Museo App

Hybrid VR + In Person modes

Museo integrates VR with museum ticket App. In a simple, thousands of exhibitions open in different places worldwide, clients can view their favorite artist work through VR and purchase the tickets through Museo. and you can get a ticket of museum and see in Person.

Timeline

Responsibility as a sole freelance designer

Nov-December 2020

Problem

With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the cultural sector has been one of the most affected. Museums have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 90% of them, or more than 85,000 institutions worldwide, having closed their doors during the crisis. The impact of these closures is not only economic, but also social. Museums play a vital role in our societies. They not only preserve our common heritage, but also provide spaces that promote education, inspiration and dialogue. Based on values of respect and cultural diversity, museums strengthen social cohesion, foster creativity and are conveyors of collective memory.

UNESCO, United Nationas Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. “Museum around the World in the Face of COVID-19.” Unesco.org, UNESCO, May 2020, unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373530. Accessed 17 Dec. 2020.

Solution

Museo app provides hybrid VR and In-person modes for people's needs. Especially in this special globally pandemic COVID 19, they could see some art through Apps first. Then when COVID disappears, people have another chance to see their favorite artists for a long time. Moreover, people need to go to 5-10 museums for seeing all specific artist's works, it takes plenty of time and money, and some artworks are at some small town you probably never heard about it, and you probably never go there just for a few of art pieces.

Museo could help clients quickly to make their art travel plan in advance and access some private collections you are probably interested in. Some private collections probably have a few famous artworks. And they don't have their own website and other resources like national museums. At this moment, they are facing some severe financial problems. By integrating all artists' work, they gain a partial fee from VR and ticket. It solves some art conservation and other general costs.

Challenges

1. Boundary restrictions

It's hard to reach all artworks of an artist at once, for example, some artworks of Da Vinci are in France, some are in Italy. This problem happens many times to me as an art student and a tourist, I have to go the specific website every time. So how to break the boundary restrictions is the first step I have to think.

2. No Human - interactions

A lot of people think that going to exhibition is for social activities, such as hanging out with friends, date with someone, and taking photos with friends and artworks. So how to increase the human interactions with each other is the most important factor I have to consider.

3. Booking and Financial problems

There are so many small, private collections in some non-popular areas, but they have one or two famous artworks people would like to see. During this special pandemic COVID 19, they are facing the most difficult financial issue than other BIG - NAME and national museums. How to save these private collections over the world is another challenge.

Research

Interview

To understand people's considerations and opinions about Museum app, I conducted interviews with five people. Three of them are non-art related major people, and two are majoring in art field major. I built a set of questions that deals mainly with how the process is happening today and why it is so frustrating. Here are some of the key questions and answers

Personas

Based on the interview's findings, I created personas that express the main pain points of the users. Two of them are Art majors, and one is not art related.

Art History Major Persona #1:

Art addict #2:

Art lover #1:

Probelm - User POV

To finally refine the problem we are dealing with, I used the method of defining the problem in stages from the user's point of view.

Art person problem statement

Art related major people usually go to museums / exhibitions much more times than others, but they still wastes a lot of time to switch different websites all the time for getting updated information for their paper or purchasing tickets because there isn't a comprehensive app that provides all the needs

Non Art person problem statement

Not art major people they want to know more thing about artworks, and exhibitions nearby, but most of them have difficulty accessing the right platforms, such as an App and a website, which causes a feeling of uncertainty and discomfort.

User Flow

Authentication Process

Wireframes

Search Feature

Home Page

Purchase Process

User Profile

Branding

Museo is innovative, flexible, rand reliable. I tried to reflect through the choices of color and hybrid mode of accessing museums.

Design

By observing different museum websites, online exhibitions, and gallery websites, most of them use white or black as a primary color. As an art app, museum, art, and artist, it has to be the most noticeable factor on the screen. So I use black as my background color. Also, I use the gradient gold and silver because their functions are "jumping button", which means they can jump to another connected window and the solid colors are not.
"Gold, because of its natural association with wealth, represents generosity in heraldry. A metal that never tarnishes, it can also symbolize an elevation of mind. It is often depicted in heraldic art by the color yellow. Silver, meanwhile, conveys the meanings of peace and sincerity, and artists would often use white instead of actual silver, which tarnishes". (Tompson, 2017)

Thompson, Molly. “Meaning of Colors Used in Coats of Arms | Synonym.” Classroom.Synonym.com, 2017, classroom.synonym.com/meaning-colors-used-coats-arms-7348.html. Accessed 21 Dec. 2020.

Onboarding

Favorite Screen

Here clients can see their liked artist, read some basic introduction of the and artists jump to their pages.

Main Screen

On the main home page, clients can go to all different pages. They can search their artist on the search page, see their favorite artist list on the favorite page, add/drop items on the cart page, edit their profiles on the account page, go to the ranking page if they need to know what is popular at the moment, or directly jump to a recommended artist page showing in the home page.

Account Screen

There are three sub-pages, the account, the payment, and the history page. Clients can edit, change their passwords, change emails, and names. On the payment page, clients can manage their cards and connect to PayPal account. On the history page, clients can view the status of their past orders.

Search Screen

Clients can search for a specific artist or go to the recommended artist showing in the list on this page. And they can search by the filter on the right. The filter shows styles of artists, countries, distances near clients, and prices.

Ranking Screen

Clients can find four categories of artist, period, style, and location ranking if they want to know what is popular at the moment. On the ranking pages, clients are able to click the one artist they're interested in and jump to the detail page. There is a small icon on the right corner that can view by the opposite order of ranking.

Purchase Screen

Clients can see some general information about the artists and the works. By clicking the purchase button, it takes clients to the add/drop quantity. The next page then shows that clients have to choose ONE museum. They want to go to, and finally, choose cards or Paypal to pay the fee. After clients confirmed orders, it gives a QR and number of tickets and shows the museum's address how far it is from clients.
Click the button below the QR code, and it automatically jumps to the artist detail page. Clients can click the "eyes" icon to see the artist's all works or click the artist's specific art. Here clients can control the view, direction, and click buttons in the window to see the specific detailed explanation of artworks.

Conclusion

Museo is a fascinating project as my first UI UX work. It combines my undergraduate major with the new field I want to try, and it gives me a lot of inspiration and challenges during the process. Also, I start thinking about social problems around us; the needs people want, how we solve the problem, what challenges we have to face, and what form it can be in different ways. From the small interviews to collect data, I slowly broke the walls in front of me, and I enjoyed the entire process like I play games.

Museo APP