App Design / UX
Challenge: COVID-19 forced many museums and galleries to lock their doors. This not only hindered art lovers’ enjoyment, but limited many freelance artists from generating a solid income.
Solution: Noveau, an app designed to bring a virtual viewing and selling experience for gallery exhibits.
Research Summary
How might we bring the viewing experience to a virtual medium?
Going to an art gallery is often a special experience, so figuring out how to adapt this experience was the biggest aspect of this project. Journey maps and storyboarding techniques were utilized. but an audit comparing groups already in this market helped establish what should and shouldn’t be included.
Insights
Most users for these apps are busy professionals or agents that want to explore a gallery ahead of time.
The app can double as a gallery map if visited in-person, and can provide art descriptions if the art is currently being viewed by too many people for a close-up view.
An ability to schedule an in-person visit gives more incentive for the user to explore the gallery beforehand.
Many people turn gallery visits into day-long outings, so offering nearby recommended activities may be viable.
Ideation
User Testing
After a usability test with a sample of 5 users, it was clear that the wireframe required some adjustments.
Users were not using the navigation bar, only clicking on the “Schedule” button.
“This home page is really cluttered…”
The tour map system was confusing and too complicated.
A clean, minimalist approach would allow this app to reach a wider audience.
Final Results
The cleaner look was an absolute must for this app. Some features were slimmed down, but at the end of the day this only will make it more accessible.
What I Learned
This being my first UX project, it taught me a lot. I became more comfortable using design software, and discovered the importance of conducting usability tests. I had to become as open as possible to the fact that my original design plan would need to change, and I’ve come to really appreciate this aspect of designing.
