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Product Overview
About the Product
Sweetwater Art Gallery is the newest collection of art created by local and national artists in Gainesville, FL. The new tour app makes it easy and fun to learn about the pieces on display there.
My Role
UX designer, designing an app for Sweetwater Art Gallery from conception to delivery.
The Problem
Art enthusiasts, students, and casual guests alike what to go deeper when it comes to learning about the art on exhibition.
The Goal
Design an app that makes it easy for users to learn by exploring on their own, or going on a guided tour through the gallery.
Understanding the User
Rose Towers
The Retired Teacher
Age
70
Education
Bachelor's In Education
Hometown
Westerly, RI
Family
Husband, 1 Cat
Occupation
Retired Teacher
“I miss teaching art, but visiting local galleries helps me feel connected to younger artists in my community”
Goals
- Visit the local art gallery
- Learn more about the art on display and the artists
- Connect with artists and other patrons at the art gallery
- Check the activity level before going to the gallery.
Frustrations
- “Sometimes the gallery is too crowded and confusing to navigate”
- “Some of the art has information that’s hard for me to read”
- “I go to the gallery often, and sometimes see the same work on display”
Bio
Rose taught Drawing 1 at a college near her hometown, but now retired, she likes to visit the local art gallery in her new city, Providence. She loves feeling connected to local artists of all ages. Sometimes, art galleries can be difficult for Rose because of the challenges of aging.
Mapping Rose’s journey allowed me to empathize with users like older adults, who may have accessibility needs. I thought about different cognitive needs, vision impairments, hearing impairments, and altered emotional states that these users might experience while visiting the gallery.
Starting the Design
Based on empathizing with our user personas, drafting these paper wireframes provided a great starting point to creating an easy-to-use, fun tour experience for our users.
After refining the ideas from the paper wireframes, I crafted digital wireframes. With this design, I wanted to focus on making the features of the app highly discoverable. I created a large featured tour card to guide users into the art gallery tour. A toolbar at the bottom provides easy navigation to the other main features of the app.
I connected the digital wireframe screens to create a low-fidelity prototype in Figma. The low-fidelity prototype was used for user testing, which resulted in a new iteration of the design. During this process, the Lookup feature was refined as a response to user feedback.
After the final rounds of testing with the low-fidelity prototype, I created high-fidelity mockups with realistic text and imagery. I added the brand colors and created a design system for the app. The mockups are a very close representation of the app's final look.
Finalizing the Design
I connected the mockup screens and added interactivity, resulting in the final, high-fidelity prototype. Additionally, the look and behavior of some app screens, like the "Me" screen, were updated to improve usability.
Key Takeaways
The app provides a fun and engaging way to experience the art gallery that’s accessible for all users.
While designing the Sweetwater Art Gallery’s virtual tour app, I learned that being receptive to feedback at every stage of the design process makes your designs better. I also learned to ask for feedback early and often.
- Conduct another round of usability studies in the gallery to validate the designs and ensure users’ needs are being met.
- Conduct rounds of accessibility-centric usability studies to find out how the app is meeting the needs of users with disabilities.
- Conduct more user research to see if there are any additional features that visitors would like added.
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