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The Art Institute of Chicago Learning Monitor App

 

MY ROLE

MEDIUMS

User Research
Prototyping

UIUX Design
Usability Testing

Figma

DURATION

Nov - Dec 2021

OVERVIEW

Personalize the in-depth learning experience for those art lovers who frequently visit Art Institute of Chicago about the collections in the museum.

 

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INTENTIONS:

As a previous student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I took privilege of the abundant resources of the Art Institute. We also had many classes taken place at the museum. The art study experiences made me wonder if I can make art more accessible to more people who are passionate about art.


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How might we enhance the learning experience before, during and after the art museum visit?

RESEARCH:

 

1. People like to take photos of the artwork they like in the museum.


2. The free entrance for students in the Chicago area and the memberships policy stimulate multiple visits for art lovers.


3. My friends who don’t have art background always said they cannot understand the artworks in the museum.


4. There are two official digital products designed for the AIC currently ---  the official website and the audio tour app.
    They provide exhibition information and basic introduction of the artworks. But not many people using them.

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

Looking into the market, there are several digital apps targeting at art learning. There are over 200k users for these apps, which prove to be a good trend for online art learning.

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AIC Official App

It provides audio introduction and real time GPS location to the artworks in the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

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Google Arts & Culture

It puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips.

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Daily Art

Every day get inspired by beautiful classic, modern and contemporary art masterpieces and read short stories about them.

Those products provide abundant audio and visual resources, and brief introductions of the artworks.

However, people cannot collect or make note of the artworks they like in the platform.

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On the other hand, taking the Educator Resource Packet on the AIC website as an example. The resource includes an essay, discussion questions, activity ideas, a glossary, and an image of the artwork. It provides more thorough knowledge about one artwork.

 

INTERVIEW:

 

1. How often do you visit AIC and why?
2. How might we improve the visiting experience better?
3. Did you use the official website or app for extend learning? Why and why not?
4. What will you do when you see an artwork you like?
5. What kind of information you want to know more about the artworks?

I asked 5 questions to 10 people with different art background from age 18 to 40 about their visiting experience at AIC.

 

INSIGHTS:

  • Beyond the basic introduction, people want to learn more about the history about the specific  genre and time.

  • The description of the artworks trigger more questions about the specific terminology.

  • In terms of multiple visit, people would like to see both latest and old exhibitions.

  • People want to keep track on their each visit in order to plan on the next visit.

  • For their favorite artworks, people want to take note of both objective and subjective information.

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PAIN POINTS:

Lack of understanding of specific art terminologies while reading description label next to the artwork

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Limited resource to learn more about the relevant art history and take note at the same time

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Less digital tools on personalization of art history learning in the museum

PERSONA
 

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Based on the insights from the interviews, I categorized into two types of potential users and draw the persona.

JOURNEY MAP

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SITE MAP:

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WIREFRAME:

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UI COMPONENTS:

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FINAL DESIGN:

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USABILITY TEST:

After finishing the UIUX deign, I asked six friends who had been to the AIC multiple times for a general feedback.

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Positive:

  • "I like the note function which provides easier access to revisit the artwork I like and record my thoughts."

  • "I like the map function as I always get lost in the galleries."

  • "The high resolution images from the museum enable me to revisit my favorite artworks afterwards"

  • "The design looks nice and professional."

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Negative:

  • "Add audio resource in the description page and add audio recording in the note page."

  • "Enlarge the artwork image in the note page and combine the description into one page."

  • "Include some video resources as well"

  • "The create note icon is used twice, is it possible to have different ones. I think the bottom nav should be 'Art' or 'Info'."


 

REFLECTIONS:

In the future, I hope I can gather more users samples and also interview with the professionals in the art museums so as to get more valuable insights for product development.

On the other hand, instead of targeting at one specific art museum, I hope to develop a creative digital learning tool for more museum resources.


 

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