TeamPlay
UX / UI Design
Artistry
Connecting artists with their audience
Role
Conducted User Research
Research Analysis
UI Design & Prototyping
Conducted Usability Testing
Timeframe
September 2024 - December 2024
Team
Ryan Wong
Emma Sun
Kellie Hung
Xiaoyi Wang
Yi-Hsiu Shen
Overview
Emerging artists often face various difficulties in breaking into the art market and creative domains such as financial burdens, a saturated market, limited connections/buyers. As such our product, Artistry is a location-based digital marketplace that maximizes the value of artists' work and strengthens connections between emerging artists and buyers within local communities.
Unlike other art marketplaces, our platform is exclusively auction-based. Artists set an affordable starting price and have the autonomy to end the auction when they connect with a buyer willing to pay their ideal price. This approach boosts artists' income in two ways: the lower starting price makes art more accessible, attracting a wider range of buyers, while the auction system maximizes the artwork's market value, increasing potential earnings.
This case study is a revisionary approach of a school project created by our team for a Masters-level course called "Fundamentals User Experience."
01 Preview
02 Context
The Problem
There has always been a stigma around art being a sustainable career. We can all visualize the stereotype of a broke, struggling artist. Unfortunately, many artists reinforce this stereotype, as it is difficult for emerging artists to break into the art market due to financial burdens, high competition, and limited connections in the industry.
Artist Quotes from User Interviews
The Challenge
How can we help emerging artists gain exposure, build an audience, and generate sales so they can turn their passion into a source of income and achieve recognition for their work?
The Solution
Artistry is a location-based digital marketplace that maximizes the value of artists' work and strengthens connections between emerging artists and buyers within local communities.
Design Process
5-Step Process
03 Research Methods
Research Methods
Before diving into user research, our team decided to conduct some secondary research to understand the problems that artists were facing. We started off with our problem statement below to help understand the pain points that artist were feeling.
Problem Statement
Problem Statement
How can we help emerging artists gain exposure, build an audience, and generate sales so they can turn their passion into a source of income and achieve recognition for their work?
Secondary Research
With this initial problem statement, we found some challenges which emerging artists often faced early in their career. Beyond creating art, many must dedicate considerable time and effort into marketing themselves - an aspect that can feel overwhelming and detract from their creative process.
Context and Struggles
Financial Instability
Emerging artists face financial instability at all stages. Short-term, inconsistent income makes covering essentials difficult. Mid-term, managing debt adds stress during career building. Long-term, poor financial planning risks insufficient retirement savings and reliance on external support.
Yelling into the void
Challenges often discourage artists, leading some to abandon their craft, resulting in lost talent and reduced artistic diversity. This results in a loss of emerging talent and a decline in artistic diversity.
Nepotism
Nepotism hinders under-resourced artists from accessing elite art institutions, which often favor well-connected or wealthy individuals. This exclusivity creates a capital-driven market that overlooks many talented artists.
Loss of Authenticity
Some artists embrace multimedia promotion, but others fear it may dilute authenticity, shifting focus from creative expression to commercial demands. This creates internal conflict, blurring the line between artistic integrity and commercial success.
Pressure of Self-Promotion in the Digital Age
Today’s artists must handle self-promotion in the digital economy, a challenging but essential task to stay competitive and visible. Artists often face pressure to post on platforms such as Instagram for engagement.
User Research Methods
Using our secondary research as a base, interviews were conducted on 10 participants from a network of artists and students. Among these participants, 6 were full-time professionals in art-related fields, while the remaining 4 engaged in art as a hobby, alongside their primary careers in a non-art related industry.
Key Findings from Interviews
Artists want deeper connections with their audience
7 out of 10 participants valued positive feedback and audience connections, which motivated them to create more art. One artist mentioned engaging directly with their audience through online Q&A sessions, while two others enjoyed their experiences with customers and fellow artists."
Artists feel their work is devalued
7 out of 10 participants face several challenges in gaining visibility and conveying the value of their art. Challenges include AI-generated images devaluing digital art (3/10 participants), a saturated market making it hard to stand out (4/10 participants), and a lack of context on digital platforms that leads to undervaluation (5/10 participants).
Artists feel frustrated in their efforts to gain exposure
8 out of 10 participants have shared challenges in gaining exposure with 7 out of 10 participants recognizing that social media is essential for gaining exposure. Artists feel mentally drained by using social media to promote their work, seeing little return despite investing significant time and effort.
How much should I charge?
5 out of 10 participants mentioned uncertainty on how they should price their artwork. They often have to weigh the time and material cost behind creating a piece, with how much their audience would be willing to pay.
It's the people you know
8 out of 10 participants noted that the majority of their audience is largely people they personally know. Because of their closer connections, these audiences may sometimes refer the artist to commissions or work opportunities, and assist with promotional efforts.
User Personas
From our key insights, we created two hypothetical users, Charlotte Dali, the seller, and John Williams, the buyer. Charlotte is a traditional artist looking to sell her artwork to someone who will appreciate it while John is an art lover looking to buy a painting that will compliment his home.
User Personas
User Journey Map
From our research, we were able to create a hypothesized journey map of the problems a user would encounter when trying to purchase a piece of artwork. This journey map helps us identify the specific areas where our users would need the most help.
User Journey Map
Competitor Analysis
We studied various apps to understand how artists gain exposure. However, after deciding to focus on selling artwork, our group concentrated on four art marketplaces, such as Saatchi Art, Etsy, Artfinder, and eBay.
Name
Pros
Cons
- Brand recognition
- Unique original work
- Personalized art advisory
- Curated collection gives context to creations
- No limit to listing
- Easy set-up
- Selected curators give credibility to artwork creating value
- Takes care of shipping logistics for you
- High commission fees
- High competition
- Large established marketplace
- Easy set-up
- No limit to number of listings
- Ability to make commission requests to artists
- Free personalized art advisory service
- Art quiz for getting recommendations
- Emerging artists page
- For unique items and crafts
- Must handle shipping and customer service
- High competition
- Charges for listings
- Large established marketplace
- Flexible selling options (auction and buy it now)
- Easy set-up
- List what you want
- Hard to find target audience
- Must handle shipping and customer service
- Not specifically made for art
- Curated platform gives more context (must be approved to sell)
- Ability to directly communicate with buyers
- "Me at work" delivers authenticity
- Requires membership fee
- Needs more effort to apply as a artist/seller
- Customer reviews
Competitor Analysis Chart
Name
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Notes
- Ability to sell artwork
- Artist profiles
- Curated collections
- Ability to make commission requests to artists
- Free personalized art advisory service
- Art quiz for getting recommendations
- Emerging artists page
- Brand recognition
- Unique original work
- Personalized art advisory
- Curated collection gives context to creations
- No limit to listing
- Easy set-up
- Selected curators give credibility to artwork creating value
- High commission fees
- Large competition
- Primarily for original fine art pieces
- Artists have the opportunity to work with interior designers and hospitality
- The web layout focuses more on the curation of artwork and artists
- Ability to sell artwork
- Wide range of categories
- Customer reviews
- Paid promotion
- Large established marketplace
- Easy set-up
- No limit to number of listings
- Ability to make commission requests to artists
- Free personalized art advisory service
- Art quiz for getting recommendations
- Emerging artists page
- Ability to sell artwork
- Artist profiles
- Curated collections
- Ability to make commission requests to artists
- Free personalized art advisory service
- Art quiz for getting recommendations
- Emerging artists page
- Ability to sell artwork
- Artist profiles
- Curated collections
- Ability to make commission requests to artists
- Free personalized art advisory service
- Art quiz for getting recommendations
- Emerging artists page
- General marketplace
- Customer reviews
- Paid promotion
- Paid promotion
- Large established marketplace
- Flexible selling options (auction and buy it now)
- Easy set-up
- Hard to find target audience
- Must handle shipping and customer service
- The web layout focuses on creating more listings
- Platform is not specifically for art
- Ability to post and sell artwork
- Curated marketplace for original art
- Focuses on connecting artists with collectors
- Personalized art advisory service
- Customer reviews
- Emerging artist page
- Curated platform gives more context
- Ability to directly communicate with buyers
- "Me at work" delivers authenticity
- Requires membership fee
- Needs more effort to apply as a artist/seller
- Customer reviews
- Artists have the opportunity to work with interior designers and hospitality
- The web layout focuses more on the curation of artwork and artists
Prioritization Matrix
Through our research, we identified gaps such as format restrictions when showcasing artwork with algorithmic biases, logistical challenges, and the lack of physical interaction being problems in the selling process. Accordingly, we structured our priorities around two major goals: increasing artists' income and strengthening their connections with buyers, fellow artists, and their community.
Prioritization Matrix
High-Level Goals
Based on our prioritization matrix, we were able to create a series of high-level goals which needed to be achieved.
1. Auction-driven art marketplace
Unlike other art marketplaces, artists set an affordable starting price and can end the auction at a set time or when they connect with a buyer willing to pay their ideal price. These auctions attract a wide range of buyers through lower starting prices, while the auction system maximizes the artwork's market value, increasing potential earnings.
2. Location-based artwork
Artworks and artists are displayed in the feed based on their proximity to the buyer’s location. This feature enables buyers to discover artists within their community, fostering offline interactions. It helps artists build authentic connections with buyers and establish lasting relationships.
3. Transparency is key
Introducing transparent pricing that reflects the time and effort invested in each artwork helps artists better price their creations while helping buyers understand their value. Likewise, artists can showcase the process behind creating their art, highlighting the time and effort involved in each piece.
4. Fostering connections
A chat feature connects artists and buyers during auctions, helping artists learn about buyers before finalizing sales. In-person appointments can be booked to ensure artworks are a good fit before completing transactions.
04 Design Decisions
Design Decisions
Two columns or one column?
Our first iteration focused on a two column approach for the homepage which would allow for more artwork to be displayed. However, this could contribute to the devaluation of artwork as users can endlessly scroll. Instead, we opted for a one column approach which would honour the artwork by allowing people to give their full attention to one artwork at a time.
Two Column Approach
One Column Approach
Increased exposure through more art displayed on one screen
Users can endlessly scroll creating a devaluation of artwork
Honours the artwork by enabling users to focus on one piece at a time
Decreased exposure through less art displayed on one screen
Price transparency drives sales
According to our user research, emerging artists often struggled to price their artwork, while buyers faced challenges in justifying and understanding the pricing. A bid breakdown can assist artists in pricing their work and provide buyers with a clearer understanding of their purchase. We decided to go with the hourly wage approach as it addressed two problems our users faced.
Skill and Labour Approach
Hourly Wage Approach
Artists have the freedom to choose what price they want to set their artwork at
Emerging artists struggled to price their artwork, while buyers found it challenging to assess value
An hourly wage provides transparency on how much time was spent creating the artwork
The hours spent could be easily fabricated which can cause distrust
05 Usability Testing
Usability Testing
We conducted 4 usability tests for both the artist's flow and buyer's flow looking to test, completion, clarity, and comprehension of the two flows. Our project was also presented to a panel of industry professionals where we collected feedback and suggestions on how to improve our design.
Before
Originally, an auction would start as soon as the user posted it; however, the word 'date' was unclear. Some testers were unsure whether it referred to the start date or the end date.
After
A clear distinction between the start and end date/time of an auction was added to eliminate confusion. This change also allows users to schedule auctions to start on a future date.
Before
1. To make an appointment, most testers would leave the auction page and try to go to the artist's profile.
2. Some testers completely missed the appointment button on the auction page.
After
1. To match user's mental models, the appointment option was placed under the artist's page.
2. Appointment was placed next to the message button as some users would like to chat with the artist before making an appointment.
Before
Testers were unsure about the meaning of niche terms such as "upgrades."
After
Using everyday language such as "Bids" helps our target users understand what they are reading.
06 Visual Design
The Design System
To decide on our colours and typography, each group member created a moodboard and style tile. From there, we compiled what we liked from each person's style tile to create our final visual designs.
Colour Palette and Typography
We wanted users to feel welcomed so we chose vibrant colours that are inviting to convey a friendly environment differentiating ourselves from our competitors who were more exclusive and high-end.
Typography Usage
For typography, we chose Gilroy as it's geometry and form conveyed a welcoming and friendly vibe.
Components
We created a design system which goes beyond what was used in the final design following WCAG AA accessibility guidelines.
07 Final Designs
Final Designs
Our final solution is Artistry, a location-based digital marketplace that maximizes the value of artists' work and strengthens connections between emerging artists and buyers within local communities.
The Details Matter
Unlike other apps, Artistry allows buyers to honor each artwork by viewing only one piece at a time as they scroll. Each artwork includes information about the price, details of the piece, and the artist.
- The "Auction" section presents the bidding history and a detailed bid breakdown, ensuring transparency for buyers.
- The "Details" section provides more details about the materials, medium, and dimensions of the artwork.
- The "Artist" section allows users to learn more about the creator of the artwork and where they can view it in person.
Chat and Meet Up
Artistry allows users to chat with the artist and make appointments to see the artwork in person before making a purchase.
- Messaging allows artists and buyers to foster a connection before making a purchase.
- Buyers can schedule appointments to view an art piece in person and decide if they like it.
- Artists can meet buyers to determine if they will genuinely appreciate their work.
Four-Step Auction Process
Artistry has a four-step auction process for publishing artworks, making it easy for emerging artists to share their creations.
- The "Upload" section helps artists post the right angles for their artwork and set its dimensions.
- The "Details" section helps artists describe their work to find the right buyer.
- The "Price" section helps artists price their work by factoring in the hours spent on it and the cost of materials.
Friendly Bidding System
Artistry features an easy-to-use bidding system that allows users to choose between shipping, drop-off, or pickup for their artwork. Artists can also end bids early for buyers they believe will genuinely appreciate their work.
- Ending bids early incentivizes both artists and buyers, fostering connections for work they genuinely appreciate.
- An easy-to-use bidding system provides users with the information they need to make informed purchases with ease.
Browse Artwork
Buyers can search through pieces of art on the homepage to see what is nearby. When they see an artwork they like, they can click in to learn more about the price, bid history, details, and about the artist.
Message and Meet up
Buyers can message artists to chat more about art pieces and book appointments to see the artwork in real life before making a purchase.
Bid on Artwork
Buyers can easily bid on pieces of artwork choosing different methods to pick up the artwork such as shipping, pick up, or drop off. If an artist believes a specific buyer will genuinely enjoy their artwork, they can choose to end an auction early for the buyer.
08 Project Takeaways
Project Takeaways
Learnings
Let's hear everyone out
One important lesson I’ve learned from working in a group is the value of setting aside personal egos and actively listening to others. Even when we don’t initially agree on an idea, every contribution and perspective has the potential to spark new possibilities.
Making the tough call
During the design process, we received feedback from industry professionals and testers. To strengthen our decision-making skills, we carefully determined the best design solution and chose what we believed would be most beneficial for the users.
Next Steps
Visualizing art with AR
In future iterations, we aim to explore using AR to help buyers visualize artwork, enabling them to see how it would look in their space. This could drive sales by enhancing the buying experience.
More Usability Testing
Our usability tests provided valuable insights that significantly improved our design. With additional time and resources, further testing could help refine the product by pinpointing potential issues.