Timeline
4 Months
Platform
Web
Team
Freelance (solo)
My Role
UX Research, Development
Overview
Redesigning the Gallery Website
Old Website
Challenges
Improving the Online Gallery Experience
01
How might we improve artwork discovery for customers?
02
How might we simplify the process of scheduling a visit?
Solutions
From Wandering to Spotting the Right Piece
Filters on Artwork
With thousands of artworks available, it's crucial to help customers find what they’re looking for efficiently. The filter allows customers to refine artworks by various categories, such as artist, date, medium, and size, streamlining the discovery process.
Show More Artwork from the Artist
Displaying more artworks by the same artist on the artwork page allows customers to easily explore the artist’s collection. Each thumbnail includes the title, year, and dimensions, enabling users to quickly scan multiple pieces without clicking into each one.
Online Appointment Booking
The new online booking system allows users to schedule appointments seamlessly, removing the need for phone calls or emails. Customers can book directly from an artwork page, making it easier to schedule a visit as soon as they find a piece they like. Meanwhile, the gallery can manage all appointments efficiently in one place.
Mobile Friendly Website
I created a responsive website design that adapts to different screen sizes. This ensures customers can easily browse and shop for artwork on their phones without needing to zoom or deal with layout issues.
Outcome
Stronger Customer Engagement
“With the new booking system, we no longer have to spend so much time managing bookings over email and phone... It’s saved us a lot of time and made communication much smoother.”
Rawish Talpur, Arts Administrator
Increase
20%
Artwork Inquiries
Increase
20%
Booking Appointments
Increase
30%
Returning Website Customers
Research
Three Main Problems
To understand the artwork shopping experience on the old website and the gallery’s needs, I conducted stakeholder interviews with the gallery team and audited the existing website. I found three core issues.
1. Inefficient Artwork Browsing
Customers often search for artwork by specific categories such as artist, medium, year, or size. However, the old website lacked a filtering system, forcing them to browse artworks one by one, making it difficult and time-consuming to find what they wanted.
2. Manual Appointment Booking
Since the gallery doesn't sell artwork directly online, customers need to book appointments to view and purchase pieces in person. However, the appointment process relied on calls or emails, often resulting in missed calls, delayed responses, and scheduling conflicts.
3. Poor Mobile Experience
About 40% of visitors used mobile devices, yet the layout, text sizing, and navigation weren’t optimized. This made navigation difficult, leading to a customer leaving the website.
Ideation
When Filters Became Too Many…
We finalized ten filters in total, and displaying all of them at once felt too lengthy. To organize them, I conducted a paper-sorting exercise with the gallery team to prioritize the options. Each team member ranked the filters from most to least important.
Based on this input, I categorized the filters into two groups
Primary filters: The six most important options, displayed in an expanded state
Secondary filters: The remaining options, tucked into a dropdown to reduce visual clutter
This structure makes using the filters more approachable and less overwhelming, allowing customers to explore filters in smaller, manageable chunks.
Development
Build, Review, and Update
After building the website framework, I worked with the gallery team in review sessions using the real artwork collection to test usability. Through this process, I refined the design to ensure the site could present artworks across all price ranges and categories.
Team's Feedback
“Can we make the filters more visible?"
Initial Design: Side Drawer Filters
What I Learned
Learning from Stakeholders
Working closely with the gallery team was key to this project, as I was initially unfamiliar with the art industry. Their insights helped me understand their customers and how the artwork shop works, which guided the layout and informed my design decisions.
Bridging Design and Development
While developing the website, I learned how important the technical setup is to support the front-end experience. To make the filtering system work, I had to define details like artwork medium and size in the backend.
This process helped me understand how closely design and development need to work together to create a smooth and functional user experience.
