Museums and art galleries tend to have summarized information on artworks and artists that don’t go into much detail. People spend a lot of time in museums looking at things they are both interested and not interested in. The goal of this project is to create an app that streamlines gallery experiences for users. This app will provide information and recommend other artists/works inside the gallery for users to learn digestible and detailed information about them. This app is specifically designed with these people in mind: lovers of art at all ages between 15-85, business professionals, and those who are lifelong learners.
KICKOFF (RESEARCH + INSIGHTS)
Upon further researching what is needed for an art history app to be successful, there are a few key takeaways:
- Having an audio version would help people with dyslexia and troubled eyesight to be able to listen to information about artworks
- Efficient navigation of the app, consolidation of information into smaller bites so that users can get what the knowledge they want to learn while still staying efficient and on time.
- This app should inspire all to be creative in achieving their goals, just like great artists.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
My key competitors are business models that consolidate artwork information into one art for everyone to listen, view, and read. These include apps like Smartify and Google Arts & Culture. Competitors position themselves with other museums, articles, and offer payment solutions for visiting the museums. They are sophisticated companies for people who love to continue learning. These competitors talk about themselves with grace and professionalism. They speak highly of education and in a way that everyone can understand and learn.
FALLBACKS TO COMPETITORS
- Not always accessible for those with disabilities (hearing impaired people/sight impairment collectively).
- Not always user friendly.
- No suggestion on other artworks that are similar (such as an "other viewers also like" section).
- A little too serious in design, if it were more of an engaging approach, more people might consider learning more/spending more time on the app.
CHALLENGES
One of the challenges with creating this app was finding a user flow that could be completed by someone who had difficulty hearing. I added the read-along text to the podcast audio portion of the app so that it could still be played and followed by someone with this disability.
CONCLUSION
The process of prototyping and researching by doing usability studies is very important to creating user experiences. Looking forward, I think this app could gain traction and benefit from a rewards program that offers museum discounts as you gain experiences through the app. This would give users incentive to continue to use the app, as well as help the app collect data on what types of art people are visiting most often. This could then be utilized by adding more information for artworks like this, or proactively seeking interviews with upcoming artists in the same genre to add to the app's collective and keep users engaged. Along with that, a museum tracker could be built into the app as well. This will be implemented in the next stage of this project.
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