problem space

Emerging artists often face various difficulties in breaking into the art market and creative domains.

Emerging artists often face various difficulties in breaking into the art market and creative domains.

Emerging artists often face various difficulties in breaking into the art market and creative domains.

Financial burdens

Financial burdens

Financial burdens that limit opportunities for growth.

Lack of visibility

Lack of visibility

Lack of visibility in a highly saturated market. Existing platforms fail to effectively address these challenges or foster community engagement.

Limited connections

Limited connections

Artists prioritize meaningful connections with buyers and genuine appreciation for their creations over earning commissions.

All of the outlets are fixed after construction.
You can’t charge wherever you want.

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?

research

Through primary research and secondary research, we found that…

Through primary research and secondary research, we found that…

Artists want deeper connections with their audience and art community.

7/10 participants

Artists perceived a devaluation of their art due to: the saturated market, the audience's lack of understanding for what goes behind a finished art piece.

7/10 participants

Artists feel frustrated and hopeless in their efforts to gain exposure online.

8/10 participants

Our direct competitors fail to fill the gap—

Our direct competitors fail to fill the gap—

  • Fixed prices do not offer the flexibility for emerging artists to maximize the value of their artwork.
  • Algorithm bias affects the feed, limiting exposure for less-established artists.
  • Lack of physical interaction and opportunities for community building.
  • High entry barriers, with the art trade often managed by third-party agencies instead of the artists themselves.

View the full research report here.

Take care of shipping

Take care of shipping

List what you want
Wide audience

List what you want
Wide audience

Curated work

Curated work

For unique items
Wide audience

For unique items
Wide audience

focused direction

Meet Cameron the emerging artist & John the buyer

Meet Cameron the emerging artist & John the buyer

Cameron

Traditional artist

Traditional artist

Goals

  • Sell her work for a fair price, to a buyer who would genuinely appreciate her work

  • Build a deeper connection with her audience

Pain points

  • Hard to get exposure online

  • Doesn’t know how to price her work

John

Art lover on a budget

Art lover on a budget

Goals

  • Wants a painting that compliments his home

Pain points

  • When viewing artwork online, he can’t visualize how it would in real life

  • Gallery pieces are too expensive and feel distant to him

As-is user journey map

We identified Jane's & John's pain points

We identified Jane's & John's pain points

Cameron

Traditional artist

John

Buyer

ideation

We prioritized solutions that help artists earn income & build connections with their audience.

We prioritized solutions that help artists earn income & build connections with their audience.

We prioritized solutions that help artists earn income & build connections with their audience.

Drawing from user research insights, we structured our prioritization around two major goals:

Increase artists' income.

Strengthening artists' connections with buyers, fellow artists, and the broader art community.

our proposed solution

Artistry, a location-based digital art marketplace that maximizes the value of artists' work and strengthens connections between emerging artists and buyers within local communities.

Based on the prioritization matrix, we selected 2 most relevant features for our minimum viable product (MVP):

Auction-driven art trade

Auction-driven art trade

Unlike other art marketplace, our platform is exclusively auction-based. Artists can set an affordable starting price and have the autonomy to end the auction when they connect with a buyer ready to pay their ideal price. This approach boosts artists' income in 2 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.

Unlike other art marketplace, our platform is exclusively auction-based. Artists can set an affordable starting price and have the autonomy to end the auction when they connect with a buyer ready to pay their ideal price. This approach boosts artists' income in 2 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.

Location-based artwork/artist display

Location-based artwork/artist display

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.

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.

Future exploration

Future exploration

Augmented Reality & Social Media

Augmented Reality & Social Media

  • Design Process

Discover

Discover

Identified problem
Interviews
Competitor analysis
Secondary research

Define

Define

Problem statement
Personas
User journey map

Ideate

Ideate

How might we
Prioritization matrix
User flow
Wireframing

Test

Test

Lo-Fi prototype
User testing

Iterate

Iterate

Wireframe iteration
Style tile
Design system
Hi-Fi Prototype
Group presentation

features for validation

features for validation

How do we present artwork and price breakdown that we need more user testing to validate our design decisions.

How do we present artwork and price breakdown that we need more user testing to validate our design decisions.

Can a 1-column or 2-column layout influence user behavior?

Can a 1-column or 2-column layout influence user behavior?

vs.

vs.

Pros of 1 Column:

  • Larger images allow for better detail visibility.

  • Simplifies navigation and creates a focused viewing experience.

  • Works well for various image aspect ratios.

  • Reduces cognitive load for users.

Pros of 2 Columns:

  • Displays more artwork at once and reduces scrolling, giving artists more exposure.

  • Creates a more dynamic, gallery-like feel.

  • Efficient use of screen space for mobile devices.

Will it make buyers more willing to spend more by understanding the effort involved?

Will it make buyers more willing to spend more by understanding the effort involved?

We also want to measure how price breakdowns can impact user behavior.

Our usability testing showed that "hours spent" was deemed untrustworthy by users because artists can technically input any number of hours they want. We proposed another version of the price breakdown, which will undergo further usability testing to validate our assumption.

Current design

vs.

vs.

Proposed design

Lesson learned &
next steps

Lesson learned &
next steps

Lesson learned &
next steps

Challenges Overcome and Achievements

• Managed differing opinions and worked well as a team.

• Embraced tight deadline and learned to use new tool, Bezi to prototype AR effect effectively.

Limitations and Future Improvements

• Relied on limited user data, which may not cover all user needs.

• Need more usability testing to validate key features.

• Plan to expand research, test more often, and explore new technologies.

thank you ♡

Thank you for scrolling down here.
If you enjoy what you have read, I'd love to share more details about the project during interview :)

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© 2024 YiHsiu Shen. All rights reserved.✴︎

Let's chat ☺︎

Reach out

✴︎

© 2024 YiHsiu Shen. All rights reserved.✴︎

Let's chat ☺︎

Reach out

✴︎

© 2024 YiHsiu Shen. All rights reserved.✴︎