Transforming Art Engagement for Enthusiasts
My Role
UX Research
UI Design
Product Design
Visual Design
UI Design
Product Design
Visual Design
Tools
Adobe Illustrator (Assets)
Figma (Wireframes, Prototype)
HTML, CSS (Landing Page)
Miro (UX Research)
Figma (Wireframes, Prototype)
HTML, CSS (Landing Page)
Miro (UX Research)
Overview
In response to the disruption of traditional art markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my academic project consisted in the development of a mobile app designed to address the challenges faced by emerging artists in the art market. By employing a Human-Centered Design approach, I aim to create a platform that helps unserved creative communities navigate social media trends and algorithms, providing them with new avenues to promote and monetize their craft in the increasingly competitive influencer-driven economy.
Problem
New emerging artists are
struggling to grow financially
In the current digital landscape, social media has proven to be a powerful tool to promote and give visibility to artists worldwide, regardless of background and experience. However, changes in the social media industry have affected artists, forcing them to find new ways to advertise their craft. Apps have turned their focus away from supporting their creators and instead have created a stressful environment where artists fight for attention, taking the artist’s power away.
“Platforms these days are so unfriendly to artists, with the algorithms eating you up if you don't post every day, and especially now that videos in tik-tok format are being prioritized. For visual artists like me, that take time to create pieces and are not oriented to video format, platforms stop sharing our content with our followers.”
Juliana, Animation Student
The Artfinder Independent Art Market Report: 2017
While the market is shifting to give artists more visibility through online and social media platforms, artists aren't being compensated fairly.
This financial struggle is particularly pronounced for minority artists. According to a study by BFAMFAPhD, nearly 78% of working artists in the United States are white, leaving only 7.5% identifying as black, 3.9% as Asian, and 8.3% as Hispanic. The disparity is even more striking among art school graduates, where 83% of those making a living from their work are white. In comparison, the U.S. population is 63.2% white, 12.3% black, 5% Asian, and 16.6% Hispanic.
Visual Hierarchy
In website design, the absence of a clear visual hierarchy often results in elements vying for attention, leading to confusion about where to direct focus. By implementing a defined hierarchy, particularly through typography choices, we can add clarity and aid users in navigating the content.
Readability
Visitors tend to skim through information and scan pages quickly. The overall layout for text is too wide and wordy, so it was advisable to reduce the width of text boxes and trim down unnecessary wording.
Design Challenge
How might we connect artists and buyers through a platform that offers visibility, collaboration and monetization to unserved and underrepresented creative communities?
Solution
A mobile app made to empower the art community, increase the visibility of artists and improve direct engagement between users
Get personalized content
By adding personalized onboarding, users are able to find content that is tailored to their interests, values, and goals. By connecting enthusiasts with artists and artists with audiences, we make it easier for everyone to engage.
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Explore Local Artists
My research revealed that most participants find clients through networking. By emphasizing local communities, users can focus on supporting the people closest to them. This attempts to combat the globalization of viral trends that erode personal identity and hinder creativity.
Set Up Commissions
Artists have difficulties negotiating prices. To meet their needs, a feature was included that allows artists to set up commissions directly, which allows secure payment processing, clear communication with clients, and the ability to set and manage client expectations.
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Brand Identity
For the branding identity of Artelier, I focused on creating a logo and color palette that reflect the app's creative essence. The logo design is inspired by an artist's palette, symbolizing creativity and artistic expression, and is shaped to form an 'A' to represent Artelier. I chose orange as the primary color due to its association with creativity, enthusiasm, and energy, which are qualities I want the brand to convey. Companies often use orange in their brand palettes because it captures attention and evokes a sense of fun and innovation. To complement the orange, I selected bright, playful colors, including a subdued green and dark blue/purple, which balance the vibrancy of the primary color. For typography, I chose Cotford Text for titles and Tellumo Regular for paragraphs. These fonts are rounded and humanist, meaning they have a warm, approachable feel that enhances readability and adds a pleasing tone to the overall design.
Reflection
It was imperative to flesh out specific features of the app and its main selling points. I focused on two critical user scenarios. The first being the artist's journey to sell art commissions on the app. The second being the art enthusiast's journey to discover art that matches her interests for potential future commissions.
However, a significant roadblock in the product iteration process was the need for more participants meeting specific criteria, such as those with freelancing experience, to refine and flesh out these features.
In the future, I plan to address this by creating the product's complete multiple user journeys and conducting more usability testing and iteration.
However, a significant roadblock in the product iteration process was the need for more participants meeting specific criteria, such as those with freelancing experience, to refine and flesh out these features.
In the future, I plan to address this by creating the product's complete multiple user journeys and conducting more usability testing and iteration.