GalleryPal
Mobile-device oriented product that focuses on improving the in-person viewing experience of museum-goers.
Google Ventures Design Sprint
UX / UI Design
3D Visual Design
Prototyping
Usability Analysis
Mobile App
The GV (Google Ventures) design sprint was born out of a need for a process that would allow companies to quickly produce and test ideas. In order to practice and hone my UX design abilities, I completed a modified GV Design sprint. A modified sprint still extends over five days and involves the same process, however, it is done solo. Thus, some of the tasks - such as presenting solutions and debating with a team, are relinquished in favor of evaluating and interacting ideas individually.
GalleryPal is a business that aims to provide increased customer satisfaction when viewing art in a gallery or museum setting.
They would like to develop a mobile device-oriented product that focuses on improving the in-person viewing experience of museum-goers.
My first reaction when reading this prompt was that I needed to identify what customer satisfaction is. Is it defined by overall happiness? A sense of wonder? Learning something new? In order to create an effective solution, this abstract concept needed to be clearly defined.
The goal of the solution is to improve the art-viewing experience through the use of a mobile device. While the product will direct users through on-screen interaction, the solution needs to be light-weight and unobtrusive, as using a mobile device may detract from the immersive experience of viewing art.
GalleryPal has taken me on as the Lead Designer. Whom was I leading…? Myself. Design sprint for one, please. I acted as a researcher, idea-maker, sketcher, prototyper, and usability tester. And they say unicorns don’t exist… 🦄
GalleryPal was kind enough to provide me with a number of user testimonials and an interview with Lena Carroll, an experienced tour guide at the Museum of Natural History in New York.
One quick reflection - I noticed when going through the research materials that it was difficult to not immediately think of solutions. It actually took a fair amount of effort to hold off, trust the process, and design for all - not for one.
I couldn’t resist the urge to jot all of the research on sticky notes and stick them on a wall. What’s design if you’re not having fun!? I thus created an affinity map to identify patterns in the current user experience.
I decided to ignore the “museum navigation” group from the MVP based on the design constraints and lack of desire in current museum-goers. Although navigation seems useful, most people seem to enjoy “getting lost” in the museum.
I then threw together a quick mind-map with the remaining groups to organize the content in a way that would be useful when I began sketching ideas.
Based on the research, it seemed to me like the biggest need is more context for the art while in the museum.
The ultimate goal, it seems, is to provide museum-goers with the information needed to form their own opinions and reflect on themselves.
A valuable museum experience should give a person a bigger perspective. It should change the way they look at the world, other art, and even themselves.
Thus, I have discovered what “increasing customer satisfaction” really means! With this in mind, I drew a journey-map of the customers’ path from wandering the corridors of a museum to gaining a new perspective on themselves.
In order to orient my design process, I devised the following questions. Funny enough, they each seem to answer their preceding question, leading me to the ultimate goal of the GalleryPal application:
Much like the experts at GV suggest, I started to dig through several existing products to find interactions that would inspire the GalleryPal experience. There are not many (or any..?) current art gallery products, so I looked at mostly indirect competitors.
Bird is a scooter rental company that employs a scanning function to activate a scooter. The scanning flow - using the camera or a code - is an effective way for the device to detect something, in our case, a piece of artwork.
Pinterest is a very popular social and content viewing app. They employ a scrolling panel design that would be very useful for displaying artwork. The floating navigation menu is also very easy to use while remaining light and helps to immerse the user in the content, not the interface. Lastly, I found the hub and spoke interaction very cool and immediately wanted to include something similar in my solution.
Snapchat is a popular photo-messaging application.With the camera function at the core of its interface, I was inspired by the way the app launches to the camera. This gets the user right to the purpose with no fluff. The full-screen camera image also gives a bigger scope (thanBird’s camera) and makes the phone feel transparent, pushing the users focus back to the artwork!
Robinhood is a finance app with a very aesthetically pleasing interface. I use this app all the time and have always loved the way they place buttons on the bevel of a tab or menu.
Based on my how-might-we questions, the most important screen in my solution is the one in which the user will learn about the artwork/artist. To brainstorm a bunch of possible options for this screen, I played a game of crazy 8s.
With my timer set for 8 minutes with 1-minute call-outs, I divided a sheet of paper into 8 boxes and prepared to sketch a different solution each minute.
This game is hard. After the few obvious solutions are out, I found I just needed to dump ideas out without evaluating them at all. No filter. This is the point. Without knowing it, we constantly evaluate our thoughts and act on the ones we deem best. But when you only have a minute, you don’t have time for that.
After evaluating my 8 designs, I decided to go with a variation of screen #7. I liked having an image (of either the artwork or the artist) to ensure the user always knows the context of the content. Being able to switch between artwork and artist pages would also minimize the amount of content on any screen and give the user easy access to the information they are curious about!
I also decided that as a general design aesthetic, I wanted the application to feel like an extension of the art gallery. Thus, the labels should look like gallery cards!
With this in mind, I drew a low fidelity storyboard of the artwork screen, the preceding camera screen, and the following artist screen.
I also imagined how some of the interactions would play out:
I also decided that the circular buttons in my sketches take up too much vertical space and opted for a rounded rectangle in future designs, similar to Robinhood’s buy button.
In a modified design sprint, rather than spending a day presenting solutions to a team, I created a wire flow of my idea to be used as a resource in the prototyping phase. I thus sketched out a series of screens and used Sketch to draw in the interactions.
I used Sketch to create a realistic facade of the GalleryPal app and Invision to bring the facade to life.
When working in Sketch, I was able to see how certain ideas actually looked, which led to some immediate updates and additional inspiration:
I want to draw particular attention to the scrolling interaction as certain prototype functionality was not possible due to constraints with Invision’s prototyping feature.
The artwork and artist buttons will stick to the header on scroll.
The final day of the design sprint focuses on testing the design.
I whipped up a quick usability test with the following goals:
1. Do users understand the function of the camera and artwork code?
2. Do users understand the function of the gallery page?
3. Does the navigation cause any confusion?
4. Do users enjoy the experience, would they use it in a gallery?
I recruited 5 participants from my network of fellow museum-goers. They are all frequent mobile app users and attend museums a few times per year. 2 of the interviews were done in person, the other 3 we’re done via Skype. I asked the Skype interviewees to record their screens as well, as this functionality is also not available in Invision (sorry Invision, you’re holding me back at this point).
All of the participants were able to navigate and understand the app easily, verifying that the interface is in fact very usable. Additionally, they all commented that they loved the aesthetic and would absolutely use the application.
A few patterns did arise, which users paused and had to think about what they were doing:
On the camera screen, the “snap” button is too subtle.
It looks cool but takes away from the immediate recognition of the button, which caused Trey to question the functionality.
Solution: redesign button to be similar to Snapchat - clear circle with no fill - would match the users' mental model for how a “launch-to-camera” app looks.
The 3 dots in the code space don’t give enough information.
It is not clear what this function does until a user receives the camera error, telling them to enter a code above.
Solution: change the text to say code instead of dots (light gray).
2 of 5 users thought the icon for the gallery page indicated their "saved artwork" rather than the art in the current room.
Solution: add “My Gallery” selection to the dropdown menu (at the top, with a separation to the list of rooms) - this will give context to the rooms and provide an option to review one’s favorite works!
Based on the results of the usability test, I am confident that my design sprint was a success!
The solution that I created will directly help users to understand the purpose, process, and context of the art by providing them with fact and easy access to information while also giving an option to avoid having the read through the content.
My usability test verified that the interface design achieves this functionality with very few issues.
Ultimately, implementing this solution will give museum-goers the necessary tools to pleasantly access the information necessary to feel a sense of appreciation, and develop an educated opinion on the artwork - which per my research will result in a growth in perspective about the work, the world, and even themselves. In the end, it is this gained perspective that creates value from the time spent at a museum - and thus, increases customer satisfaction.
I couldn’t sleep knowing there were evidence-based updates to my design that I did not implement. Thus, I give you the Mark II:
Phew! What a week. I see now why GV calls it a design SPRINT!
My biggest takeaway from this experience is that speed is a designer’s best friend. Moving quickly through a design process (while still doing the appropriate amount of work - that's important) gives us the ability to test many ideas with actual users and reduces the amount of over-thinking and self-validation, which can slow the process and negatively impact the resulting solution.
Looking back on it, I analyzed researched, brainstormed ideas, sketched solutions, and created a working prototype in a matter of days.
If my design is a success… I can quickly confirm that and move forward. If it was a total flop… I’ve barely lost any time!
I understand why this process was developed and how valuable it can be, especially in an agile development environment.
Next time I need to solve a problem, I’m going to do a sprint.
