Persona
Through the amalgamation of user research & interview data, we were provided with our persona, Angela, to help guide design decisions empathetically.
Angela
23 Years Old
Junior Art Director
New York, NY
Behavior
Since moving to New York a year ago, Angela has tried to take advantage of all the world class art and museums in the city. She goes to the more popular museums every couple of months – usually by herself. Angela doesn’t really look for specific exhibitions or artists – she just goes and browses whatever work is being showcased.
Frustrations
Angela enjoys her visits, but feels like if she knew a little more, she would have a better experience. Angela has tried to read some books and articles on the art she’s seen, but loses interest due to how long and in-depth they are.
Goals
Angela wants to get quick information while looking at the art that will give her a better appreciation for it, and make her feel like she is making the most our of her visit.
Affinity Map
Synthesizing interview findings helps visualize pain points and identify factors that are important for our demographic. Ultimately, the goal is to unravel and share the narratives and intensions of the art in a fun, bite-sized way.
User Map
We developed a quick play-through of the end-to-end interaction a user might have with the mobile app, keeping in mind the design constraints from the brief:
The end product should focus on improving in-person viewing experience.
The solution should be designed as a mobile app or mobile-optimized website.
Lightning Demos
With the aim at understanding the market landscape, I dug into existing products & services that are either within the same product space or have unique solutions to user pain points.
Google Arts & Culture
Pros: I found the layout of the search feature interesting. Also, the description page provides information about related artists or pieces which would seem helpful to understanding art.
Cons: Gathering information on artist, artwork, and gallery is cumbersome.
SeeSaw
Pros: The map feature showcasing exhibits seems helpful and easy to navigate through. I appreciate the descriptions on showcased art within gallery pages.
Cons: Information and features are broad and do not touch on artwork specifics.
AllWorld
Pros: Provides information about the artist & art in a concise, clean, and friendly way. How it showcases art by artist and location is attractive.
Cons: Does not contain scanning feature for physical artworks.
PictureThis
Pros: Identification feature uses image & scan to provide detailed information about the subject. I found this as a great use of existing AI technology.
Cons: Main features are lost within the interface. Also the information for subjects is presented all at once and causes cognitive overload.
Rapid Ideation
I decided that a scanning feature in combination with bite-size information would be a key differentiator. This unique method of disseminating information would appeal to younger users like Angela and make it easier to walk through museums and learn about the art.
It was evident that “scan & learn” is the most important step of the journey as it is how the user essentially learns about the art. I ran a Crazy 8s exercise to quickly sketch out ideas for this particular step of the user map.
Solution Sketching
The most effective form was selected and refined. I chose a critical screen to sketch solutions for; it provides an easy and fun experience of bite-size information and ultimately reduces mental load. I also sketched the adjacent screens to provide context into the solution and help us better visualize the main steps of the journey.
Storyboard
Screens from the solution sketch were further expanded into storyboard, helping us envision the core flow. The incorporated search feature can help dig up artist/art or gallery. I used these screens to create a low-fidelity prototype and test if the wireflow is fluid.
Brand
A brand system started to develop and the name ‘Aura’ was determined. Aura is a representation of the quality and essence that surround a subject — similarly to how this app becomes an extension of the art in subject.
Prototype
Refined storyboard sketches were rendered in Figma and used as a working prototype. My two goals were to create a utilitarian version of what I expect as the end product and for it to function appropriately for usability testing.
Scanning screen spotlights bite-size information carousel tremendously reducing the user’s cognitive load while providing an immersive experience.
Pages shuffle between artwork information and artist biography providing an intuitive experience for the user to gather information.
Users can search through a database of artworks, artists, and museum collections.
Usability Testing
A test plan and script were composed, which include exploratory questions and tasks to be completed. A two pronged approach was taken during the testing sessions to strengthen the primary research and receive rich, actionable insight from user feedback. I then recruited 5 participants that align with our target demographic and conducted in-person usability tests.
Participants varied in their knowledge on art, ranging from a design professional to an art enthusiast. All participants wanted to learn more about art — some desired only highlights of what makes a specific artwork important while others sought in-depth information about the subject.
Unfortunately I couldn’t bootstrap a prototype that would give me camera & scanning access, so the question of impulsively identifying art at a museum did not really get answered in the test. However, the bite-size information was well received as an intuitive learning method which immersed users into the subject without distractions.
I compiled key findings from the usability tests into a table — highlights are listed below:
Home page:
+ Unclear if art/artist name is clickable or not.
+ Text is illegible in dark compositions.
Bite-size info:
+ Unclear how many info tid-bits there are.
+ Confusion if play button is a sound or visual feature?
+ Pleasant way of taking in information.
Art page:
+ Text can be sectioned for better scannability.
Artist’s profile:
+ Bio can be sectioned for better scannability.
While my role in this project ends here, the findings from the usability testing made the next steps for design iteration quite clear. I would update the prototype for another round of usability testing and continue exploring lower-priority features.
