ARTLOGIC UI/UX FLOW OVERHAUL
Role: Independent Researcher & Designer
ArtLogic is a web-service that helps galleries keep track of information of all types, ranging from clients to artwork details.
The UI/UX of the actual program, however, is out of touch with how it is advertised, and the goal is to redesign the interface to align more with the advertised design philosophy.
THE GOAL
ArtLogic advertises its platform to handle four things…
… this case study aims to focus on the “Gallery Management” section.
As someone who works extensively with this program at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, I’ve found the user interface lackluster in comparison to how the brand advertises itself.
The homepage provides what looks like a clean and seamless experience to the viewer:
As someone who works extensively with this program at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, I’ve found the user interface lackluster in comparison to how the brand advertises itself.
The homepage provides what looks like a clean and seamless experience to the v
But actually ends up providing a robust CMS-looking tool that ends up not living up to aesthetic expectations:
RESEARCH
I used four different types of research that each had varying degrees of success:
Competitive analysis - Look into other artwork inventory systems and see what they’re doing differently that ArtLogic could do better
Heuristic Evaluation - Evaluation of usability of the program in the eyes of someone who doesn’t know how to use the program, according to Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics
User Interviews - 1:1 interviews with coworkers and workers of various positions at neighboring galleries
User Flow - Observe coworkers for a fixed time in doing a specific task and see how repeatable the actions for certain tasks are
The two most useful methods for this case study and redesign were the (3) User Interviews and (2) Heuristic Evaluation.
The (1) Competitive Analysis fell apart because other inventory systems do not disclose much information about themselves unless working in a gallery that uses them. Other galleries are obviously secretive about this because looking into the system allows me to also see the works and their respective pricings. Other methods of attaining access to systems required a large sum of money that was not available to me.
(4) User Flow tracking was not useful because everyone was trained by either my boss or me, resulting in similar idyllic user flow rather than what naturally came to them.
(3) User Interviews were the most useful amongst my coworkers and other galleries that used the same system, although there were only 15 interviews, because everyone has extensive experience with the program, working in it for a combined 50+ years.
(2) Heuristic Evaluation was by far the most effective method as the program has plenty of potential improvements to be made to its design.
(3) User Interviews
The most notable results from this were a handful of statistics:
(3) User Interviews
The most notable results from this were a handful of statistics:
100%
think ArtLogic has
a steep learning curve and that it stems from an unclear workflow presentation
~47%
are still uncomfortable
with the full range of functionality the program offers
(2) Heuristic Evaluation
This method utilized Jakob Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation method, and these values were gauged from user interviews.
6
months is the average time the group thinks it takes for someone to become proficient in the program’s basics
The specified goals were now to:
a) Design based on their homepage
ArtLogic already seems to have a clear design philosophy and aesthetic in mind, so I will be working with the themes they have used in their advertising so as to keep the difference in aesthetics minimal
b) create a “newbie-friendly” version
clear up the clutter and redundancies in functionality and make a version of their tool that is similar to what they already have, but simplified and more streamlined, so as to make the onboarding process smoother
ITERATIONS
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Iteration 4
FINAL RESULT
The resulting wireframe was far easier for newbie testers to navigate and much more aesthetically pleasing on consensus than the original website (video of interaction to come soon).
