UX CASE STUDY:
Ordering Art
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Role: Lead UX Designer
Responsibilities: Competitive auditing, ideating, paper and digital wireframing, prototyping, reallocating features to adapt to various screen sizes.
Duration: April 2023 - May 2023
Tools: Figma, Autodesk Sketchbook, Canva
The product: Since I was able to select my own prompt for the "responsive web design" project, I chose to design what would be a hub for viewing my gallery, purchasing my art, or placing an order for a custom drawing in the themes I offer.
The problem: The process is complicated and the pricing and timeline are unpredictable for users who want to buy art or requesting custom pieces from a local artist.
The goal: Design a website that hosts a simple, streamlined, and predictable ordering process, and make it easy to navigate across various screen sizes.
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
User research: I created personas and user stories loosely based on clients I have had in the past to more deeply understand their needs and consider their pain points.
Pain Points:
Accessibility
Currently the artist can only be reached for inquiry via Instagram, which excludes users who do not have an Instagram account.
Timing
There is currently no indicator of how long it might take for a drawing to be completed, which makes it challenging to plan if wanting to order art as a gift for a special occasion.
Pricing
Knowing the pricing for different types of pieces up front is important for deciding what to order, but is unclear on the artist's Instagram account.
Persona #1
User Story: "As an art lover and socialite, I want and easy and predictable process for ordering custom art pieces so I can plan my gifts for family and friends without hassle or surprises."
Problem Statement: Sherry is a retiree with a critical eye who needs a website to easily request custom drawings from her favorite artist so she knows the details ahead of time and can confidently plan her gifts for friends and family.
Persona #2
User Story: "As a young bachelor with a limited budget, I want to know what affordable custom art options
are available to me as I consider decorating my new apartment so I can think on what would look good with my existing furniture and stay within my budget."
Problem Statement: Greg is a construction worker with a limited budget who needs his favorite artist to have a website that will show him his custom-art options and prices so he can consider what is available before committing and know what would be within his budget.
STARTING THE DESIGN
Crazy Eights & Sitemap
I began the ideation process with the "Crazy 8's" design sprint method. After some further refining, I then determined the site's information hierarchy by creating a sitemap.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes:
Based on the sitemap, I built low-fidelity wireframes for both the desktop site and the mobile site.
Brand Kit
For this project, I used Canva's "Brand Hub" to determine and collect my design's branding guidelines. I based the colors off of a self-portrait drawing that I use as the avatar for all of my current art profiles.
High-Fidelity Wireframes:
Using the lo-fi wireframes and branding kit, I made high-fidelity wireframes for the desktop view, mobile view, and for a tablet view.
Desktop View
Mobile View
Tablet View
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
View the high-fidelity prototypes for the desktop view, the mobile view, and the tablet view of the art website.
Next Steps: My next steps would include conducting usability studies to identify any existing pain points, use those findings to make an affinity map and draw insights, and further iterating on the design based on those insights.