Easel
This is Easel, a new and free way to sell and purchase art and antiquities.
It started with a challenge
The prompt I chose in the first challenge was designing an art gallery auction app. This prompt was a good start for me as I have a background in running an art gallery/museum.
Time to scope out the competition
It is time to discover who and what the competitors were doing with their products. This allows me to find their strengths and weaknesses to help get an idea of who I’m up against. The competitors were Sotheby’s Auctions, Bonhams Auctions, Etsy, and Facebook Marketplace.
After completing a competitive audit, I found that three of the four apps have the same navigational features like a bottom navigation bar, a homepage with easy access to other pages in the app, and keeping the user at ease when participating in an auction or a purchase.
In the shoes of the user
To understand how to bring a product to market, you must think like the consumer. Building personas is an excellent way for me to figure out who the consumer is. Here, I created a persona, Lisa Johnson. Looking at the goal from Lisa’s perspective allowed me to hone in on my goal to complete the challenge.
Time for a little sketch and wireframe sesh
After gathering an idea of what I needed to build, it was time to get it out on paper and into Figma for development.
Sketch
Wireframe
With my sketches and wireframes, I used the data from my research to influence my design. I wanted to keep this simple and recognizable by having a home page and a bottom navigation bar. All features users understand and are comfortable with.
Building up to a low-fi prototype
Once the wireframe was built, I now had a clear path to follow to beat the challenge.
In the low-fi prototype, I started to polish elements in the design, like the carousel on the homepage and the feed section on the homepage. I added circular menus when needed like scheduling an auction or getting to the help, settings, payment, or sharing pages. Then I added functionality to the prototype to allow the user to navigate around the app and gain an early experience.
To check out the lo-fi prototype in action here is a link:
https://www.figma.com/proto/qlz1YZEjOHxhZKYnM0dbma/Art-Auction-App-Low-Fidelity-Prototype-Google-UX-Cert_Tolerico?page-id=0%3A1&type=design&node-id=1-560&viewport=729%2C540%2C0.23&t=9YjGT7ueCyFKHYDw-1&scaling=scale-down&starting-point-node-id=1%3A560&mode=design
Mockups here we come!
Time to add color palette I wanted a warm, rich, and playful palette for this app. I added buttons, changing text out of lorem ispum and getting my app as finalized as I could.
Lets finish this Hi-fi prototype
I mapped out the connections in this hi-fi prototype and made the prototype active. I then revised some more assets like adding more pictures, changing text, changing buttons, and ensuring the prototype had no issues when navigating it.
To check out the hi-fi prototype in action here is a link:
https://www.figma.com/proto/qlz1YZEjOHxhZKYnM0dbma/Art-Auction-App-Low-Fidelity-Prototype-Google-UX-Cert_Tolerico?page-id=232%3A754&type=design&node-id=232-810&viewport=703%2C440%2C0.16&t=pPVytDYqxQNEiwon-1&scaling=scale-down&starting-point-node-id=232%3A810&mode=design
Testing testing testing
I tested this project at two points during the process. When I finished the lo-fi prototype and when I finished the hi-fi prototype. I had a range of testers, from young professionals in tech to older retired testers. I wanted to ensure anyone at any age could quickly figure out the design. During the tests, I had them purchase an item, set up an auction, navigate the app, and look through all the different pages. Almost all my testers found this app easy to use and had no trouble getting around it. One user did have issues in the lo-fi test, but it was because the app was at an early level of development. Overall, this app was far from challenging for the users testing the design.
The buttons below will show you the files to learn more about my testing results.
If the preview of the PDF does not work, you can just download the document to view it easier.
In Conclusion
I found making my first app challenging but I made an app that looks and feels as good as any app on the market today. I enjoyed iterating my design by rearranging my layouts, fine-tuning color palettes, and bringing the overall design to life. The idea of researching and testing my designs was the most challenging part for me. I had never presented my work in the testing format before but found it informative and welcomed any feedback that came my way. While I took my time building this app, I wanted to make sure I was producing something done right the first time. Now that I am growing more confident in my abilities as a designer, this will only become more interesting and easier as time goes on.
To learn more about this project, the button below will provide my usability study.
Contact Me
Email
pat58@pitt.edu or Find me on Linkedin!