A cooperative application bringing artist and property hosts together.
“Art for the people, by the people and benefiting the people … forever”
- Melissa Andrews, Founder of The Art & Science of Impact
PROJECT BRIEF
Working with a client, with a team of four, I prototyped an app that works much like modern datings app. ArtUP matches artists with hosting spaces, like an AirBnb. It's an app which brings together various artists and business owners. It's a digital aid which supports arts while enhancing spaces.
While I participated in the process of project management, research, and analyzing data, I branded a this fun interactive app.
ArtUp's interactive swiping features mutual provides discoverable matches drive the model for success based on preferences, values, and availability. The results provides communicate with perspective matches effectively, and often.
Figma, Miro, Otter, Zoom
TOOLS:
4 Weeks
TIMEFRAME:
Design Theory
KEY METHOD
Prototype, Research, and Branding
DELIVERABLES:
ArtUP Team
Research Lead
Michael Greason
Elessa Young
Research Lead | Interaction Float
Kyle Moore
Interaction Lead
Jonathan Nitka
Project Manager | Interaction and Design
MY ROLE:
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Project Scope Facilitation
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Visual and Interactive Design
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Resource Management
From start to finish I kept us on track with the overall project scope along with other involvements of research, interviews, analyzation, design, and branding while also creating the logo.
OVERVIEW
Artists want to showcase their work while Airbnb owners want to look more attractive to potential renters by displaying authentic art. Both parties need to be able to allow for a mutual connection via matching and communication in a way that engages users so that they may have a beneficial relationship as artists and hosts.
SOLUTION
A mobile application that features in-depth opportunities for Artists and Airbnb hosts to connect, explore, and communicate; creating an atmosphere of mutual respect, valuing the users above all
OBJECTIVES
Our team’s goals was to remove the clients intensive labor of manually matching; using a series of forms to be filled out, emailing parties back and forth to get to a mutual match. They needed a solution to handle the matching and communication process in a way that engages users. Something that would be provide timely communication and alerts.
We wanted to develop a fun interactive user friendly approach for hat would help artists, at all levels, to grow their market space. An app that supports local business economies to broaden the diversity of communities working together to meet sale and decor needs.The app needed to be named and branded with design solutions for an internal communication app.
MVP FEATURES
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Secure Login
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Account Customization
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Mutual Matching
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Communication Services
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A “Save for Later” Feature
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Premier Filtering System
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Enhanced Photo View
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Onboarding Process
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Profile Creating/Editing
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Settings
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Filter
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Messaging
1
RESEARCH
As the project manager I had an initial client meeting with Melissa Andrews then a statues meeting with the team where we discussed learned information along with her research and objectives.
Our processes began as I set up initial team meetings and one on oneswith the client to uncover potential objectives, problems, overview of pre-research materials, while exploring user needs to define goals and objectives. Conducting research intended to understand artists and rental hosts uncovering pain points and identifying needs concern.
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Validate assumptions to gain insight on the current industry and discover our audience through research.
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We listened to podcasts, like Freakonomics, recorded audio, and YouTube video to understand the mission
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Began with user interviews, surveys along with competitve and comparison analysis
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Utilized founder’s research discovering a deeper needs of each party which narrowed our focus.
USER SURVEYS
12 hosts and 33 artists of relevant information
COMPETITIVE AND COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS
Hinge | Bumble | Coffee Meets Bagel | OK Cupid | Plenty of Fish | Tinder | LinkedIn
The client wanted a solution to dating sites like Match or eHarmony. We were cautions not to assume this approach without doing research. We looked at these sites along with a more modern approach of current “dating apps”. I joined in on our team research and discussions in a comparative analysis to understand commonality in functions that we may want to incorporate into a prototype.
We conducted and analyzed research, we found that it validate approach and allowed us to support the client’s intuition that this would be a fitting option. Individuals are already familiar with the concept of swiping left or right on apps with users would finding relatable and comfortable.
Most apps included:
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Free version
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Messaging
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Suggested matches
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‘Discover’ matches
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Yes/ no swiping
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Purchasing to boost views
Some apps included:
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Video calling
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Icebreakers
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Desktop version
Price for paid version:
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$10 - $25/ month
USER INTERVIEWS
Participants: 5
Males and Female
Age: 30-60
"As an artist this is an exciting concept. solves the problem of finding a forum for artwork."
"As an AirBnb renter, I would be more inclined to choose a host involved in this program because I know it's a nice space; it's not so much about just renting out a basement for extra money."
John
Mural Artist
Kate
Traveler and AirBnb Renter
DEFINE
2
DEFINE
Card Sorting
After research affinity maping provided insight on how users communictate, needs, and pIan points. Point-of-View and How-Might-We statements framed potentional solutions. Formulating two type of users kept us on track through the ideation processes.
STATEMENTS
PERSONA
Sandra, the AirBnb Host
Sandra needs a way to automatically meet local artist for her AirBnb vacation rental. She safe way to connect with local artists for a beneficial relationship to sell there art in her properties. Sandra is busy with life so she needs something accessible as she's on the move.
I want my place to where guests support local artists
3
IDEATE
COLLABORATION AND BRAINSTORMING
Using Figma, Miro, Google sheets and hand sketches we brainstormed iterations of sketched concepts along with user flows. Sharing ideas and reviewing research we flushed out ideas determining the MVP (Minimum Viable Project) to start determine placement of features and design elements on designs. I took on the the task of developing the like and dislike swipe matching features to build the phototype on Figma.
USER FLOWS
WIREFRAMING
4
DESIGN
As a team we determined the four primary colors ensuring they had diverse use for component making and were ADA compliant. We also determine Inter and Merriweather for our type face. From there I put together the moodboard, added secoundary colors, created ArtUP logo, and built our foundation along with ensuring consistence of design system.
LOGO
MOODBOARD
DESIGN SYSTEM
5
PROTOTYPE
USABILITY TESTING
Tested with five users of both artists and homeowners, ranged in age and demographics. We asked the users to complete five tasks: onboarding and getting set up, swiping through artists, sending messages, pausing the account, and using the filter feature.
HIGHLIGHTED FEATURES
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Onboarding Process
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Profile Creating/Editing
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“Save for Later”
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Messaging
The layout was simple, the flow was simple, easy and familiar.
Another user said the app has a cheerful, friendly appearance.
Fun to swipe through to identify interested in the same way that it can be fun to take a personality or other type of quiz.
INSIGHTS AND RESULTS
Our quantifiable outcomes from the testing were as follows:
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Users spent 4:47 on onboarding
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2:15 on swiping
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0:43 on messaging
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1:05 on pausing,
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0:46 on filtering
These numbers included the users thinking out loud for the researcher’s benefit, which they would not be doing when actually using the app.
USER DRIVEN IMPROVEMENTS
CHANGES:
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Grey lettering contrast on white
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Camera logo added
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Upload photos logo to host profile landing page
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Scroll icons added to display capability
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Back button during setup
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Pause button placement
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Undo swipe button
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What happens when you match page
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Save for later; "put back in queue" button
6
ITERATE
CONCLUSIONS AND TAKEAWAYS:
Rental homes displaying art for guest to buy is different then Galleries in a few key ways, one being that a gallery owner would actively promote artists and visitors to galleries are specifically searching for art to buy and artists to sponsor. Because of this, we would suggest burrowing further down into research to determine a more specific profile for the ideal type of artist, host, and visitor.
Budding artists or even student artists may tend to be more interested in participating and have a higher degree of focus than would highly established gallery re[resented artists. We also would recommend that hosts allow artists access to their work in case they have a gallery or purchase opportunity to further encourage them to participate and reduce their risks.
Hosts would ideally be very invested in their own users’ experience as opposed to a host who is trying to make a quick buck renting out a room. Seek Visitors who are Primed to purchase – determine whether there are demographics that would indicate this so that these visitors can be targeted
Next Steps:
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Map features
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Marginalized artists preferred representations in searches
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Consumer options
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Integration with other apps
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Market research on AirBnb hosts
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Marketing and ads
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Events through app
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Sharing and social media
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Ambassador programs
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Representation of artists and spaces
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Insurance program for artists property