UX Case Study | 2021

Josie

Rotate Watches

Ramble

Gallery Pal

Munari Cycles

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About the Project

Gallery Pal was a personal/hypothetical project I undertook to practice working within the framework of a typical Google Venture-type sprint.

Over a 5-day period, I worked through a highly condensed design process to create a prototype for Gallery Pal, an app aimed at improving the in-person experience of viewing art in a museum or gallery.

The Problem

My goal with this project was to provide museum goers with the information they would need to enhance their visit, as well as to facilitate a flexible experience that works within the context of a museum or gallery and leverages the institution’s unique qualities and collections.

Competitive Analysis

I found that Google Arts & Culture and Artsy both have apps which boast compelling UI and features similar to what my app would include. It was clear, however, that these two apps were designed to facilitate a virtual/at-home experience, not the in-person one that I needed to create.

Another competitor, Smartify, was closely related to what I had envisioned– a mobile app that uses your phone’s camera to identify art and pull up info about it. Through testing though, I found that the app had trouble recognizing some of the artwork I scanned, and the works that were identified either didn't feature any information at all or had excessively long paragraphs of details that felt like reading a wikipedia article (and would be difficult to absorb while walking around a gallery).

The Process

I wanted to focus on the artwork profile page as my Critical Screen. It needed to be concise, informative, and encourage further exploration.

Unlike similar apps, Gallery Pal’s user flow would begin by asking users to select the specific museum or gallery they’re visiting. By partnering with the art institutions featured in the app, Gallery Pal could provide a tailored experience for each. Doing so would come with a number of benefits including hyper-accurate art identification, up-to-date museum-quality information on each piece, and collection-specific browsing.

Once the user selects their museum, the camera feature opens, and directional text at the top of the screen provides status feedback. This screen also allows users to switch from Scan to Search mode, where artwork can be looked up by artist, title, reference number, or collection.

Situational Context

Designing a simple and intuitive navigation for the app was critical in preserving the integrity of the in-person experience, helping users explore the physical space of a gallery or museum. User testing confirmed the effectiveness of the architecture, as well as the transitions used between screens.

Critical Screens

Another priority in testing was to assess the effectiveness of the art profile pages. This involved asking users to locate specific information, toggle between the What/Why sections of the description, save the work for later, and rationalize what they were experiencing.

While the feedback validated my design, one important change that came from it was deciding to separate the collection title from the artwork’s title and the artist’s name by placing the artwork image between these sections..

Promoting Exploration

To encourage continuous exploration, I knew I needed to provide users with the ability to quickly scroll through connected works (such as works within a specific collection or room). This influenced my decision to have each artwork’s profile live on its own card, grouped within a horizontal string of related cards.

When an artwork’s card initially populates from a scan or search its two adjacent cards will appear at the edges of the screen, indicating the ability to scroll horizontally between cards. However, as the user begins to scroll vertically through a card, the card will expand to cover the entire screen, allowing the user to focus on only the relevant information.

Leif Morton

PRODUCT DESIGNER | NYC