GalleryPal: A 5-Day Design Sprint
Introduction
GalleryPal is a new startup that wants to improve the experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery.
“They know there is good art, but they don't know why yet” - I derived this quote from Design Sprint interview with one of the museum tour guides. I think we all can relate to this statement.
Typically visitors come to museums unprepared in terms of knowledge about art they are about to discover. Sure they can do online search, but too much information on the spot is too overwhelming, causing them to lose interest quickly.
Seems like knowing a few facts about artists background, context and artists intentions when creating work, will make visitors have a better appreciation for the art and the artist.
Design Goal
GalleryPal wants to design a way to improve the experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery.
The focus is in-person viewing experience for mobile applications.
My role
UI/UX Designer
The Process
The Design Sprint method, a 5-day structured process for solving design problems and validating solutions within short time frame.
It’s an efficient and collaborative approach, that allows rapidly ideate, prototype, and validate ideas before investing significant time and resources into developmen
Day 1 - Understanding
On the first day, I reviewed existing data provided by GalleryPal.
I gained user insights, read a persona, and watched an interview with an expert tour guide.
The key take aways from research synthesis:
After gaining an understanding of projects goals and constraints I created a map - draft of a possible end-to-end experience a user might have with GalleryPal. Art-goer looks at the art, scans the art, reads or listens about it and gains more appreciation as a result.
Arrival at the gallery
Browsing the art
Scanning the art
Reading/listening about the art
Gaining more appreciation
Day 2 - Sketching
Lightning Demo
To draw some inspiration and see how competitors solved similar problem I conducted fast-paced and very concise exercise called Lightning demo.
I am gonna be honest, when I first read the scenario, I immediately thought of an app that would have a scanner. That is the reason why I picked apps that have a built in scanner like Smartify and Google Images.
Crazy 8s
I sketched possible solutions to my most critical screen using the Crazy 8s method. This method lets you get into creative flow without any constraints but time. 8 possible solutions in 8 minutes.
My most critical screen is the one that comes up after the user scans the art.
I found it crucial to divide information into “about art” and “about artist”.
Solution Sketch
I created three screens - critical screen, the preceding and the following to it.
This is done to show an example of how user would interact with it.
User scans the art
Chooses from main screen to listen to the facts
Turns on the player
I ended up creating screen number 9, cause I wasn’t completely happy with my Crazy 8s ideas.
Day 3 - Creating a story board
On day three, I created a storyboard - sketched wireframes.
This are some of the decisions that I have made:
My solution isn’t attached to any particular gallery or exhibition, since a lot of times art travels or you see a copy of famous art on someones wall and you want to learn about it right there right then.
I decided that home screen will have inspiring quotes about the significance of art.
Critical screen will contain options to read or listen about art or artist, option to save it to favorite.
I thought that including a guide on how to observe the art might be very helpful step to understand and appreciate it a little deeper.
Timer option to encourage user to take few solid minutes to observe and reflect while they are still in front of the art.
Day 4 - Prototyping
On day four, I transformed storyboard into a prototype in Figma.
I used Salvador Dali as an example of what its would look like on the app if users were to lean about him and his art.
I decided to use “5 facts about” structure, as it’s seemed that we tend to remember “fun facts” more than anything.
Users would scan the art and arrive on the page that would let them choose what they like to learn.
Day 5 - Testing
Recruiting participants for the testing was fairly easy, as many individuals in my circle share a passion for art.
I conducted 5 user tests with the goal of assessing the app's logic, user-friendliness, and its potential to enhance users' experiences during museum visits.
The testing sessions proceeded smoothly, with all participants expressing excitement about the idea of scanning art and discovering more about both the artwork and its creator.
I encountered no issues during the tests. Each session flowed smoothly, with users effortlessly navigating through the prototype
Lessons & Outcomes
I'm incredibly enthusiastic about the GalleryPal app, especially because it's something I'd love to use myself when traveling and visiting art galleries or museums. The satisfaction I derive from improving something that promises to enhance user experiences is truly fulfilling.
My firsthand experience with Design Sprint has been enlightening. It's amazing how quickly we can generate and validate ideas to develop solutions that are truly user-focused, all within short timeframes. The process has become my favorite hands-on experience, as it allows for rapid progress and tangible results.
This end-to-end experience not only enhances the user's enjoyment and understanding of art but also fosters a deeper connection between the viewer and the artworks on display.