Artivity
Context:
There are many reasons and benefits as one picks up a certain craft or hobby. Hobbies such as crafting have also seen a great rise in popularity due to the pandemic, personal enjoyment, decreasing stress or anxiety, sustainability, or entrepreneurship.
About
Art + Productivity = Artivity
Art and productivity combine in an exciting new app for creatives! On Artivity, users can create projects and to-do lists to manage every step of your project. Users can also create “brain dumps” to store their thoughts, tips, tricks, and more all in one-convenient place.
Time: 100 hours, December 2023- January 2024
Role: UX/UI Designer and Researcher
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Whimsical, Maze, Google Meet
Problem
As an avid crafter and hobbyist myself it can be stressful to know where to begin sometimes with your artistic projects.
I wanted to explore ways to help users throughout the various stages of their projects. This included ways to mitigate stress a new hobby might cause, be it from forming inspiration to managing one’s time.
Research
I want to know what crafters/hobbyists need to finish their projects (beginning, middle, and end) so that I can create an app to assist them in a helpful and non-stressful way.
For my research, I used the following methodologies: Competitive Analysis, User Survey, and User Interviews.
Competitive Analysis
For my competitive analysis, I compared Pinterest, Joann, and Notion. I used these apps as they all have features I am planning to explore in my product.
There is currently no all-in-one place for artists and hobbyists to manage projects, store notes, and look for inspiration. The apps I researched in my competitive analysis had one or two of these features, but never all of them. I also used my competitive analysis as an opportunity to brain storm potential features I would like to include on Artivity.
User Survey
I used my survey as an opportunity to gain similar information from my user interviews, as well as an opportunity to gain insights on certain tracking habits.
One metric I was interested in learning was how many people actually used something to track or manage their projects.
“Depends on Project” and “No” were the most popular options. Participants noted the nature of their hobby or project not needing their progress tracked as you can see it immediately (ie: knitting).
“Yes” was closely behind as well in the responses. Participants noted apps and websites as their preferred method to keep track of the progress.
I also used my survey as an opportunity to gauge the importance of possible features as well. I was mostly interested in seeing how important the following was:
Tracking progress
Having a place to store notes, tips, and other important info
User Interviews
For my user interviews, I wanted to learn more about how crafters and hobbyists find inspiration for their projects and how they manage the various stages and aspects of their projects. I also wanted to discover any challenges and frustrations they might have as well.
Participants:
I interviewed individuals ranging in age from their 20s- 40s with various artistic hobbies
The following patterns and pain points were discovered from my interviews:
The reason participants chose their craft or hobby was due to the following:
Wanted to learn something new
Had a general like of making things and seeing the finished outcome
The iPhone’s Notes App was a popular “brain dump” for many participant’s ideas, notes, and supply list
A majority of participants had no set planning process
One participant did use a paper planner to keep track of goals and other items they wanted to accomplish
Other participants would look at their supplies and go from there
Participants were mixed on the level of how much they would track their project’s process
This ranged from not tracking at all, to tracking mentally, or using a planner or something similar to track
Participants used sites such as Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram to get ideas, inspiration, and tips for their projects
Participants also liked the interaction social media apps offered. This included being able to interact with the creator and followers.
Define
From my research, I began to synthesize my findings to identify common pain points and other problems artists and hobbyists might experience.
Affinity Map
I then used an affinity map to help organize and identify the various patterns I discovered through my interviews and survey.
Hobby of Choice
Project Planning
Tools Used
Tracking Projects
What causes frustration regarding their hobby
What brings joy regarding their hobby
Problem Statements
To help guide my final design of Artivity, I created the following problem statements. I also used these statements to help in my decision-making when coming up with the key featured of Artivity.
Crafters, hobbyists, artists, etc. use a variety of methods to manage their projects, supplies, and inspiration! This can include using multiple apps and resources to a simple to-do list. It can get overwhelming using multiple methods, or having no clear organization method at all.
Many people take up a hobby as a way to unwind and relax at the end of the day or on the weekends. Although their hobby is supposed to be a stress-free activity, some aspects of it can be stressful! This includes perfectionism, as well as general learning struggles as well.
How might we eliminate the need for multiple apps to find inspiration and ideas?
How might we assist users in organizing their resources and other important information they need for their artistic projects?
How might we provide a stress-free way to manage the various stages of an artistic project?
User Personas
To finalize my research, I then created the following user personas to represent possible users of Artivity. I created these personas to help visualize the end user for when it came time to design Artivity and its features.
Meet Greta Mae Evans!
Greta loves to de-stress and take her mind off work by knitting and crocheting.
She is looking for a more organized way to store the tips she comes across on social media as well as find new ideas and inspiration for upcoming projects.
The biggest frustration for Greta is dealing with perfectionism and over thinking the small details of a project.
Meet Isabel Mercado!
Isabel has recently begun selling her art online and is looking for something to help her organize her upcoming projects and thoughts related to her business.
She hopes to continue to improve her skills while learning new ones as well.
Isabel also relies in inspiration and trending ideas for new pieces to make and sell.
Reflection
Topic of Choice
I enjoyed working on and researching a project with a topic that spoke closely to me. As a creative and artistic person, I found wanting to create an app related to this topic kept me invested through the research process. I highly enjoyed my user interviews and getting to talk to fellow creatives and hearing them talk about their various projects and hobbies and discussing how a product like Artivity could possibly help them out in their creative process.
With my research completed, I was then able to continue on with the visual design process of Artivity. My Visual and UI Design Case Study can be found below: