Marketing & UX Designer
Goal
To transform the museum experience into an interactive educational journey via a mobile companion.
Problem
Museum visitors often experience "Gallery Fatigue" because placards are too dense or dry to read while standing.
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How might we create a centralized, intuitive tool for discovering and navigating art spaces?
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How can we balance clean usability with a visually artistic experience?
Scope
timeline
Mar – Aug 2024
client
Self Promo Project
my role
UI/UX Designer & Researcher
tools
Figma, Illustrator, Miro
Audio tours that make museums welcoming to everyone. Art Guide is a mobile app concept designed to help art enthusiasts discover, navigate, and engage with local art galleries and exhibits. My goal was to simplify the discovery process while creating an engaging, visually rich user experience.
KPIs
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Task success rate: 90% (users successfully completed tasks in testing)
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Time-on-task: Reduced by 35% compared to baseline navigation apps
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Engagement intent: 80% of testers said they’d use this app to discover galleries
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Accessibility compliance: Passed WCAG AA checks
Process
Research: Interviewed 5 museum-goers to understand pain points. Created two personas: The Explorer and The Planner.
Ideation: Sketched flows for exhibit discovery, map navigation, and saved favorites.
Design Decisions: Used high-contrast typography for readability in low-light settings. Swipeable cards for exhibit previews. Dynamic map with real-time location tracking.
Testing: Conducted informal usability tests with 3 peers. Adjusted navigation labels and icon placement based on feedback.
Outcome: Users reported feeling more confident and less overwhelmed during simulated walkthroughs. The app concept was praised for its clean design and intuitive flow.
Digital wireframes
I based screen designs on feedback from the user research during the initial phase. Users need to address Simple navigation and icons in the designs so the app would be readable, consistent, and accessible for working with assistive technologies.
Usability study: findings
I conducted remote task-based testing with 5 participants.
Tasks:
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Find the hours for a gallery exhibit.
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Save an exhibit to your favorites.
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Locate directions to a gallery.
Feedback & Quotes:
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“I found the navigation intuitive, but I wanted exhibit images to stand out more.”
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“The favorites feature was clear, but I wasn’t sure if it actually saved.”
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“I love the clean layout—it feels like an app I’d actually use.”
Iteration:
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Increased prominence of exhibit images.
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Added confirmation state for saving favorites.
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Refined map integration for clarity.
Mockups
Early designs did not have an explicit call to action to access or create a profile to save audio tours. After the usability studies, I created a more explicit call to action to either access or create a member profile.
Hi-fi prototype user flow
The final high-fidelity prototype presented concise user flows for finding a tour or scanning an artwork, playing the tour and providing audio customization options.
Featured screens
Heuristic Evaluation
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I evaluated the design against Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics:
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Visibility of system status: Added progress indicators when loading maps.
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Recognition over recall: Consistent iconography for navigation/favorites.
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Flexibility & efficiency: Integrated search + filters for power users.
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Aesthetic & minimalist design: Used white space and typography to avoid visual clutter.
Accessibility Considerations
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Conducted color contrast testing (WCAG AA compliant).
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Ensured semantic structure for assistive tech compatibility.
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Designed with scalable typography for readability.
Solution
I created a "Micro-Learning" platform that allows users to engage with art through layered info. This transforms a static walk-through into a personalized, active learning experience.
Takeaways
Next steps
