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Jack Gifford
Gallery Genuis
Personalized art experiences
Project Duration
October - November 2023
Gallery Genius is a mobile app designed to enhance the art gallery experience. It enables users to easily find and learn about artists and galleries, offering detailed profiles and a bookmarking feature for favorites. The app's simple interface is user-friendly, and suitable for both art enthusiasts and newcomers. Developed through user research and testing, Gallery Genius focuses on accessibility and straightforward navigation to improve art discovery for all users.
My Role
My Responsibilities
UX/UI Designer
and researcher
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Conducting user research
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Developing personas
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Journey mapping
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Wireframing and prototyping
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Usability testing
Tools
Figma
Project Overview
The Problem
Traditional art gallery exploration can be overwhelming and inaccessible for many, lacking personalization, easy navigation, and simplistic booking.
The Goal
To create an app that simplifies the art discovery process, offering a personalized, accessible, and user-friendly experience for exploring artists and galleries.
User Research
User Research
In this project, we aimed to create the best user experience possible. We decided on a qualitative research approach focusing on journey mapping to understand user behavior, persona development to best empathize with users, and competitive analysis to understand our place in the market. The project started with asking key questions to guide our research and design decisions, ensuring that we were addressing the real needs of our users effectively.
What is the product and who is it for?
What do our primary users need most?
How can out product provide a unique value?
What features are most important to our users?
What pain points do users experience with current solutions?
What can we learn from our biggest competitors?
User Research: Pain Points
Difficulty accessing information
Traditional art gallery exploration can be overwhelming and inaccessible for many, lacking personalization and easy navigation.
Lack of personalization
Our app's design will be guided by an 'artist-first' approach, allowing users to choose galleries based on preferred artists, for more personalized art exploration and gallery visits.
Booking complexities
We will focus on creating a streamlined, user-friendly booking feature to enhance user convenience and accessibility.
Lack of personalization
Our app will focus on giving users the ability to easily save and organize their favorite artists and galleries, making it simpler for them to manage and revisit their preferred art experiences.
User Persona: Rebecca
Rebecca is a Nurse practitioner with a busy schedule and three kids. She likes to have her day planned out in order to make the most of her time.
She needs an app that is convenient and efficient to compliment her busy schedule so she knows exactly what exhibits to visit.
Bio
“Even though I have a tight schedule, art is what connects me to my community.”
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The app only gives the bare minimum of information, so she has to go searching elsewhere for information on each artist.
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Artists can't be starred.
Frustrations
Goals
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Artists have bio’s that give information on background and art style, as well as examples of their work.
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Wish list artists can be selected, and exhibit number is given for each.
User Persona: Javier
Javier is an Argentinian immigrant who runs a small online business with his brother. He enjoys art and paints as a hobby. Javier has a visual impairment and finds the app difficult to use.
He would like there to be better alternative text features in the app to describe each artists paintings so he knows which exhibits to spend his time at. He also enjoys talking with the artists to better understand their work.
So he would like there to be more background information on each artist. He would also like there to be a way to star artists at the top of the page, which would allow Javier more accessibility due to his visual impairment.
Bio
“Art can be enjoyed through each of the five senses”
Age: 37
Family: Wife, Brother, cat
Location: Argentina
Education: GED
Occupation: Small buisness owner
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The app is not very helpful to those with visual impairments.
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It gives the bare minimum in the bio sections.
Frustrations
Goals
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Artists have bio’s that give information on background and art style, as well as examples of their work.
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Wish list artists can be selected, and exhibit number is given for each.
Competitive Audit
Simplicity and clarity focus
Synthesized information
3D Gallery viewing
Tailored to artists and enthusiasts
Strong visual focus
User Journey
The user journey is planned to cater to both first-time visitors and returning users, guiding them from discovery to engagement. It includes steps like initial exploration, favoriting galleries or artists, through to the booking or purchasing process. This journey is designed to be intuitive, reducing friction and encouraging deeper interaction with the content.
Phases
Tasks
Mindset
Opportunities
Browse artist and gallery bios
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Open app
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Click on bios
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Scroll through artist/ galleries
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Excited to find interesting artists and galleries
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Ensure ease of user flow with visual impairment
View individual bios
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Select an artists
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View their bio
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View their work
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Overwhelmed by the amount of options
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Ensure bios can be read by alternative text features
Manage Favorites
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Find an artist you like
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Add to a collection
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Happy to have a favorites page to help navigate upon arrival
Repeat, select a gallery
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Repeat actions 1 - 3
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Decide which gallery to attend
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Overwhelmed by the amount of options
Confirm Booking
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Confirm booking and payment
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View tickets via email
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Nervous to navigate the gallery alone
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relieved to have a confirmed booking
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Simple way to stat favorites.
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Separate place to view stared artist/ exhibit locations
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Simple, straight forward way to select galleries
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Simple way to book tickets
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Way to scan tickets via phone
Information Architecture
Lofi Wireframes
Hifi Mockups
Booking Screens
Upcoming visits, Artist's bio, and Artist exploration screens
Profile page, Favorites, and Collections Screens
Usability Testing
Booking Screens
Style Guide
Accessibility Considerations
Lessons & Next Steps
Lessons Learned
Next Steps
Throughout development, I learned the importance of understanding user needs to create a personalized experience. I also gained insights into designing an intuitive and functional user interface that's both visually appealing and easy to use.
"Gallery Genius makes discovering art easy and enjoyable. It helps me find artists and galleries that perfectly align with my tastes."
-Participant B
Feature Expansion
Readdressing accessibility
To enrich the apps immersion and enhance engagement with the app, implementing new features such as AR navigation of galleries.
Conduct a thorough review of the app’s accessibility features to ensure inclusivity for all users, including those with disabilities. This includes enhancing screen reader compatibility, improving voice command functionality, and introducing more adjustable text and color settings for visually impaired users.
We will also seek feedback from users with diverse accessibility needs to understand their challenges and preferences better.
Let's Connect
Let's connect! If you're interested in discussing my work on Gallery Genius or exploring more of my projects, please feel free to reach out. I'm always open to new opportunities and collaborations.
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Gallery Genius- Mobile App
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