Project Summary

Context

At its core the 'Art History App' is an easy to use way for museum and gallery visitors to access rich information on art and exhibits through computer vision and image recognition. 'Art History App' expands on and off site experiences by acting as a platform by providing additional features such as site hours and info, accessibility info, event calendars, maps, ticket processing and more in a single package.

Problem

Museums and galleries are more popular than ever but information delivery systems are usually outdated and can be difficult to access and locate especially when there is a crowd.

Solution

Create an easy to use app that utilizes computer vision and image recognition to allow visitors to point their phone at an exhibit and immediately get information on it, while developing with accessibility in mind to provide options for the visually impaired.

User Personas

Name

Goal Statement

Pain Point

John, 28

Software Developer

Wants a more modern art museum experience to quickly get information on specific pieces.

Difficulty quickly discovering pieces they would be interested in seeing in person.

Francis, 35

School Teacher

Needs a way to access information on art pieces quickly and save or bookmark them for lesson planning.

It's difficult to bring information on art back to the classroom without writing notes or taking pictures.

Jacob, 21

Student

Needs a way to plan what they want to see at the museum ahead of time.

Information placards are often limited in what information they convey.

Images by pikisuperstar at freepik.com

Ideation

Initial Concepts

The core idea for the initial brainstorming was that the app would be primarily camera focused with additional features always a tap away. Inspiration was taken from apps like Snapchat, Camera apps and my experience working in Augmented reality to design navbar that communicates those goals and is (mostly) available at all times.

A drawing of the main user experience flow for the art history app. It showcases all of the various screens with notes and connections.

User Testing Results

Usability Studies

Multiple rounds of moderated, task driven usability studies were conducted. Participants were given a number of tasks to complete within a core user flow, once completed were asked a number or questions ranging from their experience with the user interface, points of frustration and if there are features that they think are important that are missing in the design.

Usability Problem

Participants were spending a lot of time on the home page due to there being too much information.

Usability Problem

Many participants were overwhelmed by the amount of options in the user interface.

Usability Success

Most of the participants were able to complete tasks regarding core functionality on the first round of testing.

Key Performance Indicators

In addition to task completion and open-ended questionnaires, user success was measured using KPI's and data collected through Maze's prototype testing platform.

Time on Task

User Error Rates

Drop-off Rates

System Usability Scale

Conclusions

Through user testing I was able to gain valuable insight into users needs and make improvements to designs that would not have been visible otherwise. The core user experience was proven and with this data future secondary features and further development will be more informed and successful.

This being my first project in the program I was amazed by the results of testing and excited by how impactful research and usability studies can be. I am excited to use what I have learned here in future projects.

Final Design

Mobile App Mockup

The user interface went through a series of changes reorganizing information and only displaying what is necessary for each page.

The main interactive color for main function buttons is yellow with content buttons in the form of full image tiles. The navbar is always persistent across all screens as an escape hatch or way to quickly jump between inter-related sections of the app.