a covert digital agent for art
How can time poor cosmopolitan art lovers discover - and perpetuate - cutting edge emerging art? How can the rising young artists benefit from this exposure?
This became the problem statement and core theme around which I built a one-week UX project at General Assembly's London campus earlier this year.
DESIGN FOR TOMORROW
Some of my research* placed machine learning and artificial intelligence atop the global most defining technologies within the next few years, so a custom service built for a digital assistant felt like a good start.
*source: Tech Crunch Disrupt
time-saving touchpoint: voice activated digital assistant
CREATING A DIALOGUE
I needed a test group, so set up phone interviews with friends, and questioned everyone available on campus that day. This provided an intriguing variety of backgrounds, behaviours and experiences, which ultimately fed into the following outcome:
Interviewees wanted to find new art quickly, see it locally, and talk about it with others afterwards.
The persona subsequently constructed via affinity mapping was:
- motivated but time poor
- city dwelling
- degree educated
- tech savvy
- with a creative background
“Everything is about time now”
70%
of interviewees worry about missing great SHOWS
↑ quick access to new, unmissable and expiring shows
FEATURED ARTISTS
Samuel Basset / You just need to sharpen your elbows
Sarah Berman / Naked Yoga
ticket wallet screen / wire
event screen / wire
“I’m forced to go see art on weekends - my least preferred option due to the crowd sizes”
85%
of subjects try to visit art shows
at off-peak times to avoid crowds
NAMING THE APP
I needed a name that would serve the as-yet unrepresented artists, as well as the busy art lovers trying to dodge the crowds. I called it introvArt.
↑ FEATURED ARTISTS
Samuel Basset / You just need to sharpen your elbows
Sarah Berman / Naked Yoga
ticket QR code / info toggle
ticket wallet screen
FEATURED ARTISTS
Samuel Basset / You just need to sharpen your elbows
Zarina Muhammad / Digihad
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
AND LO-FI PROTOTYPE
Identify market demand, shortcomings and opportunities.
+ magnify competitor analysis
+ magnify paper prototype
...view the InVision prototype here
“I fail to notice so many shows as time flies”
SHARING THE EXPERIENCE
Further feedback revealed that even the most private of interviewees would like to chat about what they saw at an exhibition with someone afterwards.
“Art is something that needs to be communicated”
100%
of potential users would enjoy talking to someone about their experience
CONNECT WITH OTHERS VIA REVIEWS AND TRACKLISTS...
- visitor feedback allows for an in-app rating system
- tracklists help lift artist profiles
ROADMAP
MOVING IMAGE: introduce shots of real-time activity in the galleries, visitor stats, GIFs, Instagram stories
VIRTUAL VISIT: VR version of experiences for less-abled people, or people not able to attend - Google cardboard etc
'MIND MAPS': capture artist's thoughts about their work to guide visitors and provide context - recordings and podcasts to keep
CHAT TO A BOT...
What if visitors had questions that weren't sufficiently answered by exhibition guides, or any digital or printed collateral? Enter the bot.
↑ Serban Savu / Departure
...EVEN CONNECT WITH ARTISTS DIRECTLY
If the in-app chat function was enabled, it would allow visitors to talk to all exhibiting artists directly at time of visit.
MADE AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY, LONDON
DISCLAIMER
This app concept was designed as part of a course project.
All images used are the artists own, or photographs I took thereof.
Works may not correspond to exhibition titles due to rapid course progress.
Detailed artist information available on request.