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Gallery Pal Design Sprint Case Study

A five-day Google Ventures design sprint case study on the mobile application Gallery Pal that focuses on improving the user's experience while viewing art in real life.

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Overview

About the Project:

Gallery pal is an app that helps improve the viewing experience of art in real life by providing quick information on art pieces by scanning art.

My role:

User Research, Visual Design, Prototyping & Testing

Duration:

February 22, 2021- February 26, 

Overview

The problem:

For this project, I conducted a modified Google Ventures Design Sprint. GalleryPal is a new startup that wants to improve the experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery. During some interviews, I gathered that most museum-goers wanted to access quick information on the painting or the artist. Some would do a google search but get discouraged or disinterested because most articles were very long. How might we improve how guests experience art while they are looking at the piece in real life?

Design Requirements:

  • Focus on improving the in-person viewing experience

  • The solution should be designed as a mobile app or mobile-optimized website.

The Solution

Gallery Pal App

In five days I created an app prototype where people can scan an image of an art piece and get information. They access the information they want to see. They can also search manually, and view their previously scanned art pieces.

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The Solution

The Process:

UX Lean Approach
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Ideation

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Prototyping

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User Testing & Evaluation

Day 1: Mapping
Understanding the Context

DAY 1: Mapping

Participants:

While I watched the interviews that Gallery Pal provided, I could piece together some main issues. They interviewed museum-goers and a tour guide at The Museum of Natural History, NY.

Insights:
  • Museum-goers wanted to know more information on the art pieces they are viewing.

  • Users Would get overloaded with information from articles.

  • They wanted to know more about the artist and their intentions for creating the art piece.

  • Some would research before going to the museum but find a work of art they didn't know about beforehand.

With this in mind, I quickly created an end-to-end experience a user might have with my product.

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User Personas:

Understanding the user

Our user is Angela, a 23-year-old Junior Art Director living in New York. She goes to the more popular museums and feels she would enjoy exhibits if she ad a bit more information. She has tried to read books and articles on art she has seen but loses interests due to how long and in-depth they are.

Day 2: Sketching

Day 2: Sketching

Brainstorming

​For the second day, I only took 25 minutes to research similar apps. I chose 3 examples for possible inspiration.

Smartify:
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Its mission is to discover the stories behind the art. They include features such as scanning, viewing collections, and virtual tours with audio. I liked that they had multiple options to scan the artwork. I like that it gives a quick overview and the user can read more to get more information. I love that they can read more information on the artist when clicking on their name.

Wikiart:
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While they do not have access to scan paintings, the information they gave was brief and easy to understand. I also liked that they provided related paintings. I did notice they did not have information on every painting they are showcasing. The app itself is very simple to navigate and intuitive.

Google Arts & Culture
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​Google arts also lets users explore the artwork and can even see it in their own living room with augmented reality, but this was not the reason I chose this app. Google Arts & Culture was a little harder to navigate, but once I got the grasp of it I liked that it showed me that I could zoom into the art piece. When scrolling up, there is the smallest amount of information visible and the user can then view more if they wish to do so. I do wish they had the option to read more about the artist.

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Crazy 8's:

After researching similar apps, it was time to start sketching. For this part, I had 8 minutes to create 8 different variations of the most critical screen. Since the app's goal is to get quick information on the painting, I decided to try different variations of painting/artwork information. This was fun but challenging. I’m surprised to see how many variations of one screen I was able to come up with. 

I decided to continue with the third screen on the bottom row. The only thing I changed was moving the other/related artwork to the bottom. The most important information is the knowledge the user wants on the art piece they scanned. After deciding the screen, I had to figure out what would come before and after the critical screen. The before was easy since they needed to scan the art first. I included different methods for them to scan the piece. They can search manually, scan the art, scan the plaque often placed next to or below the art piece, and QR code. After viewing and gathering the information, it will exit to the art pieces they have previously scanned. They are able to see all the art they have scanned before and read the information. This could be useful for students or anyone that wants to recall the information.

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Day 3: Storyboard

Day 3: Creating a Storyboard

On day three I created a storyboard that shows how the user will step through the prototype. I decided that the first screen will be the scan art screen as that is the main focus and main use of the app. From that screen, they have the option to exit out of the scan screen, which will lead them to the art they have previously scanned. They also have the option to scan the art, search inputting information, scan the plaque, and QR. Since the scan art, plaque, and QR code would work the same, I focused on what happens when the user searches manually. While searching manually, they can type, search by artist, genre, medium, or upload an image from their phone. Once arriving on screen 5 I decided to make another change. In my original sketch, I thought it would be neat for the card to flip when the user taps on the information they want to receive. Then I realized it might not be user friendly to scroll through a card that could have a nice chunk of information. For this reason, I decided that when the user taps on the background, artist, etc., it would lead them to a new page, screen 6.

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Day 4: Prototype

Day 4: Prototype

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Visual Design

Final Solution Prototype
Scanning an art piece

Upon opening the app, the first screen they will see is the scan screen. From here the user will scan the art piece and the painting will pop up with more information.

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Search

Users also have the option to search for an artist or a specific painting using different methods.

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Previous Scans

Users are able to view the previously scanned art by exiting the scan screen. From there they are directed to view their scans and are able to view more information on the piece.

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Day 5: Testing

Day 5: Testing

After creating the prototype, it was time to conduct some usability tests. The users interviewed were mostly new to art and some even admitted they did not care for art. Users were between the age of 21-30. My goals were to find any usability issues and uncover first impressions on the home screen, painting screen, and their scans. The five participants were asked to complete a few tasks. They were asked to find more information on a painting, search for a specific artist, and view a previously scanned art piece.

Issues Found
  1. Scan Screen:

    1. A few users did not like that the first screen was the scan screen.

    2. Some users did not know what would happen if they exited the scan screen.

  1. Searching

    1. When searching for an art piece, users did not understand why uploading an image was necessary.

Conclusion

Conclusion

Reflection & Next Steps

There was a lot of positive feedback during the usability tests.  For example, some were actually interested in learning even more about the artist. The users seemed very interested in the information that was provided. With more time, I would keep in mind the usability tests and try to find different options for the start screen as well as revising the search screen. 

 

The design sprint was both challenging and educational for me. It was tough not to take too much time thinking about how to improve every screen of the project. At the same time having clear constraints helped me focus on the core problem.

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