GalleryPal
A mobile app that helps museum and art gallery visitors explore solo
Overview
Problem
Visitors to museums and art galleries lack simple, convenient ways of learning about the art on display. This frustrates them, because lack of knowledge prevents them from appreciating the art on a deeper level.
Solution
GalleryPal is a mobile app that helps users independently explore museums and art galleries and deepen their appreciation of art using unobtrusive learning methods.
Process
GalleryPal was born of a week-long creativity sprint. I received a pre-identified real-world problem to be solved with a mobile app, and I followed a logical design process resulting in a user-centered product ready to build.
Research
The Visitor Perspective
Some research had already been done before I started the project. I inherited a collection of interviews with visitors to museums and art galleries. Studying the interviews, I identified common themes, to pinpoint major needs to address with an app.
Visitor traits:
Enjoy art but want to appreciate it on a deeper level
Need context about art to reach a deeper appreciation
Are frustrated when there aren’t easy ways to get context
Mostly want to explore on their own, not in a tour group
“I like to form my own opinion about art, but it can be hard to do that when I don’t really know anything about the artist, or what their intentions were in creating the work.”
— Museum/Art Gallery Visitor
The Tour Guide Perspective
I also inherited an interview with a museum tour guide about her interactions with visitors, which offered further insights into visitors’ needs:
Visitors need expert guidance to appreciate art
Appreciating art involves forming personal connections with it
Forming personal connections with art can be highly fulfilling
“At the end of the day ... artwork is really meant to also sort of understand yourself in an interesting way.”
— Museum Tour Guide
User Persona
Using the insights I’d gained from the interviews, I developed a user persona.
The Budding Art Enthusiast
Young junior art director in New York City
Enjoys visiting museums by herself
Prefers newer exhibits to older ones
Prefers not researching art ahead of time
Needs a simple way of learning more about art on her own while in a museum so she makes the most of her visit
Inspiration
Considering how best to design an app to help the persona meet her need, I consulted other apps used for interacting with art. Three were especially relevant.
National Gallery of Art
Museum Map App
Facilitates exploration by orienting users in the building
Describes rooms and major works of art
Offers a list of “must see” art
Offers text and audio descriptions of art
Smartify
Art Identification App
Accesses the user’s camera to identify art
Offers interactive explorations of art
Offers a shop with items related to art
Daily Art
Art Learning App
Offers interactive explorations of art
Links to related or recommended art
Links to further reading related to art
Allows users to curate lists of favorite art
Design
Crazy Eights
I used the “crazy eights” technique to brainstorm eight very different ways to help the user persona. My sketches ranged from a practical, if dull, solution inspired by Wikipedia to a more fanciful one inspired on the augmented-reality game Pokémon GO.
Choosing a Direction
The solutions I’d generated varied in terms of creativity and practicality. I wanted to make an app that was engaging but could also readily be turned into a reality. I picked the solution that seemed most balanced and began sketching the major screens.
Storyboards
I needed to prepare a map of how users would progress through the app so I could understand the various screens and interactions I had to design.
Moodboard
I gathered imagery reflecting key ideas that the app should convey to users:
Self-directed enrichment
Self-reliance
Discovery
Friendly guidance
Imagery suggested muted colors and simple, unobtrusive visuals that wouldn’t overpower or compete with the art that the user was appreciating.
Interfaces
Prototype Screens
With the storyboards and moodboard in mind, I built an interactive prototype of the main app screens in Figma to test with potential users.
Map
A map of the museum/gallery, serving as a home screen
Features:
Building/floor selector
Search box
Buttons that reveal details and directions
“Locate me” button that centers the user’s location
Must See
A list of popular works of art in the museum/gallery
Features:
Building/floor selector that shows art by location
Search box
Buttons that open the map and show directions
Examine
An augmented-reality camera feed highlighting art directly in front of the user
Features
Transparent header with basic details
Transparent dialogue box with text
Colored outlines to focus attention
“Add to favorites” button
“Audio guide” button
Favorites
A list of works of art selected by the user to revisit later
Features
Building/floor selector that shows favorited art according to location
Search box
Buttons that expand sections to reveal a location button and links to literature and merchandise
Validation
Usability Tests
I recruited five people and gave them tasks to perform with the prototype. Some test subjects identified as veteran visitors of museums and art galleries, while others did not.
Findings:
Participants successfully completed all tasks, validating the design
Participants appreciated how the app facilitated access to information, and they requested even more access
Participants appreciated how they could curate a list of favorite works of art, and they requested additional ways of customizing the app
“Being able to have a guide like this in your own hands ups accessibility.”
— Test Subject
Prototype
Insights
A clear process is essential.
Particularly during a creativity sprint, a designer may feel pressured to show off their creativity or, fixating on the time crunch, default to whatever patterns come to mind first. Mapping out a design process keeps the designer focused on user needs.
The app itself isn’t the user’s goal.
It’s tempting to try to give an app an arresting aesthetic, especially when the app is related to art. But the point of most apps is to facilitate action in the real world. An app should give users what they need quickly, then let them return to the real world.
Familiar patterns help users.
For an app that’s meant to facilitate action in the real world, it’s important not to force users to learn new patterns unless it’s necessary. Incorporating existing patterns into a design can help users pick up an app and start using it straightaway.