Portland Art Scene Gallery
Portland Art Scene Gallery
App Case Study and Company Branding
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Product Duration: May -August 2021
Software: Figma and Illustrator
The Product:
Portland Art Scene Gallery Case Study App was designed as a test product to engage the surrounding Portland, Oregon community to discover new art technologies, art education & courses, local artist and view live artist cast and auctions online. The test product is a one stop website to view all galleries in the city and see what activities are occurring weekly. It also helps place students in internships and provide creative careers in museum education, research and design.
Role: UX Research & Designer from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities:
Conducted local competitor analysis, community interviews, storyboarding, paper and digital wireframing, low and mid-fidelity prototyping, conducted usability studies and user testing.
The Goal:
Design an app with company branding for The Portland Art Scene, a new community art gallery, that will give customers the ability to learn, discover and explore art both online and in person.
The Problem:
Portland's smaller communities have many local artist with disabilities that have the desire to display their artwork but no way to reach customers further from their community due to limit resources. Request and discussions at local art establishments want a new way of discovering artist, fine art courses and experience newer technologies both in person and online.
Portland Art Scene Company Branding:
Purpose: Demonstrating a fun eclectic vibe for Portland Oregon's Art Scene App. Branding will be established on all paper printed items, T-Shirts, marketing materials and signage for the App and in person brick and mortar Art store.
Focus: Incorporate nature with a twist of inverted values to give a modern feel to showcase new technologies and emerging art trends in 21st Century modern art galleries that the Portland Art Scene represents.
Themes: The shapes are themed to represent the buildings in Portland that are close together from a birds eye view-looking down from the top.
Colors: Incorporating colors that reflect nature and natural tones found in nature.
The brand includes T-Shirt, Canvas Gift Bags, Mug, Hats, Poster, Business Card, Store Brochure, buttons, Marketing Ads for Social Media along with the App Design for the Portland community.
User Research Summary:
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was college interns, new artist and art patrons with disabilities throughout the Portland urban community. All were having a difficult time experiencing new art, artist, art education, new creative technologies and were desiring more online activities that fit into their busy schedules.
This user group revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from showing up in person to the art galleries in Portland. Other user problems included few art education courses available at galleries and challenges in attending art events were limited. Accessibility played a big factor and more online participation was desired.
Problem Statement:
Persona 1: Alisa is an educator and mom. She finds it difficult to involve younger students and reach certain populations to visit more art galleries to learn more about the history of art and design. She'd love an App that encouraged more online interactions. Alisa also is a mentor to several artist with disabilities and she finds it hard to help them gain traction due to their limitations.
Persona 2: Chloe is a busy college student who wants to intern during the summer in Portland while visiting family however she finds it difficult to locate area art galleries for art education both online and in person. She would love to find one location that provides current real data to its customers to engage throughout the city.
Competitive Audit Report
1. Competitive Audit Goal:
1. Competitive Audit Goal:
Compare the user experience of each urban competitor's art gallery websites. Decipher what content they provide and how it is displayed, how users interact with the website, what fine art courses do they offer both in person and online, and what unique qualities do they provide.
Compare the user experience of each urban competitor's art gallery websites. Decipher what content they provide and how it is displayed, how users interact with the website, what fine art courses do they offer both in person and online, and what unique qualities do they provide.
2. Who are your key competitors?
-Key direct competitors are the local galleries in Oregon such as Portland Art Dealers Association, the site features listings of small to large galleries in the area with a map feature and information about each gallery.
-Other Direct/Indirect competitors are state-regional or US listings such as Art-Collecting website in which they have a larger list to locate galleries in the US.
-An indirect competitor that has a vast listing of galleries in the US and Internationally is Galleries Now. It includes VR capabilities and gallery live with maps and nearby locations.
3. What are the type and quality of competitors’ products?
-Portland Art Dealers Association is a fun upbeat website/app that is easy to use while in Portland to locate art galleries from small to large including the museums.
-The Art-Collecting website is simple but complex. This site is geared toward providing US based gallery information. Standard website with information for people to search.
-Galleries Now is by far the most interesting site, they offer galleries, artists, VR, Viewing rooms shopping and news in the art world. It is a US and International site so traveling with this website would be very helpful, it has a great mobile version too. Very modern 21st century art website that you can get lost in if you have the time.
4. How do competitors position themselves in the market?
-Portland Art Dealers Association positions itself as cultivating relationships with artists, collectors and instructions in PNW in diverse neighborhoods as its ambassador.
-The Art-Collecting position has been online since 1988 and its goal is to provide comprehensive online resources for collectors, art advisors, consultants, galleries, artists and enthusiasts. It's a heavily research based site for major art cities in every state.
-Galleries Now position is that it is the leading independent gallery guide for engaged and international audiences of collectors, curators, art professionals and art lovers. It’s online physical maps, nearme functionally, installation views and VR previews makes it easy for all audiences to view art online or in person.
5. How do competitors talk about themselves?
-Portland Art Dealers Association speaks about cultivating relationships with artists, collectors and instructions in PNW in diverse neighborhoods as its ambassador.
-The Art-Collecting website speaks about comprehensive online resources for collectors, art advisors, consultants, galleries, artists and enthusiasts. It's a heavily research based site for major art cities in every state.
-Galleries Now speaks about it’s online physical maps, nearme functionally, installation views and VR previews makes it easy for all audiences to view art online or in person.
6. Competitors’ strengths
-Portland Art Dealers Association is a fun vibrant site perfect for Portands community and way of living.
-The Art-Collecting- detailed and researched based information provides a complex index of artists, galleries and advisors.
-Galleries Now - VR and viewing rooms with worldwide viewability to an international art lovers audience.
7. Competitors’ weaknesses
-Portland Art Dealers Association -PADA -doesn’t offer education, art courses listings, VR artwork listings. Overall the experience is good but lacks more technology based art galleries. Overall the site is well done just a few updates would help in better user flow.
-The Art-Collecting website is very text heavy and it gets in the way of the experience, the artwork visuals are not the focus. This site is geared toward providing US based gallery information and is helpful but the lingo is hard for those not acustim to art terms or jargon. Needs updating to current UX standards to meet 21st century demand.
-Galleries Now - Overall the site is well done, it could cut a few areas out to simplify the content. More buttons could be used to direct areas or pull downs to extend info to break up the page would help.
8. Gaps
Gaps detected were no art education classes or courses online for artists, curious audiences or students of different ages...mostly seems like adults only on all sites.
Online booking for art shows or gallery parties is not noticeable, could be a join/sign up feature but it wasn’t advertised as having online sign up for events.
Live studio feed just watching artist work in their studios would be cool.
Integrating AI artworks, NFT’s and AR would be a selling feature going forward for all galleries.
9. Opportunities
Create a simple straight forward easy to navigate site that all ages can navigate with directories, maps, travel gallery destinations. Basically everything from all three competitors into one site to keep things simple.
Designated app design
Include art education classes either live streamed, taped or synchronous interaction for learning.
Incorporate AI, NFT’s and VR to hold younger audiences attention and to promote a new art medium.
Journey Mapping was used to help identify the pain points users were having as they navigated the App in the usability study conducted.
Company Branding was explored and included in the initial stages of the design ideation process. All color themes were discussed along with the low -mid fidelity wireframes to establish a concise feel throughout the entire design process. At the end of this case study full company branding was created to sell items in the Portland Art Scene Gallery shop and online to customer. This was a cross functional effort among local artist to keep specific colors already establised with their community banners.
Paper Wireframes
Taking time to envision the end result with layout and draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to the digital wireframes would address user pain points.
Lo Fidelity Wireframes
As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on the participants feedback and findings from the user research conducted. Making sure to also keep in mind customers that have disabilities as the wireframes developed to ensure accessibility features were apart of the whole structure of the App.
Lo Fidelity MockUp
The low fidelity prototype demonstrates connections for navigating throughout the app to build the primary user flow so the prototype could be utilized in the usability study for users to scroll through and identify any problems or concerns. This allowed several iterations to update any flaws and revisit the research, problem statement and accessibility before moving onto the Hi Fidelity Prototype.
Mockups to Hi Fidelity : First Usability Study
Early designs allowed for adjustability in the spacing of UI icons, objects and images. After the first usability study, I simplified the overall layout so the images spoke clearly and didn't compete with the words. Customizing the look and feel was important so all ages could navigate well throughout the App.
Hi Fidelity : Second Usability Study
The second usability study revealed the check boxes were not easy to use instead a simple add to cart box was created to reduce the accessibility incidences and add color the box helped identify it was indeed canceled. This allowed those with visual disabilities to clarify what they had selected. Also a video was added at the top of the page to help users step by step on how to cancel a order if needed.
Final Hi Fidelity Prototype:
The final high-fidelity prototype demonstrates clearer user flows for navigating throughout the app. It meet user needs for options with choosing their activities both in person and online and options to cancel if needed last minute.
Takeaways & Impact:
What was learned with developing the App from end to end design phases:
While designing the Portland Art Scene app, I learned how the design process really helps guide research to meet the users needs. Discovering insights to polish the app for those with disabilities and how that affects diversity outcomes. The usability studies with peer feedback directed the iteration and overall feel of the app’s design. Updates to the app UI will occur every two years to remove any items not used, add new content to meet the communities needs. Ongoing updates to the courses and images occur when requested.
Impact:
The app makes users feel welcome and engaged in their community and are excited about how it meets their needs.
Peer Feedback Quote:
“ The app was enlightening, helpful and gave me so much choice in discovering art traditionally and with new technologies either online and in store options.” - Lisa Owen, community art scene
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