Wore many hats from product designer, ux/ui designer, to brand strategist in this end-to-end product cycle.
Chroma aims at creating a digital community for Toronto-based artists to get support and guidance in career development.
Time constraint: 3 months
Device: Mobile & Desktop
User Demographic: Toronto-based emerging artists
Toronto-based emerging artists need guidance and connection in order to succeed in their creative careers.
With a background in art and design, I empathize with the challenges faced by emerging artists when it comes to establishing a career in the field. The numbers tell a harsh truth: the average annual salary for individuals identified as "artists" is $45K*, however, this figure only accounts for those who hold salaried positions, and it does not take into account the many freelance artists and individuals who work in other industries to make ends meet. Additionally, with a 9.1%** unemployment rate among graduates with a fine art major, it is clear that making a living solely through art can be a formidable challenge.
Providing mentorship for Toronto-based emerging artists in order to assist them in their careers.
- Increasement in engagement in local artist community
The whole design process took about 3 months, which was divided into following milstones:
01 Research (User Interviews & Persona)
02 Information Architecture
03 Wireframe
04 Prototype
05 Usability Tests
All four of the artists interviewed are young, emerging creatives based in Toronto, each with their own unique artistic discipline. However, despite their varied backgrounds, they all emphasized the crucial role that professional support plays in the development of their creative careers. Distilling insights from these interviews, three key takeaways emerged.
01 Professional guidance are needed for career success
02 Community connection benefits creativity
03 Business training is lacked but essential
Quinn Miller (27)
Art school grad, practices in contemporary art with a focus on painting.
Working on two part-time jobs to cover the cost of living in the city.
Frustrations:
- Feels disconnected from the creative community after graduating art school
- Doesn't know how to make art as a career
- Has difficulty in networking and cold-messaging people
Goals:
- Understand how the industry works
- Build connections
- Break into the industry
I created my own UI Library for this project. Inspired by Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and visually inspired by Bauhaus. The UI Library also uses Atomic Design Methodology to break down each compnents in the design.
Discovered from user research that the user demographic of this product also use desktop devices a lot. Thus, a responsive desktop design concept was created.
Two rounds of user testings were conducted and three versions of iterations were created based on synthesized results to optimize the user experience.
Updates made include:
01 More intuitive icon
02 Different layout
03 Larger font size
04 Improved copy text clarity
Chroma started with a chat I had with an artist firend, who questioned the hardness for young creatives to make it in today's art industry. After interviewing and engaging with various artists, I realized the challenge is harsh and real, but not unsolvable. The project is my genuine wish to make a change to the current situations young creatives are facing, and to provide a solution to help them navigate trhough their careers easier.
I would love to have chroma developed in the future. But before that, a next step in design is to conduct more usability tests with user demographic and fully design the whole experience.
