Summary
Conducted modified five-day GV Design Sprint to design educational mobile application.
Brand
My Roles
UX Designer
UI Designer
Date
May 2020
Tags
MobileEducationEntertainment

Introduction:

In 2020, I conducted a modified five-day GV Design Sprint in partnership with GalleryPal. My goal was to design an educational mobile application that enhances the experience of viewing art in a museum. 

My Role:

I managed and executed each step of this project as an independent UX/UI Consultant.

Design Constraints:

The primary constraints of this project were a short time frame of only five days and the technical constraints of designing exclusively for a mobile app or mobile-optimized website.

The Problem:

User interviews revealed that users wanted a way to quickly learn information about an artist or artwork while in a museum, in an intuitive engaging experience.

The Solution:

I chose to design a simple, easy to use mobile application that quickly provides users relevant information through an immersive UI filled with brief audio and text guide options.

Methodology: GV Design Sprint

Day 1: Map

Understanding the user’s desire to quickly learn information about artists and artwork,  I first mapped out a possible end-to-end user experience to identify the context the user would likely interact with the product.

Ideation: End-to-end user experience

Day 2: Sketch

With a general user journey in mind, I began researching other products for inspiration. I drew inspiration from products such as Netflix, Apple Music, and Zillow. I sketched out potential solutions that could solve the users problem.

Quick sketches of potential solutions

Day 3: Choose Solution

I chose a design that would draw users in with immersive imagery while providing relevant information through brief audio and text guides. I then drew a storyboard to map out each screen that would be included in my prototype.

Prototype storyboard for chosen solution

Day 4: Create Prototype

As I began designing prototype screens, I was inspired by the minimal interfaces of Netflix and Apple Music. These interfaces fully utilize immersive imagery to connect with the user.
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Since the entire experience would be based around the story behind the art, I decided it was important to keep layouts simple and “let the art do the talking”.

Day 5: Test

I interviewed 5 users from a variety of ages and backgrounds, all of whom expressed interest in using this product while at a museum.
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As I conducted the interviews 3 findings became apparent.

  1. Users tended to search for artists and pieces of art more than museums.
  2. In an effort to reduce cognitive load, only show users what they need to see when they need to see it. For instance, give the ability to hide/show text guide.
  3. Provide white space between images/text and utilize vertical and horizontal scrolling where appropriate.
Final High Fidelity Prototype Example Screens

Results: Goals Achieved & Lessons Learned

Overall, modified five-day GV Design Sprint was a really valuable experience. I learned how to quickly identify a user problem, generate potential solution ideas, and test/refine those solutions with users firsthand. As someone who often can get caught up in the pixel-perfect details of a design, I grew by learning the value of getting a testable solution in the user's hands as quickly as possible.