Cultural Commons
Opportunity
Our client, an artist, who is frustrated with the arts being defunded wanted to create something to fix this problem.
He came to my group needing help researching and creating a product built with the artist in mind that would use an endowment to keep the money in the hands of the artists. Was open to ideas of what the product could look like, but requested the name be - Cultural Commons.
Product requests:
QR codes for ease of payment.
Platform in which community members would use to explore and find artists and events.
My Role:
Ux Researcher, Ux Designer
Methods Used:
Desk Research, Competitive Research, Directed Storytelling Interviews, Mid Fidelity Prototyping, Desirability Interviews, High Fidelity Storytelling, Usability Interviews, Reiteration of High Fidelity Prototyping
Problem Space
The existing arts patronage model is often heavily reliant on private donors as well as artists depending on city funding. Over the years, the arts have lost this funding, leaving many artists lacking support and opportunity.
There are many different ways to support artists, but not one that allows artists to share that support.
Goal
To create a minimum viable product of a mobile app that promotes equitable pay and increases accessibility, diversity and quality of public arts for the community and artists.
Research
Competitive Research
My group conducted a competitive analysis by gathering insights on other apps on the market that have similar features as the ones Cultural Commons was looking for. A few found were: NextDoor, GoFundMe, Patreon, Venmo, BetterWorld, National Endowments of the Arts, Jerome and McNight Foundations.
Ones we used as inspiration were: NextDoor, GoFundMe, Patreon and Venmo (see below)
A Deeper Dive
After competitive research, we found inspiration from similar products on the market, but found nothing like what our client was asking for. We needed to better understand other aspects of the product requested. We researched how endowments and QR codes work, and conducted directed storytelling to understand the needs, frustrations and hopes of artists.
Findings
There are two types of QR codes: dynamic and static. Dynamic are more expensive, but track analytics. Static are good for sending users to a single site.
For this app, we discovered a static QR code would work best, as it would provide artists the ability to share their QR code with community members and receive tips. We found that the app could include an endowment, but didn’t yet know how we would bring this into the flow of the app.
Directed Storytelling Takeaways
Through our 4 directed storytelling interviews, we learned that artists are frustrated with the lack of funding and opportunities. Artists rely on word-of-mouth, Instagram, Facebook and other social media to promote their work. This can be hard, as social media is so saturated. We also learned that community members do tend to use QR codes when they are out and see one and want to tip someone.
Information Architecture
After our generative research, we realized how complex this app would be, and we would need to make it for two different user groups: community and artists.
I then created an Information Architecture Diagram to help us map out the path of both users as they use the app and as a guide as we build the app.
Desirability Testing
Using mid fidelity prototypes, we conducted desirability testing with 4 users: 2 community members, 2 artists.
Through these desirability tests we were hoping to find out what features and functions would be most desirable. From this, some key findings we then brought into our high fidelity prototypes were:
Community members wanted to be able to explore the app before being prompted to log in.
The “liked events” icon on the navigation bar was desirable, as it’s a easy way to track what events they would like to go to.
Under the liked events section, users wanted a past events tab where they can check previous events they have attended.
Community members wanted transparency regarding the endowment and funds allocation, as it will allow them to trust where their money is going.
Artist view
Community member view
Artist View - does not yet have an account
High Fidelity Prototyping
Community View - already has account
Annotations
Alongside providing our client with high-fidelity prototypes of the app, we also provided him with a deck of our annotations. We annotated every page of the app so that as he moves forward with Cultural Commons, he can understand our rationale and pick up where we left off.
As an example, the first image to the left explains the purpose of the donation to the Cultural Commons page and how to use and navigate that page. The second image describes how a user of the app would put in their bank account or payment details.
Recommendations
As a group we found that if we had further time to work on Cultural Commons, a couple things we would want to build out are an artist being able to add their calendar within the Cultural Commons app to their personal calendar and developing a website presence so that administration has a platform to use. We also provided our client with a deck that explained our research and findings.
What Was Learned
This was a really great project to work on, as I learned so much by working with this client. In our final meeting he said to my group “Thank you for bringing my vision to life.” This was such wonderful feedback to receive when sharing with a client their product that you have worked so hard on. I believe this app will be continued to work on and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for it!