Connecting artists of Sunnyvale, CA.
My Role: Research, UX and UI
Sunnyvale Art Club (SAC) is a non-profit educational organization serving the local art community. The members meet every 3rd Thursday of the month at the Sunnyvale Community Center. SAC hosts monthly contests, professional art demos and provides a platform for the artists of the Bay area to connect with each other.
They also provide the opportunity to members to show their art in public local venues and annual art shows.
Redesign the Sunnyvale Art Club Website.
This was my Capstone Project while I was studying User Experience and Web Design at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Silicon Valley Extension) in 2018.
Research, UX and UI Design. I was the sole designer in this project.
3 months (July 2018 - Sep 2018), Refined Oct 2019
1. The website looked outdated thus diminishing the credibility of the organization.
2. Information architecture did not align with the user goals.
3. The existing members had no motivation to visit the website.
4. The website does not reflect the organization’s core values such as being supportive, friendly and educational.
1. I identified the user’s primary and secondary goals so that I could plan the content and the Information hierarchy.
2. I designed the website focusing on the target audience. I moved the information about the ‘Next Meeting’ from the 'Contact Us' page to the 'Landing page' so that the new members can scan through the details with ease.
3. To increase user engagement, I added interesting sections such as -
- Featured Artist of the month on the landing page
- Events page showing current, upcoming and past art events
- Downloadable E-Newsletter for members with content that provides value
- Search Artists by their work category (eg: Watercolors, Oils....etc)
1. I had to work on the branding part as well because the website was not leaving the users with a memorable impression to talk about the SAC community and the website. To build trust in the new potential users who are mainly artists, it was quintessential to have a great UI design too.
2. The target audience belongs to age groups ranging from 28 - 75. So, I planned to create a look which is a blend of modern and classic.
I worked with the users to get their feedback in all the phases such as Ideation, Wireframing, Testing and Prototyping.
To understand user behaviors and their attitude, I created empathy maps and learnt more information about them. I was exploring what the users say, do, think and feel.
I collaborated with the members of the Sunnyvale Art Club to organize my ideas and data. All this information helped me to compile my User Goals.
I was also constantly sketching and refining my ideas based on all the data collected. Here are some of the sketches of my process.
Being a member of Sunnyvale Art Club since 2014, I had many connections already. We had monthly meetings where we met the Sunnyvale Art Club members in-person. That helped me greatly to reach out to the target users. To maximize my understanding of the user problems, I conducted In - person Interviews, phone interviews and also did a survey. The whole purpose of my research was to gather data and compile the information to define my User Goals.
Local Artists and art lovers in the Bay area. They belong to the age group between 28 to 75.
After interviewing artists of different age groups, my notebook was filled with conversation notes and observations. Every person was little different from each other. So, I created User Personas to help me to prioritize the salient features and also to de-emphasize things that are not significant.
Based on all the research findings, I could refine my User Goals. Now, I knew what I need to achieve to make this website work successfully from the user perspective.
1. To find information about
- The Next Meeting
- Artists
- Gallery of artwork of the local artists
2. To signup and become a member of the Sunnyvale Art Club.
3. To understand the formal elements of art through art analysis and develop competency to develop their art career.
After churning all the data and discussing with the members, I created this sitemap.
Once my sitemap was ready, I started Wireframing. I sketched with pencil on paper first and then transitioned to medium fidelity wireframe using Adobe XD.
Landing Page
Artists Directory Page
Events Page
About Page
Contact Us Page
Being an artist myself, I understand the power of colors. Colors can evoke both positive and negative emotions. It is super important to choose the right colors. I experimented with various color palettes and finally settled on this one.
I created this style guide to ensure that the design is consistent.
I tested the low fidelity screens with the users to understand if I was moving in the right direction to achieve my user goals.
I gave this document (as seen below) to 10 target users. I got great insights from their feedback. It helped me take apt design decisions.
Sunnyvale Art Club Website Redesign (Testing)
Intro:
I’m redesigning the Sunnyvale Art Club website as a part of my Capstone Project at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC - Silicon Valley Campus). I would like to gather some feedback from you so that I can improve on the design.
I’m not testing your skills and ability to use this website. Kindly let me know if you find anything confusing. I will get an idea which section needs improvement.
This is also a prototype with limited functionality, so not all things may work. My goal is to illustrate the main features of the website.
If you think any area of this new design does not make sense, let me know. Also, if you want something to be included, please make a note of that too.
Tasks:
1. View the prototype and evaluate if the information is prioritized appropriately as per the users (members of SAC) requirements.
2. Do you find the information about your next meeting at a glance?
3. Is the gallery page easy to use or complicated?
Follow-up Questions:
1. Overall from 1 to 10 how much do you rate the new design?
2. Were you able to find all the information you wanted to find?
3. Do you like the new features such as -
a. Artist of the month on the landing page
b. Events Calendar?
4. Do you find any important functionality or more missing that would otherwise help you with your overall experience with SAC website?
5. How do you feel about the downloadable e- newsletter on the website with access to past issues too?
I shared the prototype with 10 users via Invision. I got their valuable feedback and made the necessary changes.
Here are some screenshots from Invision showing user comments.
All the artboards were uploaded to Zeplin to get pexel perfect information so that the development phase is hassle free.
I have included both before and after images just to give you an idea of how the website has transformed in the course of 12 weeks. This is the fruit of my effort. It was possible because of the active participation of everyone who provided me with relevant information.
Follow the link below to view the clickable prototype.
THANKS FOR VIEWING
