Exhibit art through virtual gallery
My Role: Research, UX and UI
Before the Covid-19 pandemic begun, exhibiting at the galleries added to the credibility of the artists. However, local artists always faced the challenge to showcase their work at the galleries. To exhibit at the galleries, the artists need time, money, acceptance of their artwork from the gallery officials and they have to be focused as all this involves a lot of work. To solve this problem, I designed the Google Cardboard Art Gallery.
The Google Cardboard Art Gallery is a 3D Virtual Gallery that the customers/website visitors can view from the artist's website using the Google Cardboard using their smart phones. The artists can have the flexibility of exhibiting artwork all days of the year. They can easily add or remove paintings from this virtual gallery anytime. All these make the artist's life easier. They can focus more on creating good quality work.
Being an artist myself I have gone through the whole process of approaching the galleries. I know this space thoroughly. So, I have already done solid research in this space. Therefore, it was easier to focus on good design strategies.
Getting selected for an art show in galleries is challenging, so I thought of creating a 3D Art gallery and incorporating it in the artist's website.
Design a Virtual Art Gallery for artists to showcase their work in the 3D space via their website.
This was my Project while I was studying 'Designing for Virtual Reality and Wearables' as a part of my User Experience and Web Design Certification at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018.
Research, UX and UI Design. I was the sole designer in this project.
4 weeks
1. Artists face rejection many times when they approach galleries to get an opportunity to exhibit their work.
2. For every artwork that gets selected for the exhibition at the gallery, the artist have to pay a high fee.
3. The whole process is very frustrating and involves lot of people and time.
4. If the artist misses the chance to exhibit once, they have to try again and go through the whole process again. Most of the times, to exhibit at the same gallery, the artist may have to wait for 1 full year. The luck factor plays a huge role.
1. The artists have to get this 3D Art Gallery feature in their website. They can escape the trouble of paying a high fee for every artwork that gets selected for a show.
2. As it involves no dependency on people, the artists can save a lot of time.
3. The artists have the flexibility to exhibit anytime in this 3D Space.
1. As the Google Cardboard has just one button control, the whole design is intentionally made as simple as possible.
2. As the user may intend to buy a painting, the viewers can go through the necessary information in the 3D space and also add the painting to their wish list.
3. I did not include a full shopping feature via Google Cardboard as it involves the Credit Card Information and Address. It will be very frustrating to input information using just one button on the Google Cardboard. On the other hand, the customers can add a painting to their Wishlist just with one click. Later, they can take it further from there once they are done using the Google Cardboard to view the paintings.
4. The Virtual Gallery section is just an added feature in the artist's website. So, it is noted that the color scheme must sync with the color palette of the artist's website.
I worked with the users to get their feedback in all the phases such as Ideation, Wireframing, Testing and Prototyping.
1. Design a Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Art Gallery for the customers/art lovers to view the artist's work via the artist's website.
2. Provide user engagement ensuring a clean and simple design.
3.The users must be able to see the necessary info about the artwork such as Title and Price, in the 3D Space.
4. The experience must be captivating and drive action to allow the customers to add a painting to their wish list.
Artists, art lovers and people who are looking to buy paintings from the local artists.
I interviewed few artists and also art lovers to understand the User Needs, so that I don't miss anything important. This step was very useful.
Sketching always helps me to understand the flow. Here are some of the sketches of my process.
For this app, I identified 2 types of users.
1. Artist exhibiting their art through their website.
2. Art Lovers looking to buy some paintings.
Artist Goals:
- To provide an excellent experience to the viewer of the paintings in 3D space to promote sales.
Art Lover's Goals:
- To navigate in the 3D Space easily.
- To find information about the painting such as Title and Price.
- Add the art to their wish list so that they can decide later and make a purchase easily.
After doing a quick pencil sketch, I prepared the Wireframe using Google Docs as there were not many screens involved.
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I created low fidelity prototype to get the feel and to understand how it will work on the artists websites. I used Blender to create the 3D Visuals. For 2D shots, I used Illustrator.
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Artists who want to provide an elevated experience for their future clients/art buyers will download this app on their phone.
The users who visit the landing page of the Artist's Website who have Google Cardboard with them can use this link successfully. To view the paintings, the users have to click on the link "View Art Gallery With Google Cardboard."
Users will be guided step by step to make this VR experience as easy as possible.
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Follow the Red Dot which acts like your cursor.
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Follow the link below to view the prototype.
If you have a Google Cardboard, you can have a VR Gallery experience.
If you are viewing it in the Browser, just follow the link. Once the page opens, use your mouse, left click (keep it pressed) and drag up - down - right and left. It works!
THANKS FOR VIEWING
