Remote audio tour for art galleries
audart is not your typical supporting audio tour guide as you know from a museum. It is much more the virtual possibility to access a vast variety of art exhibitions from anywhere and everywhere, without physical limitations to accessibility and location. The user can create a profile and access local and international art events virtually organized by gallery owners.
The challenge
Traditionally, exhibitions occur at art galleries, mostly only by invitation to an exclusive group of people. Why is that the case? The objective to me in developing audart is to offer broadened community access to art events via the tour app without relying upon the physical art world.
The solution
The solution is to make exploring art galleries via audart accessible to everyone from everywhere. The user can visit all galleries at any place and time via remote access or virtually during a live showing. It aims to make it much easier to communicate with exhibitors and upcoming artists.
USER RESEARCH SUMMARY
I start with primary research from books, professional articles, or magazines, followed by a comparison check. Later, I looked at statistics to see how many audio tour apps there are currently offered and what they aim at. After looking at large and small competitors with different app interactions and visual design, I identified several opportunities, which were:
Offer users virtual visits to individual art galleries
Offer live and on-demand tours
Integrate audart with voice-assist technologies
Create a straightforward process for participating in art events
Make app available in multiple languages
In my research, 20 people were interviewed. My first assumptions in the study were not confirmed. Rather, the study indicated a change to my assumptions that contains important information for the user to make the idea more worthwhile.
COMPETITIVE AUDIT & REPORT
01
FINANCIAL
Visiting an art exhibition at a gallery at times only grants entry by invitation.
PAIN POINTS
02
PROCESS
The user notices that there is no option to view the artwork and learn about its context virtually.
03
PRODUCT
Stressful situations such as waiting in line for an admission ticket is frustrating. The user loves the art experience but has no time to attend.
04
PROCESS
It bothers the user that there is no outlet to share their thoughts with other art lovers after attending art events.
Discover art exhibitions in a different way, from home or anywhere else.
PERSONAS
As an Intern with strong ambitions and a growing art enthusiast, Ben wants easy access to international art exhibitions because he cannot afford traveling to exciting art shows.
Backstage
For digital wireframes, I require the welcome screen, including registration, to give users instant access to audio tours for the galleries with a set of basic steps.
NEXT STEPS
Follow through another usability study with gallerists to make improvements.
Identify any additional areas that require enhancements.
Conduct a usability study test on updated app version.
USABILITY STUDY
REFINING THE DESIGN
WIREFRAMES
During this process, I sketch out the individual screens of the app on paper while keeping an eye on clarity, navigation, and usability. Essential aspects such as the number of visual elements and text are already included in this phase as well.
Study details
Participants, length, location | 20 Participants, 15 minutes, Switzerland
Project Background
I am designing a new audio tour app for galleries that allows users to connect with art exhibitions and participate in audio tours. The main user experience, starting the tour, and contacting with exhibitors all contribute to an immensely enriching and enlightening user experience.
Research Questions
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How long does it take for user to start audio tour in the app?
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Can users find the exhibition or gallery they are looking for?
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What can be improved from the steps users took by finding the preferred tour?
TABLE OF CONTENT
Section 1 - Study details
Section 2 - Themes
Section 3 - Insights & recommendations
Themes
A
Most participants prefer a filtered audio tour recommendation since art tastes vary individually.
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14 out of 20 participants prefer a filter feature to narrow down pre-selected gallery tours.
“A list of suggested exhibitions would have been nice and would have cut down on the time spent after searching. I wondered why I was not asked in advance for my personal art trends at the registration.”
B
The attendants would like to switch back and forth from (a) start/play screen to (b) full-screen mode while the tour is playing.
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8 out of 20 participants had difficulties to change from page to page.
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5 participants tried to return from full screen mode by intuitively clicking on the top right screen.
“I love the enlarged screen, but I am confused why is there no option to go to the previous page back and forth? That's a pity.”
Insights & recommendations
Difficulties to access to tailored tours
In general users want to be asked upfront what art trends they prefer instead of searching in order to waste time.
Provide access to users with filtered audio tours. Therefore, three screens including the sign-up page show filters for selecting audio tours.
Trouble navigating from screen to screen
As soon as the audio tour starts, users want to decide individually whether to enable or disable full-screen mode depending on the artwork on display.
Include an arrow icon for full screen mode. Users who activate the full screen mode can easily get back to the play mode as they touch the screen. The arrow symbol appears in the upper center on the screen.
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
STICKER & COMPONENTS
The impact & what I learned
With quantitative data research, including number of downloads or sign-ups have a significant indication, I base my conclusion primarily on the qualitative interviews with a range of diverse participants. According to the results I have gathered, 80% of the participants already want to download the audio tour app as soon as it is available.
Usability studies are and remain the essential part of product development. This allows major adjustment steps in the development process to be refined and optimized. I also realized that the clean and modern structure of the app was very well received by the participants. This resulted in 15 out of 20 participants being able to access the audio tour without any difficulty.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Mapping Ben’s user journey reveals how helpful it would be for users to have access to an audio tour app to visit art exhibitions both live and on demand.
SITEMAP
For a solid and user-friendly app, it is crucial to define a well-planned sitemap. It is essential for the user to navigate the app efficiently. The app should be intuitive to use, and the simple site map clarifies the process.
DURATION
April-June 2022
8 weeks
ROLE
UX Designer, developing the audio tour app from ideation to creation.
RESPONSIBILITIES
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UX research
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Information Architecture
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Brand design
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Paper & digital wireframes
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Lo-fi & Hi-fi prototyping
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Mock ups
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Usability studies
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Accounting for accessibility
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Iteration on designs