Product Designer (Collaborated with 2 founders)
Nov. 2023 - Nov. 2023 (1 week)
Figma, Miro, Canva, Zoom
In November 2023, I joined the Designpreneurs Hackathon intending to pair startup founders and designers to validate ideas and build portfolios over a weekend. On Friday afternoon, 25 teams met for the first time; by Sunday, we created prototypes, conducted UX testing, and assembled full-blown pitches.Founders from the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship joined designers from Parsons School of Design, NYU, School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute to work on an incredibly diverse array of concepts–from reimagining art, social media, and healthcare to education, AR/VR, and fashion.As a designer, I collaborated with two founders, Yi-Yan and Porshia (based in the UK) to explore the journey of emerging artists and help solve their challenges.
For novice artists embarking on their creative journey, breaking through the clutter to gain recognition for their artworks can be a formidable challenge. The sheer abundance of artistic content across various platforms makes it challenging for beginners to stand out and attract the attention of curators and art galleries.
Gaining recognition and appreciation from curators is pivotal for emerging artists, signifying credibility in the art market. Increased visibility through exhibitions and online platforms expands their audience, setting the stage to attract potential investors.
Since my founder and I do not have an art background, we must approach our users to learn more about the art world and the artists’ pain points. Ideally, it would be better if we could find the curators to know their opinions too. However, we don’t have any friends working in galleries.
1. What information do galleries want to know about artists?
2. What information do artists want to know about galleries?
3. How do artists usually find other artists and connect to like-minded people?
1. Could you share your experience of finding galleries to exhibit your artworks?
2. What information do you want to know about the galleries?
3. What are the attributes of ideal galleries?
4. Based on your experience, what galleries care most about the artists?
5. Aside from exhibiting in art galleries, how do art students increase recognition in the art world?
After the interviews and a few online research, we generated three design goals.
Artists are asked to provide only necessary information for their online profiles and those would be effectively promoted to the galleries.
Artists can quickly explore a variety of art galleries, choose their ideal ones with helpful filters, and send out their application immediately.
This centralized platform aims to serve as a nexus where artists from various disciplines can connect, share ideas, and collaborate on projects that push the boundaries of creativity.
I created three design flows corresponding to the design goals.
One requirement of the competition is to conduct at least 3 usability testings. To fulfill the requirement, I first created the wireframes and low-fi prototype before conducting the tests. And after the testing, I further iterate based on the feedback I received.
Before we did the testings, I spent a whole day creating the wireframes and low-fi prototype for users to better visualize and test our design.
On Saturday, we did four usability tests with three artists and one curator through Zoom meeting to validate if the design was helpful. We asked users to finish the tasks and observed how they approach to the tasks. We encouraged them to ask questions once they feel confused. All users said the 3 features are conducive to emerging artists and the flow is smooth.
I analyzed the feedback and iterate on my final designs.
The artists can log in and fill in only necessary information which galleries need to know to create their online presence. This help speed up the application process in the future.
Once artists finish creating their profiles, they can start exploring the galleries based on their interests/ needs. They can view the exhibition space, the current themes, location, application fee, etc. before applying for the galleries. Also, they can directly send out message and have conversations with them on the platform.
Aside from searching the like-minded galleries, the artists can browse the artwork, view others’ profiles, and connect with them.
On Sunday noon, 25 teams presented their concept pitch explaining their designs for fewer than 5 minutes each. This was our presentation slides aiming to share our app features and the impact it will have for both artists and galleries. (Click the image to view our whole presentation)
In the end, we won the prize for best storytelling! It credits to my founder Yi-Yan’s presentation and my delicate presentation slides.
Artificial Intelligence is a trendy tool nowadays and can be implemented in all markets. It can learn from the data input and make decisions based on patterns observed. This can be applied to Arton to increase the opportunity for artists to find the most suitable galleries or apply for an exhibition with the most relative artworks.
Since we had a limited amount of time to do research during the competition, the amount of data we gathered is not much and might not be valid. More online research and interviews with not just artists but stakeholders will be necessary to create a more convincing design that helps solve the challenge.
