Cultural Commons
Role:
Ux Researcher, Ux Designer
Methods Used:
Desk Research, Competitive Research, Directed Storytelling Interviews, Mid Fidelity Prototyping, Desirability Interviews, High Fidelity Storytelling, Usability Interviews, Reiteration of High Fidelity Prototyping
Problem
The existing arts patronage model is often heavily reliant on private donors as well as artists depending on city funding. This has become a problem, as over the years, the arts have lost this funding. This leaves many artists lacking support and opportunity. While there are many different avenues to find and support artists, there isn’t one that allows artists to share that support.
Opportunity
Our client, who is an artist himself, understands the frustrations artists are facing with the arts being defunded and wanted to create something to fix this problem.
He came to my group looking for help to research and create a product that would be built with the artist in mind by using an endowment to keep the money in the hands of the artists as well as QR codes for ease of payment. It would also be a platform in which community members would use to explore and find artists and events.
Our Goal
To create a minimum viable product of a mobile app that promotes equitable pay and increases accessibility, diversity and quality of public arts for the community and artists.
Research
With nothing else on the market like the product our client wanted to make, we needed to first get a better understanding of the problem space through researching how endowments and QR codes work, competitive analysis and directed storytelling.
We found that the app could include an endowment, but didn’t yet know how we would bring this into the flow of the app.
We also found that there are two types of QR codes: dynamic and static. Dynamic are more expensive, but track analytics, while static are good for sending users to a single site. For this app, we discovered a static QR code would work best, as an artist would be able to share their QR code with community members and receive tips.
Directed Storytelling
Through our directed storytelling interviews, in which we did 4, we learned that artists are frustrated with the lack of funding and opportunities. Artists rely on word-of-mouth, Instagram, Facebook and other social media to promote their work. This can be hard, as social media is so saturated. We also learned that community members do tend to use QR codes when they are out and see one and want to tip someone.
Competitive Analysis
To gather insights on what other apps are on the market that may have similar features to what Cultural Commons is looking for as well as inspiration, we conducted a competitive analysis.
A few apps we looked at were NextDoor, GoFundMe, Patreon Venmo, BetterWorld, National Endowments of the Arts, Jerome and McNight Foundations.
The ones we used as inspiration were NextDoor, GoFundMe, Patreon and Venmo.
Information Architecture Diagram
After our generative research, we realized how complex this app would be, as we need to keep two user groups in mind: community and artists.
We then used an Information Architecture Diagram to help us keep in mind the path of both users as they use the app.
Desirability Testing
Using mid fidelity prototypes, we conducted desirability testing with 4 users: 2 community members, 2 artists.
Through these desirability tests we were hoping to find out what features and functions would be most desirable.
Some key findings that we then brought into our high-fidelity prototypes were:
Community members wanted to be able to explore the app before being prompted to log in
The “liked events” icon on the navigation bar was desirable, as it’s a easy way to track what events they would like to go to
Under the liked events section, users wanted a past events tab where they can check previous events they have attended.
Community members wanted transparency regarding the endowment and funds allocation, as it will allow them to trust where their money is going.
Community Member View
Artist View
Artist View - does not yet have an account
High Fidelity Prototyping
Community View - already has account
Annotations
Alongside providing our client with high-fidelity prototypes of the app, we also provided him with a deck of our annotations. We annotated every page of the app so that as he moves forward with Cultural Commons, he can understand our rationale and pick up where we left off.
As an example, the first image to the left explains the purpose of the donation to the Cultural Commons page and how to use and navigate that page. The second image describes how a user of the app would put in their bank account or payment details.
Recommendations
As a group we found that if we had further time to work on Cultural Commons, a couple things we would want to build out are an artist being able to add their calendar within the Cultural Commons app to their personal calendar and developing a website presence so that administration has a platform to use. We also provided our client with a deck that explained our research and findings.
What I Learned
This was a really great project to work on, as I learned so much by working with this client. In our final meeting he said to my group “Thank you for bringing my vision to life.” This was such wonderful feedback to receive when sharing with a client their product that you have worked so hard on. I believe this app will be continued to work on and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for it!