Humber Galleries
The Humber Galleries mobile application works to improve the viewing experience for those visiting the space. It is a platform for education, artistic expression, and connection between the users and the artists.
Overview
Humber Galleries began in 2012 with the launch of the L-space gallery located at the college’s Lakeshore campus and has since then expanded to the North Campus and the Downtown Campus. The galleries showcase student work and, work from the wider arts community at Humber College.
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The purpose of the mobile app is to:
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1. Improve the discoverability of the galleries and the pieces on display.
2. Enhance the viewing experience.
3. Improve accessibility.
4. Allow viewers to connect and learn about the artists.
Problem Statement
“How might we create an app that improves the viewing experience for new and old Humber Gallery visitors?”
Discovery Phase
To commence this project, we were briefed by Casey Norris, the Project Lead for Humber Galleries and Humber's Centre for Creative Business Innovation, who explained the client’s needs in detail. We supplemented the information provided to us by Casey with some desk research.
Business Goals
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Help both students and the public, discover art displayed on the campuses in an easily accessible way, Enhance the experience for those viewing the artwork,
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Allow for a virtual viewing experience that is just as engaging as viewing the art in person,
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Appeal to and educate new gallery viewers who have never visited an art gallery before but have the curiosity to learn,
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Promote engagement from the community and bridge the gap between the virtual and physical experience.
Primary Audience
Occupation: Humber College students
Age: 18-30
Location: The Greater Toronto Area
Other Traits:
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Technology proficient,
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Are knowledgable about the Humber Campus,
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Typically commute from somewhere within the GTA,
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International and domestic students.
Secondary Audience
Occupation: Local community members
Age: 18-70
Location: The Greater Toronto Area
Other Traits:
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Are somewhat proficient with technology,
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Actively involved in their communities,
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Enjoy art and want to support the college's art program,
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Have been to art galleries before.
Define Phase
Persona
To better emphasize with the user I created a persona based on the data gathered from our user interviews of the target audience.
Content & Features
With the user in mind, our team held a brainstorming session to come up with content and features for the mobile app based on the business goals and user goals.
We sorted the results in a prioritization matrix which allowed us to focus on the most important components.
A scope table was then used to categorize the content and features based on the release dates.
Task Flow
The main proposition of the app is to improve the discoverability of art pieces in Humber galleries. To better understand potential pain points and bottlenecks I mapped out the task flow for a user to complete a guided tour at the Lakeshore Campus.
Development Phase
Initial Design
The design phase began with the team completing a group sketching session for the task flow of completing a guided tour. The sketches were developed into low-fidelity wireframes.
The results indicated that users wanted more in-depth instructions, a more interactive map, and a way of browsing for artworks through the tour section and manually without a tour.
Wireframes
From the sketches I took the elements that aligned with our vision to create low-fidelity wireframes which were then user tested with people from our primary audience. Wireframes are an important part of the design process as they act as a blueprint for the user experience.
Creative Strategy
For the creative strategy, I wanted the app to act as a “frame” for the artwork.
I started by brainstorming words that aligned with the purpose and brand of Humber Galleries and then created a moodboard. For the design system, I wanted the app to have a similar feel to the Humber Galleries website, but with a bit more of a creative twist on the colours and font choice.
Reflections
For the creative strategy, I wanted the app to act as a “frame” for the artwork.
This was my first time working with a real client, which I enjoyed as it added purpose to the project while also allowing for feedback from someone who was deeply invested in the success of the application.
Due to the timeline of the project, I was not able to go as in-depth with certain sections as I would have liked to. Some further elements I would have liked to dive into include:
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Completing more research prior to the development of the app which would have included a competitive analysis and user interviews. The competitive analysis would have assisted in the development of the gallery app as there are many major galleries and museums that use similar applications.
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Final user testing which would have provided more feedback for future improvements.