Art Jammers
CLIENT
Personal Project
DURATION
2 Months
INVOLVEMENT
Research
UX/UI Design
CHALLENGE
Limited organizers make it challenging to meet high event demand, leaving community needs unmet and risking disengagement. Additionally, low engagement outside events weakens community connection, while members express interest in hosting events without the long-term commitment of managing a group.
STRATEGY
A dynamic platform fostering the sharing of artworks, hosting informal events, and providing a supportive forum for amateur artists in Tokyo to make meaningful connections through art.
An international urban sketching group in Tokyo
While working in Tokyo, I organized a Meetup group that takes people to different places every weekend to draw and paint. The term for this activity is called “urban sketching.” As the group grew, we encountered a few challenges, including coordination and communication. I had the idea to create an app to help alleviate these issues.
Feedback from regular members
To understand the pain points of my members, I sent out a questionnaire to our group chat, which has over 100 members, to identify common issues participants were facing:
84%
are open to organize sketching if they have complete freedom and guidance
76%
connect with people most during art sharing sessions
64%
revisit past artworks and the places they were created in
“It be nice to have more sessions throughout the week.”
“Wish there was an easier way to keep in touch with other participants and their art”
"The welcoming and non-judgmental environment keeps me coming back as a beginner."
General demographics - personas
Based on initial insights, I created two personas to track the main users and mitigate bias from being the primary organizer. I referred back to them throughout the design process when I found myself going off-track.
A platform for hobbyist artists to share their work and organize in-person hangouts
How might we streamline the organization of urban sketching events in Tokyo, meet community needs, and foster lasting connections through enhanced post-event engagement?
To answer this question, I returned to my findings and determined that creating a platform for amateur artists to share their works and organize casual hangouts would best meet their needs. I realized that my members were more willing to host informal events, rather than official ones organized by the group’s main organizers. This insight, alongside the feedback gathered from the group chat, validated the need for this platform.
User flows and wireframes
I created user flows and wireframes for the following features:
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Create and join events.
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Post artwork and interact with it.
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Start discussions.
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Profile and personal gallery.
I focused on the MVP, carefully avoiding unnecessary social media features, such as private messaging, to keep the platform simple and effective.
Discover places and join events
Discover places and create an event
Post an artwork and associate it with the location on the map
Discover artworks posted by other users
2 guerrilla usability tests (6 participants)
I conducted usability tests with six group members to gather feedback on the wireframes. Common insights included:
Pivot and more desktop research
After receiving feedback, I realized that the map feature was too ambitious and not feasible. Based on user feedback and technical limitations, I removed the map UI from the home screen and simplified the focus to event creation and art sharing for the MVP. A competitor analysis revealed a gap in the market for an event and art-sharing platform tailored to amateur artists in Tokyo.
Light branding and UI design
The initial design emphasized a robust map UI for locating event spots and associating artworks. In the second iteration, I took inspiration from Meetup's user-friendly interface and prioritized simplifying the event creation process for first-time organizers. To address the pain points of organizers, I integrated subtle design details to streamline the event creation process.
Putting everthing together...
With the understanding that this platform wasn’t meant to be a Meetup clone, I focused on the core features specific to creative events for the MVP. The design now centers around a dynamic forum that encourages the exchange of artworks, casual gatherings, and discussions.
1. Post informal events
The platform simplifies the process of organizing informal, casual art hangouts with friends, removing the pressure of being officially labelled the organizer.
2. Artistic forum where artworks are shared and discussed
Inspired by the in-person sharing sessions where participants show their work and receive feedback, the app allows users to filter posts by tools used and topic tags. This feature mimics the art sharing and feedback sessions from our sketching events.
3. Digital sketchbook
Users can look back at their past artworks, view the locations where they were created, and track their creative journey.
Reflection and next steps
This project has been deeply fulfilling, especially as the founder of the community. Balancing objectivity with in-depth research, focusing on MVP features, and pivoting based on feedback were both challenging and rewarding. It offered valuable insights into community needs and the process of building a user-centered platform. I’m now working with a few developer friends to build a prototype and test version one, so we can validate our ideas and continue refining the platform based on real user feedback.
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