An Art Auction Application

- Arto Art Galleries

PartyBowl is an API that could be integrated as a feature with all food delivery platforms to help make the group order process easy and hassle-free.

Designed an art auction app for Arto, that will enable its users to browse and place online bids. Arto is a local art gallery in India that has been conducting in-person art auctions among its members for the last couple of years and recently they decided to venture into online art auctions.

Role: UX Designer

Client: Arto Cosmopolitan Galleries

Timeline: 5 months

The Problem

Art enthusiasts at Arto Cosmopolitan Galleries need a way to participate in their art auctions because the gallery conducts in-person art auctions and the majority of its members find it difficult to attend them.

Features in Arto

Participate in online auctions and know results

Flexibility to select the auction type that suits the user

Filter out artworks from an auction lot

AR feature to view the artwork in a space

The Process

01

Empathize

Competitor Analysis with four other art auction apps
Interviews (Interviewed 5 art enthusiasts)

02

Define

Made user personas and identified pain points

03

Ideate

Made journey maps
Stroryboarding and paper wireframes

04

Prototype

Made Low-fidelity protytypes

05

Test

Conducted Usability testing of the low-fidelity prototypes
Made High-fidelity prototypes

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Started the design process by identifying key competitors and comparing the auction bidding experience of each competitor’s digital platform. Identified 5 competitors of which Swann Auction Galleries, Christie’s, and Bonhams are direct competitors that have brick-and-mortar auction houses and online art auctions, whereas Artsy and Artnet are indirect competitors since they are online auction houses.

Direct Competitors

Swann Galleries

Christie's

Bonhams

ARTO

This helped us understand the competitors' products, their positions in the market and their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. After the competitor analysis, we interviewed five art enthusiasts from the Arto Cosmopolitian galleries to understand their pain points.

5 Interviews

Finds it difficult to visit the gallery for auctions

Often misses auctions due to their busy schedules

It is dificult to determine the size of an artwork from its picture

It is time consuming to find exactly what they want from an auction lot.

Difficult to perceive how an artwork would look in the space where it is to be displayed

Pain Points

Deep Dive!

Based on the user interview, we brainstormed to devise the best possible solution for the users. In the process, we made a journey map to get insights into how a user would proceed with the goal. Further, we made an idea card and storyboards before working on the low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes.

Journey Map

Low-fidelity wireframes

Conducted moderated usability testing of the low-fidelity prototype to understand how a user would use the product and to gather feedback from them. I recruited 5 art enthusiasts who have taken part in in-person art auctions at Arto galleries and are familiar with them and each of them was given the same set of tasks to complete. Observed the user while they were using the prototype and calculated error rates and kept a track of time spent by the participant on each task. Further, Identified patterns from the insights to inform the design decisions and updated the design.

5 Usability testings

Because it Matters!

These are some of the changes we made to our high-fidelity prototype based on the usability testing feedbacks...

Update 01:

Added an option to view the auction catalogue on the home screen since the majority of the users expressed that they would like to go through a catalogue quickly to know about an auction.

Update 02:Users did not understand if 'Register to bid' is different from 'Log In'. Hence, the 'Register to bid' call to action button was removed and instead 'Log In' was incorporated into the flow.

Update 03:

Incorporated the Search feature into the taskbar as users wanted the flexibility to use the 'Search' option on every screen.

Update 04:

Added the last highest bid and the estimated value of the artwork on the screen to enter the bidding amount as this will avoid referring back to the previous page.

Issue 01

Update 01

Update 02

Issue 02

Issue 03

Update 03

Issue 04

Update 04

Mockups

Launch Arto

Select Auctions

Select the type of auction

Select from the various auctions available

Filter and select the auction lot

View the artwork using the AR feature (View in Room) and proceed to place bid

Enter Log In details

Select your maximum bid amount

Place bid

Confirmation