Gallery Pal
Mobile App
RESEARCH, STRATEGY, UX/UI DESIGN
Overview
Galleries and museums are having a hard time increasing customer satisfaction for visitors while viewing art. Gallery Pal is a mobile application designed to provide a delightful experience for “solo” museum visitors who are curious about art and want to expand their knowledge about the subject with a self-guided tour.
As the sole researcher and designer for this project, I used a modified version of the GV design Sprint to quickly design and test a mobile App prototype to validate a product concept.
Role
Research, UX/UI Design
Timeline
August 2020
Design Process
Modified Agile GV Design Sprint
Key Skills
Vetting secondary Research, User journey mapping, Sketching, Wire-framing, Visual Design, Prototype Creation, Usability Testing
Opportunity
1. Traditional group tours lack time flexibility.
This system can be inconvenient for a tourist for example who can’t book a tour in advance and has a hard time adhering to a schedule while trying to explore as much as his/her staying allows.
2. There are limited learning resources to engage “solo” drop-in visitors with the exhibitions.
While group tours are often created to deliver just the right amount of information to visitors, “solo” visitors have to figure out the content of their tour on their own. Some large museums offer access to headset and radio check-out to facilitate self-guided tours but smaller galleries or pop-up exhibitions don’t have the resources to provide this service.
3. Listen-only tours limit engagement with the artwork.
Listen-only tours, as opposed to visual exploration, are less engaging when it comes to learning and retaining information. Additionally, current group and “solo” visitors’ learning experience is limited to a one-time visit and it’s highly unlikely visitors will continue to explore the topic in the future.
My Process and Strategy
The product strategy for this project was a mobile design approach. I participated in this project after generative research was conducted so I adapted my strategy to the timeline and information provided by BitesizeUX. I reviewed the user interview data to identify my target audience’s unmet needs, define the scope of the problem, and brainstorm ideas for product innovation.
Discovery
Research insights highlight the need for educational content to enjoy a museum visit
The first step in this process was to familiarize myself with Gallery Pal’s users and their needs. Looking back at the brief provided by Bitesize UX for this Sprint, I gathered the following feedback from some museum visitors:
1. Some background information is good but not too much. Visitors’ quotes highlight they enjoy learning some background information about the art and artists they see in the exhibition but a lot of information can be overwhelming.
2. Information helps visitors appreciate and enjoy art. People enjoy learning about the artist's background, intentionality, or message the piece provides, what inspired the artist, artists’ techniques, and fun facts worth remembering, making their visit more pleasant.
Define
Identifying specific target user and the problem to be solved
I identified two main groups of visitors based on their tour preferences: group tour visitors and “solo” spontaneous visitors. The following Venn diagram shows the main similarities and differences between both groups’ visit experiences.
The user research data available helped me narrow my focus on “solo” visitors’ pressing need to find a flexible and engaging way to learn about artwork during their visit.
Understanding target users’ pain points, needs and goals
Similarly, the user persona below highlights the user’s frustrations with her current method to learn about the art she sees and her need to access information quicker.
Next, I wanted to explore the interactions the user would have with art exhibits before, during, and after the visit. I realized that for this project focusing on the information I get from a persona alone would limit my understanding of “solo” visitors’ needs before and after the visit. Thus, I created a user journey map that highlights the different stages where the persona would interact with this product.
Understanding the complete experience the user persona goes through when visiting a museum helped me identify three ideas to focus on during the design process:
1. Allow users to learn about the museum and the art they will see before their visit
2. Encourage users to explore similar local art exhibits in the future
3. Gamify learning experience onsite
Ideation
User flow mapping and feature selection focuses on improving the ‘solo’ in-person tour experience
I started the ideation process by sketching the interaction the user will have with the product step by step. I considered in this case that the first time the user will interact with the product is when the user arrives at the museum and is ready to start the tour.
I selected three features to focus on based on what would bring the most value to the “solo” user but can also be quickly tested with a prototype that can be built in a day, to match the Sprint timeline requirements.
Design solution focuses on providing information in real time while looking at art
I browsed a few museum websites to learn about what type of information is commonly included in a tour and the timing to deliver it. Surprisingly I couldn’t find a museum that offers a mobile tool to facilitate visits so I searched for alternative sources of inspiration. Thus, I focused on finding ways to properly deliver just the right amount of content through a mobile App using a combination of videos, pictures, and text to create a self-guided tour tool.
Squares represent images, lines represent text and the play button on top of a square represents video content.
Before I started sketching the solution I went through a solo crazy 8’s session to brainstorm screen UIs that can display the content in a layout that is simple yet engaging. I used a combination of images of artwork followed by a small description. Video was also considered to show small clips of the tour to give users a preview of the entire presentation.
Next, I created low fidelity wireframes for the red route that addresses “solo” museum visitors’ greatest pain point: get information while looking at art during the visit to the museum.
This structure and layout highlight three key functions to include in the App:
1. Easy Search. Allows users to learn more about a particular topic, exhibit, or artist before or after the visit by using the search option.
2. Self-guided tour. A video playlist supplemented with text and images to guide a self-guiding onsite tour.
3. Discovery. Find local exhibitions before or after a visit on the home screen by clicking on the collections suggested on the screen.
Prototyping
I created a high-Fi prototype replicating the wireframe screens layout and I also added the final UI to the red route, below are the Figma dartboards, which included:
Minimalist design. Rich visual content with minimal text. Artworks take the center stage.
2. Personalized experience. Home screen updates content based on search history.
3. Mobile-first. Tab bar navigation and quick search elements for easy navigation.
Testing
I tested Gallery Pal’s first prototype (Figma) with 5 participants who were recruited via social media. The usability test was conducted remotely via Zoom and Skype. Participant recruitment criteria included users who have been to an art exhibition at least once and have experience using mobile apps. The goals for the session were:
1. To record initial impressions of the screens’ design, color, and typography. (Main navigation, content identification, color contrast for visibility, icon recognition, and use, typography size and visibility)
2. To uncover usability problems: in Identification of search tool, use the search tool to find a museum, selection of video tour, and starting, pausing, and exiting video tour.
Findings
All participants were able to complete the tasks without difficulty. Participants were able to select the museum and tour requested and to click the CTA button “start a tour” to start the video tour. All participants were also able to recognize the purpose of the tab bar buttons and main screen UI. All users were also pleased with the size and color of the typography as it was easy for them to read the text without any issues. Users responded positively to the layout and minimalistic design of the app.
Some findings that can improve the experience were that:
1. Two users pointed out that the option “wishlist” was an option they are used to seeing in e-commerce sites as an alternative to placing items in “cart”. This was an important finding because by looking at the “wishlist” option only, users were first thinking this was an art store app as opposed to an educational app. I will consider modifying the “wishlist” icon title for “favorites” or “saved tours” for example.
2. Three users commented that although the images were large enough to show the entire artwork, they would prefer the images to be a little smaller in order to be able to scroll faster through the images when trying to select a museum or exhibition. This would save some time and make the selection process much faster and increase the chances of user adoption and retention.