The ArtiBIO Artists' App

Project Overview

The ArtiBIO is an artist app featuring artists’ biographies and stats, event information, and tickets purchase options.

The problem:

Users are generally busy with their jobs and social responsibilities and need access to on-the-go information about artists and their performance events so that they can quickly purchase tickets to these events, as well as sharing artists’ information with friends.

The goal:

The Artists’ Bio App will let users access artist information and stats which will serve users who want to attend cultural events by providing links to the artists’ bios, event listings, and tickets purchased. We will measure effectiveness by tracking the number of artists clicked and tickets purchased.

My role & responsibilities:

Lead UX designer & UX researcher, responsible for user research and analysis, sketching, wireframing, lo-fi and hi-fi prototyping, concepting and design execution.

____________________________

User Research

I conducted live interviews with 6 users and created empathy maps to understand their perspectives and needs. A primary user group identified through research are young urban professionals who are passionate about their city’s arts and culture program. They all have a difficult time coordinating their schedule with the scheduled arts events.

This user group confirmed initial assumptions about young cultural events participants. Further research revealed that the frustrations encountered were not limited to scheduling, but also included experiences such as cumbersome ticket-purchasing processes and information overload.

____________________________

Pain Points

1 Scheduling

One-time events are difficult to fit into the participants' schedule, which leads to their missing out on
the show.

2 Information Overload

Online event information is often too complicated and dense to read.

3 Accessibility

Online content is not optimized for event participants with visual impairment.

4 Purchase Process

Getting tickets online or via the app is cumbersome to process.

Interested event goers sometimes give up purchasing tickets.

____________________________

Personas

Persona 1: Lourdes Samar

Problem statement:

Lourdes is a busy writer at a media agency who needs to access online, on-the-go information about cultural events and participating artists, because she needs to continually work on her book to meet her tight deadline.

User Journey Map: Lourdes Samar

Lourdes' pain points:

One of Lourdes’ pain points is having guaranteed Wi-Fi access at events, clearly an area of improvement.

Also, Lourdes would greatly benefit from having large text and short text fields, as she gets overwhelmed by dense content.

Persona 2: Ben Lim

Problem statement:

Ben is a visually impaired high school science teacher who needs optimized app access to purchase event tickets because he does not want to miss out on learning about the art and artists, and share his learnings with his students.

User Journey Map: Ben Lim

Ben' pain points:

Although Ben is able to reach his intended goal to purchase tickets online, there are multiple improvement opportunities that can help Ben with his visual impairment.

____________________________

From paper wireframes to lo-fi mockups

Paper wireframes

5 different screens were sketched to select the best user-friendly components, such as the bottom nav bar with the star and upload button, or the ‘Featured Artist’ component. Priority was given to the artists’ bios as content entry point.

____________________________

Lo-fi wireframe mockups

Based on user research, information on the artists is needed quickly. In this initial design phase, I made sure that the search bar features prominently, and that the homepage has the list of the artists accessible.

The featured artist page links from the artist’s home page icon. It displays all relevant biographical information, as well as the artist’s event listings. The content is made shareable.

Home screen

Event information screen

Artist's bio screen

____________________________

Lo-fi prototype

Users can navigate from images on the homepage to the individual bio pages, and also via the bottom navigation.

Access the lo-fi prototype in Figma

____________________________

Findings based on 2 rounds of usability studies

5 participants were asked to complete 4 prompts & tasks. These findings represent insights gathered from the
4 prompts from each participant, creating an affinity map, as well as pattern and insight identification lists.

Round 1 findings

Users need a better understanding of the ‘favorite’ star’s functionality
Users need larger screen type for legibility
Users need clarification of section headers
Users look for more content by scrolling, not tapping

Round 2 findings

Users need a ticket purchase listing
Users want a text-sharing feature, not email sharing
Users want larger type, especially in labels
Users want simpler content

See the full usability study

____________________________

From lo-fi mockups to hi-fi

Home screen

From the mid-fi design to hi-fi, the design was iterated in the following areas:

Top nav bar (global)
Bottom nav bar (global)
Search bar (global)
Subheads
Highlight feature
Event feature

Charlie Song bio screen

From the mid-fi design to hi-fi, the design was iterated in the following areas:

Back button
Clarity of content
Events listing

Favorite artists screen

From the mid-fi design to hi-fi, the design was iterated in the following areas:

Highlight feature
Clarity of content

Additional hi-fi screens: Geotagger event feature

____________________________

Hi-fi prototype

Users can have options via the homepage images, the bottom navigation bar, or the hamburger menu overlay.

Access the hi-fi prototype in Figma

____________________________

Accessibility

Users can have options via the homepage images, the bottom navigation bar, or the hamburger menu overlay.

Copy content was made shorter and easier to read. Therefore, the text could get made larger with more white space around it.

Buttons were simplified to allow for a more user-friendly flow, especially in the ‘share’ feature.

Icons replaced text where an action is desired. The usability study 2 confirmed the users’ preference of icons over text buttons.

____________________________

Key takeways

Impact:

Users like a visual narrative associated with artists and are comfortable with an image-based content flow. In general, when content is well-defined by icons and not overwhelming, actions are followed through with greater ease.

What I learned:

Users want to scroll through content quickly. They want to complete the action of purchasing tickets with ease
Users need listings of past purchases and confirmation that their actions were implemented
Users feel at ease with images

"This artist’s image is interesting enough for me to want to know more about her."

____________________________

Access the full case study for the ArtiBIO app

____________________________

Thank you.