Art Buddy
Duration
8 weeks
Role
Tools
Team
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
Visual Designer
Product Designer
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Sketchbook
Chinyere Munonye
How might we create an app and a responsive website for art museums to advertise exhibitions and events, provide helpful museum information, and enable patrons to create a personalized experience and schedule visits in the app?
01
The Problem
People frequently encounter challenges when seeking out events and museums near them. Many existing applications can overwhelm users, consuming valuable time and causing unnecessary stress. My goal is to simplify this process, reducing the number of steps required for users to accomplish tasks such as searching & scheduling museum visits.
02
The Solution
Create a mobile application and a responsive website that can showcase personalized museums, exhibits, & events in your city in a simplistic and efficient manner. Users can also schedule visits directly in Art Buddy.
03
The Product
Art Buddy is a mobile and responsive website that will allow patrons to explore art museums, exhibitions, and events effortlessly. This product aims to offer comprehensive museum information and facilitate patrons in booking and scheduling their visits seamlessly.
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01. Research
During the research phase, I concentrated on primary research methods using both qualitative and quantitative approaches including user interviews, usability studies, and surveys. ​
EMPATHIZE​
I developed two personas to highlight user groups' characteristics, thoughts, and behaviours.
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USER JOURNEY MAP
I created this user journey map to show how users initiate their search for museums including the emotions, processes, and potential enhancements that can improve the steps to discover museums, exhibits, and events in their city—ultimately aiming to schedule a visit.
COMPETITIVE AUDIT
National Gallery of Art
Eventbrite
Posh.Vip
Rijksmuseum
Key Features:
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Shows map of entire museum
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Shows " Must See Artwork"
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Designed for accessibility including audio guided tours
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Key Features:
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Advertises a plethora of events in city
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Allows for personalization by providing categories
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Room for Improvement:
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Overwhelming amount of information presented to users
Key Features:
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Highlights events that are trending, new, and large in your city
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Save tickets within the app
Key Features :
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Users can purchase e-tickets and save them within app
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Highlights exhibits and events at the museums
What differentiates ArtBuddy from these applications is that it unifies the key features while considering a lot of what should be improved such as accessibility, simplicity, and user friendly designs.
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02. Design
My goal at this stage was to ideate without boundaries- considering designs that users emphasized would be beneficial. I began brainstorming creating mindmaps, affinity maps and crazy 8's
PAPER WIREFRAMES
These wireframes depict the homepage for selecting museums. I aimed to explore different designs that not only showcase the range of museum options while embracing a minimalist approach that users can easily comprehend. I drew an asterisk near the aspects that I wanted to move forward with.
DIGITAL WIREFRAMES
In creating these wireframes, my main goal was to translate the user research findings and usability into a tangible product.
These digital wireframes illustrate the flow of users choosing a museum to booking a visit.
With this prototype, patrons can enter the app, choose a language, decide to sign up or log in, choose a location and view museums. This prototype allows to simulate choosing a museum and booking a visit.
DEFINING THE DESIGN SPACE
In selecting colours, I surveyed numerous museums in D.C. and opted for the most commonly observed ones that I found, aiming for a light and unobtrusive palette that wouldn't overwhelm users. Striving for a straightforward layout, I combined Sans Serif and Serif typefaces. "Fuzzy Bubbles" was chosen for its playful, handcrafted style, while Garamond styles were selected to integrate a widely recognized serif font, maintaining a professional appearance.
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USABILITY STUDY PARAMETERS:
1 Unmoderated Usability
2 Moderated Usability Studies
1 hour 30 minutes for all sessions
Remote in U.S. : Washington D.C. & Massachusetts Cambridge
USABILITY STUDY FINDINGS:
These usability studies offered valuable insights into designing for users' needs at various stages. Here are some key findings from both the initial and subsequent usability interviews I conducted. The first study took place during the low-fidelity prototype phase, while the second occurred during the high-fidelity prototype phase.
Personalization
Museums for you should be based on a questionnaire based on categories.
Scheduling Clarity
Make it clear that when booking, it should be for the museum and not the specific exhibit only.
Entry Page Location Options
Determine if the find events in or choose your language would show the location.
Before the usability study:
03. Refine Design
After the usability study:
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Based on user feedback, it was recommended that the design for "Events for You" align with the layout of "Museums for You",
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maintaining consistency in the placement of titles beneath images.
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To ensure accessibility, headings were prioritized, and a voice dictation feature was incorporated.
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Based on user feedback, it was recommended to relocate the "Visit Website" button below the museum description, ensuring clarity that phrases such as "New Exhibits" and "Popular" are not interactive buttons but rather informational notes.
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Users also expressed appreciation for the accessibility notes provided alongside museum and exhibit details on this page.
Before the usability study
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After the usability study
In response to user feedback, this high-fidelity prototype was developed to effectively demonstrate the app's flow, from initial interaction to booking a museum visit. While certain components may require further refinement, users can engage with the app at this stage to seamlessly schedule their visit.
DESGINING FOR ACCESIBILITY
Colour Choices
Using higher contrasts on screens in order for the interface to be easier to see, especially considering the UI being accessible for low vision
Headings and Clear Titles
Enlarged and bolded the titles than the text on the rest of page
Including more visual hierarchy to support efficient navigation
Initial Focus
Modifying the Choose your Location as a separate page in order to guide users.
04. KEY TAKEAWAYS
01
ART BUDDY'S POTENTIAL
This app has the potential to increase engagement with art museums, events, and exhibits in urban areas, fostering community-building by raising awareness of activities that might otherwise go unnoticed. Moreover, it could alleviate the stress associated with searching, booking, and organizing museum information.
02
AS A UX DESIGNER
This project is very special to me because it's the FIRST product of my venture into UI/UX design. Although the timeline of Art Buddy was short, it was jam-packed with intense and helpful lessons!
03
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO:
Focus on prioritizing the impactful features that hold significance for users, ensuring to give equal attention to user experience (UX) alongside user interface (UI). When I find myself focusing on minute details, it's essential to pause and reconsider whether I'm utilizing my time effectively.
FURTHER DIRECTION
Homepage Design
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Determining what the best homepage should be for this app.
Progress Bar and Cart Components
Will be adding a progress bar within the check out page to show the progress with the steps taken to schedule a museum visit.
Simplify UI Even Further
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Further usability studies will be conducted to refine and ensure that user pain points have been adequately addressed
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Designing the application for a cleaner and simpler UI interface for users.