HAMMER MUSEUM (Academic Project)
Mixed Reality Mobile Application
THE BRIEF
Leading up to the biennial event, "Made in L.A.", the Hammer Museum wants to create a Mixed Reality product that will allow Angelenos to participate in building communal art (in the Mixed Reality field) while exploring their city in new ways. The product will feature the neighborhoods each featured artist works in, the users will need to physically travel to those spaces to co-create communal art pieces and view the artist’s biography and work.
THE PROCESS
Timeline: 2 weeks Team: Christine Tayaba, Cameron Ward, Melissa Viesca Role: UX Designer, Project Manager Tools: Imagination, pen, pencil, paper, coffee, whiteboards, design studio, guerilla user testing, Sketch, Invision, Principle, Adobe XD, heuristic evaluation, persona, user research, wireframes, information architecture, comparative and competitive analysis, site mapping, high fidelity prototype, medium fidelity prototype, clickable prototype
THE CHALLENGE
L.A. is full of inspiring art and diverse creative experiences. It is a perfect place to be immersed in the arts. While anticipating a museum event, how do you create a mobile experience unlike any other that connect's with the artists on a deeper level so that you understand and connect to their artistic journey?
THE SOLUTION
Design an interactive mobile experience through the use of augmented reality to get L.A. aesthetes to build communal art, explore L.A. , and understand artist works.
RESEARCH
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY & INTERVIEWS
It was very important for us to speak with individuals that are technologically savvy as well as attend art events. It was best to do a contextual inquiry and attend an event at the Hammer Museum to understand our target audience and talk and interview people attending and observing the exhibits.
We interviewed experiential event goers to understand user behaviors. We wanted real life feedback event goers to see if an augmented reality application would be a delightful and viable tool for the target audience. We gathered and analyzed data on the target users which helped narrow our scope of possible features for the mobile application.
In this discovery session we asked questions like :
1. Why do you attend art exhibits?
2. What is your favorite art experience? And why?
3. Have you participated in interactive art? Please tell me about that experience.
Photo:
1) www.sbe.com/blog/10-best-free-things-to-do-in-la/
2)Made in LA 2016.Shiokava,Kenzi. Photographer: Brian Forest
SURVEY
We created a short survey and sent it out on social media asking our communities about their experiences with art.
Some of the survey question's I asked are:
What do you know of L.A.'s art community?
How much do you inquire about artists and their art?
What do you like to know about artists and their work?
How do you support or engage with artist?
What is your experience with augmented reality apps?
SURVEY & INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
The target user audience want to co-create art in L.A., know the artist backstory and want to feel deeply connected.
"My experience adds to the art piece" - George, UCLA student
" The closer I can feel it, the more I like it." - Anonymous, UCLA sstudent
" I'm bothered when art pieces don't have descriptions because I like knowing the story behind the art." - Crystal, PhD candidate film composition
PERSONA
Based on our research, Nadia personifies our ideal target user. Nadia was developed in the research process so that we make informed design decisions with our target user top of mind.
Meet Nadia.
Nadia is a 24 year old and a Ph.D. student at UCLA. She is an asthete and is very interested in the artistic expression. She likes attending museum exhibits and local art events.
COMPETITIVE & COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS (C&C)
We conducted a competitive & comparative analysis (C&C) to analyze other mobile applications on the market that are related to museums, augmented reality and experiential events. This helped our team ideate and understand and evaluate features being used.
Takeaways from C&C:
There are few augmented reality applications related to L.A. museums
A map and directions are needed if the user is also to explore L.A and create art in artist spaces or zones
Keep features and interactions simple
THE GOALS
Create an easy & seamless on-boarding process for the augmented reality feature that users will be able to co-create art
Determine the optimal flow for users to utilize the app
Implement prioritized features that will get users to learn and understand the artist process
FEATURES
Through our interview and C&C analysis we identified features:
Camera view for augmented reality
Artist biography
Backstory on art piece for emerging artist
Map of L.A. and incorporating directions so that the user can travel to artist zone in L.A.
Options of different materials to use when creating art in augmented reality app
Countdown clock for the Made in L.A. event
A "collections" screen to track which artists you have visited
Users can either view art and artist info as a pop up or interact with augmented reality avatar that is inserted into reality
CUSTOMER USER FLOW & TASK ANALYSIS
Understanding the customer journey, and user flow helps identify key tasks and the product applications logic.
Scenario:
Nadia is really excited about the Made in L.A. event. She wants to understand the artists before seeing them at the Hammer Museum. She discovered this application through a friend. She's interested in co-creating art art, learning about emerging artists for the upcoming show, and discovering L.A. in new ways.
DESIGN STUDIO
We conducted several design studios to conceptualize different ways to utilize the augmented reality feature and to clearly communicate the on-boarding.
We started sketching user flows and wireframes then digitizing our user wireframes from lo-fidelity, medium-fidelity, and high fidelity.
We brainstormed different designs and worked in a very rapid agile environment. The more iterations and usability testing we performed the clearer the design concepts and features.
FINAL DESIGN
After our research, testing and iterations, we believe that our design accomplishes the Hammer Museum's goals along with meeting the desires of our target users. With our app, users will be able to travel to different zones around the L.A. that are inspired by the artist from that area. Once they enter an artist's zone they will be able to interact and co-create art using augmented reality. Each zone will give the user different capabilities based on the artist and what inspires their work.
Every year "Made in L.A." has a tagline that embodies the event. "All Eyes on Art" was the tagline we chose, which was placed inside a white circle that creates a distortion on the phrase. This represents the community of Los Angeles coming together to look and participate in art through an augmented reality medium
When the user chooses to explore they are brought to an on-boarding page that explains what the user is going to do.
When they travel and cross into an artist's zone they will be alerted about which artist's zone they have entered into, where they can then read more about the artist or learn how to participate and create art in that zone.
The user goes through a 3 step on-boarding process to learn how to utilize the app and interact in the zone they have entered
Augmented reality view where the user can look around the artist zone and see other's art. This is where the user will have the ability to create their own art piece
On-boarding guide on how to utilize the app and create art through augmented reality
After the user has participated in creating an art piece, they are rewarded with a "thank you" message and notification that they h ave unlocked work by an artist that they can view in their "collections". This is where we encourage the user to make an account in order to save their progress
FINAL TAKEAWAYS
We received positive feedback from target users from our Invision prototype.
Users understood the purpose, on-boarding and appreciated a new way to discover L.A. while being interactively involved with art and the artist.
Users found it to be a delightful new way to learn and understand the artists in the upcoming Made in L.A. event at the Hammer Museum.