Artify
Project: Artify App
Role: Concept, Research, UX Designer
Duration: May - June 2022
Project Vision
There’s a growing interest in investing in art and making art more accessible. Artify aims to provide transparency and reliable information to a wider audience. Art enthusiasts and collectors of all levels need a platform that allows them to discover and invest in art with confidence. Artify bridges the gap between art and technology and empowers users to engage with art in a meaningful way.
Challenges
Lack of Recommendations
Search Functionality
Customized Notifications
User Research
I conducted a competitive analysis to examine existing features of similar platforms and to identify ways for the app to cater to the target audience and their needs. As I prepared for the next step, the usability study, I anticipated the scenarios users may encounter while using the art auction app by asking myself a series of questions from the user's perspective.
Who is the target audience?
What features are most important to users?
What kind of information do users need when making a bid?
How can the process of buying and selling art be more transparent and trustworthy?
Understanding the User
I conducted empathy maps, moderated usability studies, and an affinity diagram to understand users’ ability to navigate the preliminary layouts of the Artify app. Through this research, I found that art enthusiasts of all levels of experience wanted more bidding information and a way to manage their collections. It was important that I made sure the app is accessible to both novice and seasoned collectors.
Meet the Users
Name: Samantha
Age: 35
Occupation: Marketing Manager
Samantha has always been interested in art and regularly goes to galleries and museums locally. She’s recently started collecting but is in need of a reliable platform to purchase art online. She would like an app that has detailed information about art pieces and artist backgrounds. She’s interested in being able to track her past purchases and manage her art collection as a reference for future purchases.
Name: Pierre
Age: 56
Occupation: Realtor
Pierre is a successful realtor who has always been involved in the fine arts. Despite being an avid collector, his declining health makes it difficult for him to attend live auctions. He’s interested in finding a platform that offers the chance to find new and exciting art pieces to add to his dynamic art collection. Additionally, Pierre is looking for a hassle-free bidding process and accessibility to his bidding history from the comfort of his home.
Paper Wireframes
During the initial design phase, I created sketches of the app's layout for multiple screens that focused on categorization and the arrangement of information to enhance the user's ability to locate all relevant details about the auctioned items.
Challenge #1
Lack of Recommendations:
Adding recommendations to the Artify app significantly enhanced the user experience and increased engagement. By analyzing user behavior and purchase history, the app can suggest relevant and personalized artwork to users, encouraging them to browse and bid on items they may have otherwise missed. Not only does this improve the user's ability to find items they love, but it also helps promote the app's inventory and ultimately leads to increased sales.
Challenge #2
Search Functionality:
The search functionality feature on the Artify auction app allows users to quickly and easily find items of interest by inputting specific keywords or filtering by category, artist, or price range. This feature helps users to efficiently navigate the app and discover unique pieces that fit their preferences and budget.
Challenge #3
Customized Notifications:
Incorporating customizable notifications and having them easily accessible to users was a crucial feature of the Artify app. Feedback from a usability study showed that users value timely and personalized updates on their bids, favorited items, and auction events. The ability to customize notification settings gave users control over their experience.
User Flow
Style Guide
Takeaways
Through the completion of this project, I realized the significance of conducting comprehensive research to identify the user's needs. The feedback received during usability studies was incredibly valuable and significantly impacted the development process. The primary objective was to provide art enthusiasts of varying levels with a platform to explore new artworks and easily bid on items. Therefore, the flow and ease of navigation through the app were critical considerations while designing and iterating on this project.