[ Project Overview ]
The Product : We’re creating a new app to experience the life of a New Yorker for tourists. Some New Yorker's are visiting art galleries in the city. Also, New York City is well known for its art. So many varieties of artworks visitors can see not only museums but also art galleries. This app can help to find favorite galleries, showing the location and tell a detail of the exhibition smoothly.
The Problem : The art gallery is often not the first choice to visit for most tourists. (Most tourists who come to NYC always visit famous crowded sightseeing places. On the other hand, select tourists want to experience local authentic New Yorker's life during their trip)
The goal : Design an app for the NYC tourists to discover and experience local New Yorker's life.
[ UNDERSTANDING THE USERS ]
User Research Summary : I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand users. I am designing for their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who are looking for special experience in NYC.
Persona 01: Poul
Poul is a tourist who needs to know which and when each gallery opens because his visiting is limited.
Persona 02 : Michael
Michael is an artist who needs to discover new galleries because she has already visited famous one.
[ STARTING THE DESIGN ]
Paper wireframes
Making a draft on the paper for visualizaing app images quickly. The red stars indicate important points, such as tutorial, slide bar, icons, one-click filter, and "find near me" button.
Low-fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype is made in a grayscale and simple design. The dark pages shown in the first row are tutorial pages.
[ REFINING THE DESIGN ]
High-fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype incorporates selective color and uses real photographs.
[ GOING FORWARD ]
Impact : Most Interviewers loved the function of automatically-pinned liked gallery integrated into Google Map. It seems useful for many users. A comment from peer feedback: "I mostly use Google map during my trips, so it is nice that the gallery is pinned on the Google map.”
What I learned : I have to consider what kind of content to show on the "about NYC art" page. Some interviewers were interested in what was written on that page. The big challenge is finding out how we can make tourists want to download this app before or during their trip. I need to do research on where to show and how to reach this app to NYC tourists effectively.
