“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth"
Pablo Picasso
ArtX
Background
Is there a way that we can help the artists to succeed easier in the current economic climate?
This question is the core of what this project is about. Art plays an important role throughout human civilizations. However, with the subjective nature of the value of art, it is often a struggle for artists to make a living with it and reach their potential.
How did it start?
As an artist myself, I experience some of the art business challenges firsthand, and I connect with people in the art community often.
One time, I was talking with a new gallery owner; he was trying to find a new way to run a gallery in the digital age.
Our in-depth conversations led to the idea of this project. I wanted to design a mobile app that offers both artists and the art community a path to thrive in this journey.
The ArtX app can:
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Let artists showcase their artworks and find their audiences.
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Allow artists to engage audiences, understand their market directly, and respond to art collectors in real time.
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Allow artists to market themselves with flexibility.
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Offer a unique way for artists and art lovers to build a one-on-one relationship.
The purpose-
To build a bridge between artists and art lovers.
Table of Content
Users Research
Conversations with users
User interviews and research
To understand the users, I started by meeting with art gallery owners and artists for conversations and learned about their pain points and needs.
I reached out to the art community and went to art events and exhibitions to understand both art buying and selling experiences from art buyers and artists.
Empathized with the users
To be able to truly help artists and art lovers to meet their goals, I would need to understand the artists’ professional life and how to help art lovers, and collectors find the art they want.
Those conversations and user interviews shed light on what helps artists make money and what art lovers are looking for.
Digital Ethnography Research
I also researched via digital ethnography to understand the art market, and how artists developed themselves and their business on different platforms.
The rise of online and virtual sales
In recent years, online sales have changed the infrastructure of selling art. Art lovers, especially the tech-savvy millennials, enjoy discovering art online instead of through traditional art galleries.
“Online sales doubled to a record high of $12.4 billion, accounting for an all-time high of 25% of the market’s overall value, up from just 9% in 2019. They thus exceed the sales in bricks–and–mortar galleries – a market first.
Including art fair Online Viewing Rooms, (OVRs), the share of dealers’ revenues from online sales tripled, from 13% to 39%.”
Reference: Art Basel
Changing demographics
The buyers are getting younger.
“According to a survey published by Invaluable, an online auction and gallery hub, nearly a quarter (22.7%) of art buyers find new works of art via social media, which edged out museums (20%) and galleries (15.9%) as buyers’ primary source of discovery. Millennials are leading this change, with 44.3% of young millennials (ages 18–24) and 33.8% of older millennials (ages 25–34) saying they discover art on social media.”
Reference: Artrepreneur
User Personas & Empathy Maps
Through user interviews, field studies and digital ethnography research, I discovered that most art sales for emerging artists are from events, occasions and channels that let the artists talk to and discover new art collectors and their fanbases directly.
With the interviews and research, the next step is to create user personas and empathy maps that show us the portraits of the ArtX app users!
What I learned
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Because of the pandemic, many artists have lost the opportunity to nurture communications and relationships with their fan bases and art lovers in person.
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New artists often face an economic disadvantage in society.
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People are more open-minded and explorational than before, especially for the younger demographic groups like the millennials.
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People love to discover and get to know the artist directly.
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Artists sell by finding their market and audiences and maintaining regular communications with art lovers.
Communication is key! Art lovers want to know the artist and their works.
Ideations
Building Scenarios
Now with a strong understanding of the users, I was able to start brainstorming on the app and had created some user scenarios and hand-sketched wireframes during the ideation phase.
Hand Sketches
For me, hand-sketched wireframe holds a unique role during my design process. It often serves as a quick mental note that helps me memorize and visualize the product and users flow quickly and captures multiple ideas in a short time.
Wireframe
As the design blueprint, the low-fidelity wireframe helps me visualize the product layout, user experiences, essential components, and functionality. My focus was to realize the steps that the users will walk through and define the features, options, components, variants, spacing, and interaction design of the product.
Design System
The Design System + Branding
Now with a strong understanding of the users, I was able to start brainstorming on the app and had created some user scenarios and hand-sketched wireframes during the ideation phase.
Mobile Product Design
High-fidelity design
Here I'm bringing you to a quick visual journey of ArtX:
The ArtX is the bridge to bring art lovers and artists closer and nurture connections and trading. While building this app, I kept that in mind and designed features that are for building connections.
Build for connections
One of the highlight features is Multimedia messaging. With this feature, you can:
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Chat room for artists and users.
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Users can send mini-games, and short jokes via Messenger.
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Artists can create and host events on the app
Try it out and participate in the journey through this simulated fun conversation!
ArtX Prototype
After conducting thorough research and preparation, I transformed my concept into a tangible product by creating a comprehensive prototype of Art X.
