Deco
Project Type
UX Research & Design
Client
NYU Steinhardt
Project Duration
4 months
Team Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Background
Deco is a project I developed in collaboration with three other NYU graduate students as part of our coursework. We set out to help New Yorkers find and engage with local art experiences. Through interviews, surveys, affinity mapping, and persona development, we worked to develop a solution to this challenge, aiming to connect users with the diverse and vibrant art scene in New York City.
Phase 1: User Research
We began by developing a research plan that would help us learn more about our potential audience and their current engagement with art experiences in NYC. We decided to conduct interviews and create a survey. The interviews allowed us to engage in longer Q&As with a small set of users while the survey helped us define potential user needs, behaviors, and preferences in the context of a broader group. We then used what we learned to create an affinity map that we referenced while developing personas. We began to plan for the design phase of this project by creating a user needs statement and "how might we" questions. To learn more about this phase of the project, please see the artifacts below.
Affinity map illustrating user problems. Data were collected from interviews and surveys.
Persona developed to represent a user group.
User Needs Statement
New Yorkers who want to increase their art engagement need to discover accessible art experiences that appeal uniquely to them because, while they know NYC has so much art available, they feel under-resourced in finding it and intimidated by NYC’s art culture.
Persona developed to represent a user group.
"How Might We" Questions
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How might we enable our users to discover art experiences that are uniquely enriching to them?
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How might we simplify the discovery process, allowing users to find experiences that appeal to their interests and values?
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How might we enable our users to discover art experiences within their budgets?
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How might we bridge the gap between artists and New Yorkers in discovering art experiences?
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How might we help users find others that are interested in attending the same art experiences as themselves?
Phase 2: Design & Prototyping
Armed with the knowledge from our research, we began brainstorming solutions. To better understand the existing solutions and how they fall short, each team member conducted a heuristic evaluation (click to read) of an existing tool and reported their findings. We ultimately decided to create a unique app for our users and relied on sketches, low fidelity prototypes, and usability testing in developing our final design (i.e., high fidelity prototype). To learn more about this phase of the project, please see the artifacts below.
Early sketch depicting user journey.
Paper prototype.
Video walkthrough of early prototype built in PowerPoint.
Images from prototype developed using Figma.
Usability Test Finding #1
Visibility of system status & User control and freedom
Users indicated that they were unsure of the difference between "discover" and "for me" pages. They were also unsure how to navigate through the pages using the available controls (e.g., X and star buttons).
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Usability Test Finding #2
Consistency and standards & Error prevention
Users demonstrated confusion around the RSVP button with specific questions related to the differentiation between "RSVP" and "Get tickets." The difference in function was not reflected in the language.
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Video walkthrough of final prototype built in Figma.