Context
Academic Project from 2023.01 to 2023.04
Role: UI Designer
Tools: Figma, Procreate
Team Members: Muhan Huang, Terence Xu, Harvey Li, Andy Cheng, Charlotte Doo
Community Exhibitions
Interaction design for VAG
Role: UI Designer
Overview
The aim of this project was to conduct an analysis of the interactions within a real-world participant group and devise a technology solution to improve a particular process. After trying to contact a dozen organizations, ultimately, my group decided to collaborate with the Vancouver Art Gallery for this project.
Persona
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the composition of visitors to the VAG, our group conducted two field interviews with the permission of the gallery and compiled the data to categorize the visitors into two groups, first-time visitors and regulars, and created two personas accordingly.
I took responsibility for sourcing appropriate persona images online and designing typography for the posters. Based on the Vancouver Art Museum's modern and minimalist style and color palette which is red and white, I created different design options for the team's consideration.
Here are the final personas.
User Journey Map
I took the lead in designing the layout for both maps. Drawing from online examples, I identified key elements that would be most effective for our project and shared my findings with the team. Together, we revised and refined the maps until we had a final product that accurately reflected the personas' experiences and interactions with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Design Concept
To help promote our solution and raise awareness about our project, I was also responsible for designing posters that showcased our design concepts which is how can we create a sense of community and identity within the Vancouver Art Gallery that can be felt by regular and first-time visitors. Based on this design focus, I developed the concept called Community Impressions which is a platform that visitors could share and exchange their thoughts of exhibitions in VAG, and my group member developed the other two concepts which are Visit History and Artists Highlight.
Using the color palette and style of the Vancouver Art Gallery as a starting point, I created posters that were visually appealing and effectively communicated our ideas to others.
Participatory Workshop
Due to the participants' schedules I also took charge of organizing and leading the two smaller workshops, where I was able to delve deeper into the participants' opinions and obtain more specific feedback. Through these workshops, we were able to gather a wealth of valuable insights that helped us refine our design concepts and make them more effective and user-friendly.
The main takeaways of the participatory workshop were to promote a sense of community, having a diverse and inclusive environment where people can engage, and establishing a sense of community through shared experiences and learning each other’s perspectives are vital.
Prototype
After getting feedback from the professor, we decided to narrow down our design focus to how can we create a community space focused around the exchange of ideas for art enthusiasts based around the exhibitions within the Vancouver Art Gallery for visitors?
To help us better understand how our design concepts would work in practice, I took the lead in creating a high-fidelity mockup of community impressions. Using my skills in visual design and prototyping, I created a detailed and realistic mockup that accurately reflected our design concepts.
While my teammate Harvey developed another new concept called Community Exhibitions and also made high-fidelity mockup.
Community Impressions Mockup made by me,
Community Exhibitions Mockup made by Harvey,
Final Video
According to professor and peer feedback, we decided to dig deeper into the Community Exhibitions and made the final video according to it. I was responsible for drawing all the characters and part of the scenes within the video.
Reflection
The project provided me with a complete experience of the design process, allowing me to identify my strengths and weaknesses in the field. Through this project, I was able to gain valuable insights into the entire process and practice each step. My learning from this project helped me to improve my design approach and equipped me with practical skills that are essential to my profession.Working with the Vancouver Art Gallery was a unique and invaluable experience. I learned how to communicate effectively with stakeholders, exchange ideas, understand their needs, present our design solutions, and obtain constructive feedback.Conducting interviews and designing online questionnaires for visitors was an excellent opportunity for me to enhance my research skills. I learned to avoid asking leading questions and developed strategies to gather core information within a limited timeframe. By organizing my questions in a better way, I was able to get the most out of my research.