Amani Gallery
App, Web Design, UX/UI
Amani is a contemporary art gallery showcasing talented, underrepresented artists. Amani’s artist bio app lets art lovers, collectors, curators and students discover the gallery’s artists by providing an interactive, detailed portrayal of each artist and their work.
Project type: Design challenge / Individual project
Role: Sole Designer
Tool: Figma
Deliverables: Mobile app and responsive website mockups
Duration: 8 weeks
The Problem
The process of discovering artists in the fine art world is largely impersonal. Many art galleries and art spaces don’t provide much detail when presenting artists and their work online, making them feel inaccessible to the public.
The Goal
Design an artist bio app for Amani Gallery that will let users discover underrepresented artists by providing an interactive, detailed portrayal of the artist and their work. This will foster connection between the artist and the user.
Process
I adopted the design thinking process for my design. This included user research, conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, accounting for accessibility and iterating designs to produce a design of the highest quality that meets users’ needs.
Understanding the User
I conducted interviews with prospective users to better understand the needs when discovering/researching artists. The target users are art lovers, art collectors, curators and art students.
I discovered that users desired a more personal, interactive experience when discovering artists. Specifically, users were interested in knowing more about the process behind their work.
Content
Limited information on the artist’s process and story behind creating their work.
Accessibility
A lack of size conversions on artwork dimensions. Limited consideration for those who are visually impaired.
Experience
Lack of a personal online experience for users. Lack of connection between users and artists/artworks.
Persona Development
Based on my research insights, I developed three personas that highlight target users, their goals and pain points.
How Amani Gallery’s app benefits users
Through my persona development, I developed three key stakeholders: the gallery owner (Neema), artist (Kel) and art enthusiast (Sofia).
Below, I highlight key benefits to each potential user group.
Neema
Gallery Owner
New audiences and clients
Strengthen gallery’s brand and mission
Cultural innovation and prestige
Kel
Artist
Visibility and exposure
Networking and collaboration
Validation and recognition
Sofia
Art Enthusiast
Discovery of unique work
Socially conscious collecting
Deeper connection to artists
My design solution focuses on the users who are the art enthusiasts.
User Flow
A lack of interactivity and connection to the artists and their work was a key pain point for users. Therefore, I used that knowledge to create my user flow.
Paper Wireframes
I sketched out wireframes on paper, keeping user pain points about content, accessibility and experience in mind.
The wireframes shown are for the Selected Artist screen of Amani Gallery’s app.
Final paper wireframe for Selected Artist screen.
Digital Wireframes
As I moved from paper to digital wireframes, I continued to think about the users’ pain points. The design is minimal. Each element allows the user to take a deep dive into the artist’s work.
I also incorporated audio alongside text and images for accessibility.
Low-fidelity Prototype
Incorporating peer feedback, I created a low-fidelity prototype.
Usability Study
Before making my high-fidelity prototype and mockups, I decided to test my low-fidelity prototype. Users expressed feedback around navigation and the experience while using the app.
Study type:
Unmoderated Usability Study
Participants:
Five
Location:
Remote
Length:
20 - 30 minutes
Navigation
Users didn’t find ‘artists’ and ‘exhibition’ buttons on the homescreen clear.
Experience
Users wanted a more guided, curated experience rather than self exploring.
Copy
Users expressed confusion with the copy on some of the buttons, not feeling prompted to click them.
App Mockups
I incorporated feedback from the usability study to improve my design.
In particular, I added a hamburger menu to denote the different sections of the app and improve user navigation.
I simplified the artist profile screen by removing the exhibition buttons and the ‘you may also like’ section. Instead, I enlarged the artworks button and added ‘view’ to prompt the users to take action.
High-fidelity Prototype
My high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as my lo-fi prototype.
I incorporated the feedback I received to enhance the user experience.
Responsive Website
Following the same design thinking process I used for the app, I designed Amani gallery’s responsive website for desktop and mobile.
View Amani Gallery’s website for mobile here.
Accessibility Considerations
Hierarchy
I varied the size of the headings to create clear visual hierarchy.
Motion
I ensured all motion and gestures met accessibility guidelines.
Impact
The target users shared very positive feedback. They loved the minimal design and expressed that it really allowed the artists’ work to stand out. Users also shared that the design is easy to navigate and offers a deep dive into the artist and their work.
What I learnt
My biggest takeaway is the importance of meeting the user’s needs. Even changes that seemed insignificant had a very positive effect on the user experience.
Next Steps
1
Conduct follow-up usability studies, increasing the sample size.
2
Identify additional areas of improvement and ideate on new features.
3
Improve accessibility through navigation and language translation features.