GalleryPal
GalleryPal is a mobile app that aims to enhance the experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery. Catering to all users and learning styles, GalleryPal’s goal is to provide information in an accessible & easily digestible way through auditory & visual content for the best user experience possible.
Overview:
As part of this project, I undertook the Bitesize UX's modified 5-day Google Ventures Design Sprint for a hypothetical client or company named "GalleryPal." The objective was to develop an in-person mobile application based on research provided by Bitesize UX. The challenge was to create an app that enhances user satisfaction and improves the overall experience of viewing art in museums and galleries. Throughout the process, I followed the structured design sprint methodology to address this objective effectively.
Role:
Utilizing my passion for art and leveraging my personal experiences at esteemed museums like The British Museum, Tate Modern, Musée d’Orsay, and Musée de l'Orangerie, I found the GV design sprint to be the perfect opportunity. With this background, I am confident in my ability to create a solution that empowers museums to facilitate enhanced connections and meaningful interactions among their visitors, ultimately enriching the art-viewing experience.
In this design sprint, my role encompassed:
Mapping, sketching & storyboarding
Building wireframes & designing prototypes
Conducting usability testing
Scope:
UI/UX Design, Sketching, Mapping, Storyboarding, Wire-framing, Prototyping, Moderated Usability Testing,
Tools:
Figma, Adobe Photoshop, AdobeXD, InVision, Mockup (iPad)
Duration:
5 days - Aug 2021
Introduction
The Google Ventures (GV) 5-day design sprint is a highly efficient and outcome-focused process that enables the exploration of important business questions by employing design, prototyping, and user testing. It streamlines the traditional design thinking approach, which often involves lengthy cycles of endless debate, and condenses months of work into just one week. The beauty of this methodology lies in its ability to provide valuable insights through realistic prototyping without requiring significant financial investments upfront. For the GalleryPal project, I will be utilizing this methodology to ensure a data-driven and cost-effective approach to the development of the solution.
The Challenge:
Art museum visitors may not always have prior knowledge about the works on display. They would like to enrich their museum experience by learning about artists and their works without being overwhelmed by too much information.
The Goal:
To design a way to improve the experience of viewing art in a museum and additionally increase overall customer satisfaction.
Design Constraints:
Focus on improving the in-person viewing experience
the solution should be designed as a mobile app or mobile-optimized website
Day 1 - Understand & Map
Understanding the Problem:
Sprint Question: How can we improve the in-person experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery?
The user research presented to me revealed that visitors leave the museum feeling frustrated because typical methods of teaching about the art such as group tour or reading labels next to corresponding artwork weren’t effective in providing a meaningful experience.
Research Highlights:
Using the research highlights, persona, and expert interview provided by BitesizeUX, the key data i wanted to build GalleryPal around was:
Museum-goers would like to know more about the artists, inspiration, and context when viewing a piece of art but end up with an overwhelming amount of information when they try to search on their phones.
Guests want concise and easily digestible information
Guests prefer exploring/touring around at their own pace vs group tours
Target: My goal of this design sprint was to design an app to elevate the experience of viewing art in a museum by:
User Mapping
I used “How Might We” Questions to determine the most important features that I would be incorporating into my prototype.
the main problem statement that i wanted to answer was: HMW incorporate different experiences to ensure inclusivity for all users
HMW make information about art accessible & easy to read/learn about?
HMW allow users keep track of their favourite art?
HMW give users a way to effectively learn information about the artwork without interrupting their viewing experience?
Day 2 - Sketching Solutions
Lightning Demos
To begin the project, I initiated by conducting lightning demos of mobile apps that have been specifically designed to enhance the overall visitor experience. Among these apps, three particularly relevant and standout examples were Smartify, The British Museum app, and Rijksmuseum app. I carefully observed and analyzed their key features, with a specific focus on the user interface and the simplicity of the user experience. In the accompanying figure, I have highlighted the key features that GalleryPal aims to incorporate in order to achieve its goal of becoming a comprehensive digital solution for art enthusiasts.
Sketching Solutions - Crazy 8’s
Following the lightning demos, I allocated 8 minutes for a Crazy 8's exercise. During this time, I created eight 1-minute sketches to generate ideas for one of the critical pages that I would be constructing in my prototype. Specifically, I focused on sketching the primary art details page that users would encounter after performing an art piece search.
From the eight sketches, I selected my preferred solution sketch, which best aligned with my vision. I then proceeded to expand upon this chosen sketch by building out the surrounding screens, ensuring a cohesive and comprehensive user flow within the prototype.
I chose this particular sketch to move forward with because:
Users have the choice to read or to listen to the content or to even follow a personal virtual tour guide - it’s their choice!
Users can favourite a piece of art to save to their collection in the app
Day 3 - Storyboarding
To kickstart the process, I made the decision to prioritize a primary screen that effectively provided users with more information while still highlighting the core features: scan, browse, and explore. Among the sketches generated during the Crazy 8's exercise, I identified a particular screen that met these criteria exceptionally well. Additionally, I sought feedback from various individuals, and it was encouraging to discover that they too were drawn to that specific screen. Considering this positive response, I proceeded with the chosen screen as a foundational element for further development.
Day 4 - Prototyping
On the fourth day of the GV design sprint, I delved into the prototyping phase using Figma. The key principle guiding my prototyping approach was to focus solely on building the essential components required to test the functionality of the design. Given the time constraints inherent in the design sprint, I aimed to work swiftly and efficiently while ensuring that the designs were visually appealing and reasonably realistic.
One core aspect of the prototype centered around the "Scan & Learn about the Artwork at the Museum" feature. This feature served as the primary route of the prototype, providing art museum visitors with a convenient way to scan art pieces. The goal was to enable users to spend more time immersed in the art itself, rather than being preoccupied with manual searches for information. Within this feature, users could also listen to audio guides for art pieces that caught their interest.
To test this idea and evaluate its effectiveness, I developed a mid-to-high-fidelity prototype. I focused on creating the necessary screens and interactions required to assess the concept and observe how it functioned in practice.
Interactive Prototype:
Day 5 - Testing
On the final day of the design sprint, I focused on gathering feedback from users. Due to time constraints, I opted for moderated usability testing as the chosen method. This approach allowed me, as the facilitator, to guide and clarify user behavior when tasks became confusing or difficult to navigate.
I conducted individual interviews with five participants, whom I had recruited on the first day of the design sprint. Each participant was given two key tasks to complete and a final round of exploring all the features incorporated in the app.
The tasks assigned to the participants were as follows:
Utilizing the SCAN feature: Navigate through onboarding and the homepage, open the scan feature, select an audio guide, read through the displayed information once the art piece is detected, navigate back to the scan screen, select a tour guide, deselect the tour guide, navigate back to the homepage, and conclude the task.
View saved/favorited paintings: On the homepage, in the artists section, select Claude Monet, "heart"/favorite the artist, return to the homepage, select the favorites section on the bottom navigation bar, and view the favorites page.
Freely navigate around the app.
Each session, including task completion and discussion, lasted approximately 20 minutes, with 5 minutes dedicated to task completion and 15 minutes for sharing thoughts, concerns, and suggestions. Overall, the process went smoothly, and users were able to complete the tasks within the given time frame with minimal hesitation.
A summary of the feedback received during the usability testing is as follows:
All users successfully completed the tasks without requiring any intervention or guidance.
Users appreciated the option to choose between auditory (audio guide and AR tour guide) and visual content when exploring art pieces or learning about artists.
Some users suggested replacing certain icons to improve clarity and understanding.
Users praised the app's ease of navigation and found it intuitive to move around different sections.
This feedback provided valuable insights to further refine and enhance the app's design based on user preferences and recommendations.
Retrospective
Retrospective
The 5-day sprint went by in a flash, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This was my first attempt at a 5-day sprint, and it taught me an effective approach for incorporating user-centered design into an agile framework. By adapting the Google Ventures (GV) design sprint methodology, I was able to rapidly generate ideas, develop a solution, and test it to address the challenge of providing timely, relevant, and localized information to enhance the experience of gallery and museum visitors.
Takeaways:
1. Don't obsess over minor details
Due to the time constraints of the sprint (5 days with only 7 hours to create a working prototype), I learned the importance of not fixating on every small design element. It was challenging for me as a detail-oriented person to overlook imperfections in the prototype during usability testing. However, I realized that it's not the end of the world to present a prototype with some flaws and that usability testing helps validate what works and what doesn't.
2. Embrace Failure
Trust your intuition and be willing to take risks. With limited time for in-depth research, it was crucial to rely on my instincts and make design decisions based on my best judgment. Usability testing then helped to validate those decisions. Embracing the possibility of failure and learning from it was a valuable lesson.
Final thoughts:
I would love to revisit this project and create a fully polished version. Given more time, I would incorporate the feedback received from usability testing to enhance the overall experience. There is always room for improvement, and I believe the additional refinements would make the solution even better.
Other ways to measure success:
Usability testing: Continuously conducting usability tests to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement.
User feedback: Seeking insights into user behaviors and opinions through surveys, interviews, and feedback forms.
Traffic analysis: Analyzing user interactions with different features to understand usage patterns and identify popular or underutilized components.