ART120
The Art120 app transforms creative marketing and garners a growing connection between local artists and city residents. Residents can discover art happenings and plan routes to the events, and creatives can advertise their events to reach broader audiences without fees.
[My Role]
Sole Designer & Researcher
[Platforms]
IOS & Android
[Areas]
Events, Marketing, Accessibility
PROJECT OVERVIEW
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Increasing outreach and accessibility for local artists by providing a platform to market themselves/their events (especially free events) without fees.
Give local residents the ability to discover creative happenings in their area, to encourage connection and participation in the community.
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I was responsible for conducting initial primary and secondary research as well as designing a UI sample. This was a short-term project and user testing was not conducted.
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6 weeks
Who is art120?
Art120 is a nonprofit that collaborates within a 120-mile radius of Chattanooga (including the cities of Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, and Knoxville) to bring art off the walls and into classrooms and communities through education, curation, and events.
“As an organization that has a diverse array of programming to serve our community's creative ecosystem, Ivan had to be flexible and willing to take on a variety of roles. Any company will be fortunate to have Ivan on their team."
- Kathryn W. | Art120 Founder
Why art events?
Despite Chattanooga already having a more involved and bustling local art scene than other small cities, finding events is a time-consuming task for many, especially those not highly involved in the art environment. Art enthusiasts, younger individuals looking for things to do in town, or people traveling from other cities would benefit from a more accessible event platform. Additionally, local artists would benefit from a platform specifically revolving around art, so they can market their events and gain access to a broader audience.
the us holds -42%- of the global art market
yet only -23%- of the us population attends art exhibits at least once a year
[01] research
WHO ARE THE target users?
what’s lacking with other platforms?
There are few direct competitors to the concept that Art120 wants to accomplish. Therefore I looked at various websites/apps that provide similar concepts that may lead to insights on useful features.
[Competitive Analysis]
Glasstire
Galleries have their own profiles
Separated by city
[Useful Features]
Limited scope of content
Only one picture per article
Mostly revolves around art galleries
Is not designed to find events quickly or get tickets
Does not link to artist’s websites, only to the gallery hosting the artist.
Galleries have their own profiles
[Lacking Features]
Artcloud
Can join the desired gallery newsletter straight from Artcloud profile
Gallery pages link to its artist’s profiles, & to upcoming events
The site includes galleries from across the US
[Useful Features]
No search filters for events
Focused on selling art rather than creative events
[Lacking Features]
ArtRabbit
Website link & categories are at the bottom of the event page
You can favorite events or artists
[Useful Features]
No filters to narrow searches
Limited locations/ few events
The map is not very interactive
Can only view certain dates
Have to manually change location to view other cities
Glitchy and underdeveloped UI
[Lacking Features]
EventBrite
Users can follow creators
Refund policy is listed on event page
Event pages show related events
[Useful Features]
Map is not interactive
Banners and marketing posters get cut off in the layout
Finding an event can take a while
The price is not listed when searching for events
Search filters do not work correctly
Promoted events get featured more leading to less access for smaller businesses/artists
[Lacking Features]
Understanding the community…
Conducting a user survey through Qualtrics led to a better understanding of users’ event-seeking behaviors and possible frustrations about existing event services. The majority of respondents showed an interest in attending more events and wanting a more convenient experience while finding events and planning trips.
On the right are some of the questions included in the survey.
[User survey - 47 respondents]
What did I learn from Interviewees?
[Insight]
Social media is an important tool for smaller artists to gain an audience freely and more accessibly. However, social media is not as easy to market events on, especially small local happenings.
-> Accessability to novices is important; prioritize creating a straightforward and equal platform that beginners can utilize.
[Insight]
Event platforms can be less accessible for certain communities or prioritize sponsored events because of algorithms and business strategy.
-> The algorithmic model of Art120 would be different to prioritize connectability between local artists and their desired audience bases.
[Insight]
Reaching out to new audiences is difficult, and building a personal touch with existing event platforms is almost nonexistent.
-> let creatives make profiles that are highly customizable and double as a way to network/connect with others.
Primary User Goals/Needs
ART120 event platform will change the way locals and creatives connect by -innovating event searching/planning- and increasing -accessibility and customization- for creative marketing.
[02] solution
What makes art120 unique?
Art120 connects locals with the art community using a map and specialized search filters to explore events faster than any other platform. Art120 also aids creatives in the utilization of customizable profiles to help them get noticed and get connected with the locals and the creative community. No other platforms prioritize local artists and create an even playing field for communities to build real connections and get more involvement from locals.
1] Visualized event exploration & planning for day trips
2] Optimized search filters
3] Customizable profiles and event pages
[01] Visual exploration
Many people are visual and prefer to see rather than read, because of this, a map-based method of exploration was chosen for the main page. Locals will use the map page to filter by date and time to see what events are happening nearby, as it’s often inconvenient to find out after searching that the event is too far away or doesn’t fit with your schedule. Searching from the map also lets users visualize which events they can hit in the same timeframe. This also solidifies to users where the creative event spaces are located so they’re more likely to venture out into their city and return to those spaces.
[Visual trip planning - extensive filters]
[02] Personalized Connection
Many of the creatives we interviewed expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of customization on event platforms like Eventbrite, stating that images had to be a certain size and crop. Art120 gives creatives customizable profiles and event pages that fit a range of image sizes and lets creatives show their work through an optional gallery section. Event pages feature a sliding image gallery and link to the profiles of the artists/organizations that are involved with the event. Tickets are not sold directly through the platform but Art120 allows orgs/artists to link to their websites.
[Dynamic and Customizable Profiles/Event Pages]
[03] reflection
What’s next?
It’s Art120’s goal to continue to develop this platform and use this UIUX sample to aid in gathering further funding. This sample is a short glimpse into the next step of Art120’s mission, and I was grateful to help their team formulate ideas, build this sample, and explore the possibilities of UIUX in furthering their impact. I had an incredible experience working with Art120 in Chattanooga and getting involved with the thriving creative community there.
