Curate

A companion app that uses an interactive map to help people navigate a local art gallery

My Role:

UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher, Project Manager

Tools Used:

Figma, Google Suite, Zoom

Scope & Constraints:

Course Assignment to design a Mobile App. Branding and images used with permission of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Users:

Museum Goers

Overview

Going to an art gallery can often be an exhausting experience... but it's also an inefficient one. Curate finds that both new, and returning visitors alike don't have the resources that they need to navigate a museum effectively. The majority of their time at a gallery is spent searching for a piece that resonates with them personally, leaving their energy levels drained by the end of the experience, and potentially missing out on pieces that they would have otherwise enjoyed.

With Curate, I aim to develop a comprehensive museum navigation app that gives users more control over how they spend their time in the gallery. Using interactive maps, tailored audio tours, and a database of the museum's entire collection, the user is able to identify and locate the exhibits and artwork that they're interested in, while also providing a medium for their continued education and engagement with the artwork itself.

Preliminary Research

In order to better understand a wider array of museum-goers, I conducted several interviews with friends and family of different genders and age groups. I tried to find a range of people who were anywhere from “avid patrons” to merely “interested” in museums.

Through my research, I confirmed my assumption that museum visitors tend to wander the museum without much thought until a piece of art or an exhibit catches their eye. I also learned that the main draw for repeat visitors is to find new exhibitions that they haven’t previously seen.

User Pain Points

Most museum-goers don't know which specific pieces or exhibits will interest them until they stumble across a piece that resonates with them. Presenting a museum's collection in digital form, while highlighting specific standouts, will allow users to customize their museum experience.
Museums tend to be sprawling complexes, and it can often be difficult for users to locate anything - from highlighted exhibits to the most basic services. Interactivity will key, so that a user can always locate where they are, and navigate to where they want to go.
Time at a museum is often only limited by a visitor's own energy. Feet get tired, bellies get hungry, and interest wanes throughout the trip. Users should be able to easily locate services (i.e., restrooms, cafes, etc.) to reduce the physical toll.

User Personas

As I analyzed my research, I began to key in on two different personas: Dani and Levi.

Levi is a retired empty-nester, who enjoys visiting new art galleries with his wife while they travel. Dani is a young professional who visits museums frequently, oftentimes on repeat visits to the same local gallery.

Since Dani is the more frequent user, as well as being more technologically savvy, I used Dani as the target user for my designs while keeping Levi in mind.

Paper Wireframes

As I began to sketch my wireframes, I wanted to tackle design problems that were unique to the museum experience. I decided to skip designing any user experiences that have a lot of existing examples to draw on, such as purchasing tickets.
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Instead, I focused on the core museum navigation experience: discovering artwork, exhibits, and events, navigating to those discoveries in a physical space, and learning more about those discoveries through quick interactions.

Digital Wireframes

Collecting my best ideas from my paper wireframes, I began the process of translating them to a digital format. Below you'll find the designs and some quick descriptions of certain features.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Due to the iterative nature of a museum's user journey (navigate the museum - observe a piece of art - learn about the piece - repeat), I had to ensure that the screens of my low-fidelity prototype were fairly interconnected. A user needed to be able to jump back and forth between audio tours, the interactive map, and the artwork's description seamlessly.

Usability Study

To test out my initial prototype, I reached out to friends and family to conduct a moderated usability study. This slideshow is intended to present the study's findings as though it were to a group of project stakeholders.

Some Major Insights Include:

The interactive map was a popular feature, and should be expanded on.
Users expected to be able to learn about what connected the pieces in a given room, as much as the individual pieces themselves.
Audio Tours had a rocky start, and needed to be more inviting with greater detail upfront.
The "My Profile" features, including "My Gallery" and "My Schedule," both had promise but weren't immediately intuitive.

Mockups and Final User Flow

Once I was happy with my wireframes, I began working on refining my designs into mockups. These mockups went through another round of usability testing to create the final versions that you see below.

You'll notice that I've separated the mockups into three main user flows. Click through the slides to view the Interactive Map, the "Discover" functionality, and the user's Profile. These three were chosen for this case study because they offered the most interesting design challenges to me.

Accessibility

To wrap things up, I'd like to give a final note on the accessibility considerations that I took throughout the design process.

While the color scheme was used with permission from the Art Gallery of Ontario, I had to adapt some of the colors to better contrast on the different backgrounds.
All information presented in the app can be read as well as played via audio for both the hearing and vision impaired.
General museum accessibility information can be easily accessed through the "Services" tab on the Discover page, and the user can easily find directions to elevators for the mobility impaired.

Reflections on Curate

Curate was a valuable stepping stone for me. As my first product that I designed in-full, I learned a lot about the design process that provided me with an added layer of context to my previous experience. If anything, it left me craving more design opportunities in the future.

In retrospective, I could have improved the UI by simplifying the design of many elements. Fewer drop shadows and thinner borders would have made for a more modern design, and as I develop my UI skills I will keep this in mind.

There are still several features and pages within Curate that have yet to be designed - from purchasing tickets in the app, to managing the app via settings - however for now I'm leaving Curate in its current state as I move on to other projects.

If you're interested in learning more about Curate, or potentially converting it into a fully-functioning app, please reach out to me and I'd be happy to discuss my designs further and collaboratively work with you to fully realize this app's potential.