Background
Bringing art into public spaces can improve the social fabric of a city - The conversation
When I first moved to Tampa, I was terribly disappointed with the lack of art in the county. As an artist, I know how public art can change the feel and culture or a city. In the past 13 years, map has grown into an area that supports local artist an the local art scene. with the building of the Riverwalk, which connects the different areas of tampa there has been a boom of public art. Because this feature is fairly new, no many visitor or even residents know that public pieces have been built or how to find them throughout the city.
The Process
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Discover
Competitive Analysis was necessary to know what types of apps are currently available in the genre. It was encouraging to find a few applications that promoted public arts worldwide. the research provided an excellent found action to build a similar program with my added features.
Canvas, MASA, and Street Art Cities were my primary research that used crowdsourcing to build a database of locations. I found inspiration in the most successful app ( based on user reviews and personal testing) in aesthetics, usability, and content to be Canvas.
Secondary research was on the Geocaching App, which I found to be an excellent example of a way to find items in unfamiliar locations. Finally the YUNUENE site was one that I discovered that showcases augmented reality with in 2-D artwork. This was a feature that I envisioned in Urban Heart.
Although I knew I would ultimately want this app to cater everyone visiting Tampa, It would be impossible to do so in the time given for this product. So when planning the script of interview questions, my main goal was to pinpoint my persona and, at the very least, establish who was NOT my audience at this time.
As I designed my questions, I found that I was looking for participants that
- travel to metropolitan areas
- find value in public art
- plan the way they explore a city
- use their phone as a tool when traveling
"I travel to a major city about 2-3 times a year and that doesn't even include when I go downtown to shop or meet with friends."
100% of participants travel to or live by major cities.
" When I make plans to travel, I am always looking for cost, activites, transportation and parking and what an area is known for."
65% of participants do not have easy or fun ways to find the public art in an area.
"Although the public art is not our main destination, it is always an attraction we end up enjoying while we are out an about."
More than 50% of participants seek public art while exploring new areas.
Define
Below is a copy of the Urban Heart persona based on the interview debrief.
The following Feature Roadmap includes the basic essentials to the Urban Heart app as well as future add-ons based on participant interviews and persona. Through this process I could brainstorm many outcomes for this concept and push ideas passed what is already in use.
Ideate
The beginning of the ideation phase is one of my favorite stages of the Ui/Ux process! It's exciting to be faced with so many possibilities.
I began by establishing a title and experimenting with font. Eventually what began as Public heART turn into Urban Heart to suggest that the app focused on metropolitan areas. My hope is that each city would build their own app under the name Urban Heart:( name of city here). For the sake of the project and time constrictions Urban heart ( for Tampa, Florida) would have to do.
I then sketched a very literal version of the concept: letters on a wall like mural with a search symbol to suffuse there was a search and find component. The AR in the word HEART was shown with depth to indicate t the user that the app connect to art and augmented reality . All of these elements turned out to be too much and I ended with a logo simple in font, color and shape. I level the final design present itself as easily readable, conveys the idea that the app is about cities and finding art.
The color palette located in the style guide pays homage to the bright, neon colors that users associate with Florida and the graffiti culture. The Deep blue gray background creates a high contrast against the neon and the perfect neutral background to the displayed artwork that users will be collecting. The darker background is also more energy efficient and will take less power for devices.
Site Mapping turned my abstract idea in the beginning of a product that others can understand. This allows me to be more articulate about what this service can offer and creates a visual to-do list for my design process.
This is an example of my completed user flow if a user chose the moderate level of looking for Tampa art. for a closer look at my user flow click HERE.
The following wireframe/ wire flow helped me to solidify the choices available to users. Below displays the user flow from sign-up to scanning a mural to activate augmented reality.
This allowed me to edit and organize choices I would make available to users . although this wireframe and flow displays one choice, there are actually 3 paths a user can take to find their way to public art throughout the city. this will allow the3 users to cater their experience according to their travel plans and companions.
Final prototype through Figma- each project I continue to build my knowledge of Figma and work it to its potential. Here I took the opportunity to experiment with components and variables to create basic animation. This helped during the usability testing so participants can focus more on navigating through a task naturally instead of "pretending" an action should happen. the more accurate the prototype, the more accurate the results of the usability tests.
Implement and testing
Qualitative research was conducted to test the Moderate Level user flow from sigh-up to finding a mural, then finally, to the rewards page.
After participants were able to navigate on their own without prompting, they were given a series of questions. If the question prompted a different response from the initial flow, users would go back to test.
Areas of concentration:
1. Are the choices on the dashboard understandable? do you have any suggestions that would make it more clear?
2. How do you feel about the animation in the map section? Do you find it distracting or irrelevant?
3. What are your thoughts on the gallery/ collections page. Does the lay suggest how it works? Is the explanation needed?
4. What are your overall thoughts on mapping, the color palette, and the language of the navigation?
Affinity Mapping was used to analyze users responses to the prototype.
Takeaways from Usability Testing
- Consider changing the labels on the dashboard to shorter understandable text.
-Although there were arrows to indicate more information ( in the dashboard) more than 50% of participants were not concerned and thought the labels were self explanatory. However, when given further explanation of the various levels, they were surprised that it was similar th what the label suggested but did not expect the other features that were included at each level.
-The gallery was a favorite among all participants and was there was audible positive recognition about the awards incentives.
- 80% participants wanted access ( notable pins)to other parts of the city while they searched for art.
- Animation seemed to be a positive and did not cause distraction or annoyance.
Solutions
- Change verbage in the dashboard labels
- Place a larger target point in the arrows to users can utilized the dropdown information correctly.
- change the shape of the "Take me there" box, as it suggests that it is a CTA- or just make it a CTA.
- Continue to work with transitions and animations.
What is next for Urban Heart?
All solutions were placed into the Urban Heart Prototype. Through the usability testing and my personal exploration of the city and it's public art, I have a lists of ideas to add to the app that will eventually make it fresh, informative and truly showcase what Tampa has to offer. Some of the added features will include:
-Mapping out pinned murals, where users can create their own path. Much like a wish list of art they would like to see.
- Timer for the added challenge
- Citywide challenges to find details hidden in certain murals
- A place where users can leave hints to other users about warnings or advice to help find a piece.
- Notification to changes to any of the existing murals
- Guestbook for artists- much list the sign- in book at a gallery
- Opportunities to donate to your favorite artists or local organization.
I would love to see the app become a reality. Hopefully, I can find an organization or developer that would like to collaborate on this task with me!
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