Creative Hive
Mobile App that connects Art Enthusiasts with Local Artists
Primary role:
UX Designer
Time frame:
2022 (3 months)
Industry:
E-commerece
Responsibilities:
End-to-end process from research to final designs
Project Overview
As a lifelong admirer of the arts, I was inspired by one of my friends who enjoys creating artwork and selling it to friends and relatives. She is a wonderful artist who spends a lot of time making beautiful handcrafted art pieces and personalized craftworks. I myself appreciate buying artwork and handmade items from her and from some local artists as gifts for my family and friends on special occasions. However, I was only familiar with a few local artists, which led me to believe that there must be countless artists who were struggling to connect with a wider audience. With this challenge in mind, I put my UX designer hat on and began with online research.
Overview
How it started ?
As a lifelong admirer of the arts, I was inspired by one of my friends who enjoys creating artwork and selling it to friends and relatives. She is a wonderful artist who spends a lot of time making beautiful handcrafted art pieces and personalized craftworks. I myself appreciate buying artwork and handmade items from her and from some local artists as gifts for my family and friends on special occasions. However, I was only familiar with a few local artists, which led me to believe that there must be countless artists who were struggling to connect with a wider audience. With this challenge in mind, I put my UX designer hat on and began with online research.
Problem with the existing solutions
Art enthusiasts who love to buy locally sourced artwork need an online platform to purchase artwork easily and quickly because of their fast-paced lifestyle and the lack of availability of platforms that offer art from local artists.
The goal is to facilitate these relationships by offering art enthusiasts an e-commerce platform where they can discover new artists, buy artwork, connect with the artists, and support their community.
Local artists are not recognized
Most art-focused e-commerce platforms prioritize promoting and selling works by well-known artists and established galleries
Lack of artist-customer connection
Platforms offering handmade products often lacked any means of connecting customers with the artists behind the work.
To identify the solution, I first decided to gain a deeper understanding of the exact problem
Six people with an age range of 18–35 were chosen for the interviews from a variety of groups, including family, friends, and the class itself. All of them had busy daily schedules and had no time to visit art markets. I chose this category of people to understand:
Six people with an age range of 18–35 were chosen for the interviews from a variety of groups, including family, friends, and the class itself. All of them had busy daily schedules and had no time to visit art markets. I chose this category of people to understand:
What motivates them to purchase art online.
What are their pain points and thoughts on buying art from local artists.
Research results
Users are interested in the art and the artist’s background, and want to include section dedicated to explaining artist
Users are looking for a simple and intuitive browsing and shopping experience
Users wants to connect with the artists from whom they purchased the art. And want to know about their future work
Who is our users and why they need solution?
After familiarizing myself with the existing application and market research, I got the clarity of the user group and needs. I identified my persona and listed their goals and frustrations to ensure I understand my users problems.
Mapping out Tracy's journey helpedme to identigy the future experience steps and where to focus
Breaking down the goals into fragments
#1
Artists spotlight section to view artist bio and artwork
#2
Follow artists for purchasing their future artwork.
#3
Directly connect with artists by sending them emails.
#4
Simple Checkout process
User Flows
After setting goals with MVP features, I developed user flows and use cases to understand the flow. I developed user flow for each goal that I set. User flows helped to design the wireframes and screen flow for the application.
The flow will start with opening the app to search for their desired category, purchasing the piece of art, and then proceeding to donate a certain amount to the featured charity.
Trying out ideas and rapid iterations
At this point, I started sketching a potential solution based on the designed user flows. I tried multiple versions of redesigning the application. I decided to keep the structure of the UI same and work about it.
Different iterations
Final designs with microinteractions
I created a high-fidelity prototype as shown below. I designed the screen with all the micro-interactions. The clickable prototype helped the developers to understand the micro-interactions in the application during the development phase.
Final designs
Product description page design full view
I created a high-fidelity prototype as shown below. I designed the screen with all the micro-interactions. The clickable prototype helped the developers to understand the micro-interactions in the application during the development phase.
Key takeaways and lessons
Belief
After conducting in-depth interviews and listening to users about what would make a successful app for them, I strongly believe that CREATIVE HIVE will be the platform that creates an easy online marketplace to buy, sell, and appreciate art and, more importantly, effectively facilitates meaningful relationships between art buyers and artists.
Next Steps
Perform follow-up user testing to confirm that the design solutions have effectively addressed the users' pain points.
Transfer design to the development team for the implementation.
Have a positive impact on the lives of local artists and support their well-being, preserve local art that is vanishing.