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DESIGN PROCESS AT A GLANCE

PLANNING

RESEARCH

SPECIFICATION

DOCUMENT

BUILD

WIREFRAMES

CREATE

PROTOTYPE

ABOUT ANTHOLOGY

ROLE: UX DESIGNER | DURATION: 3 WEEKS | PROJECT STATUS: ONGOING

We live in the world where the world is rapidly shifting towards advanced technology that is actively involved in the lives of many people in the modern days. Photography is a form of art that has been around us for a very long time and has undergone many transformations spontaneously. Photographers thrive to capture the best moment to keep the memories visual forever. Many say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s true- one single photograph has a capability of invoking someone’s innermost emotions, inspire or change someone’s view or educate.

As the industry constantly produce more advanced cameras and equipment followed by software programs and tools to enhance the photography, many people developed interest in photography whether as to pursue in career or as simple as an enthusiasts. Social media has improved the significance of photography even more, as almost all platforms involve themselves with sharing photos digitally. Just consider Instagram for an example; photo sharing is the main common activity there. It is the most focal and exciting feature to engage in social interactions. They enable us to envision other people’s experience and present something that might not have been feasible to describe in words.

As photo sharing digitally has become on demand by photographers and enthusiasts, the more digital platforms have been created — Anthology is one of the many platform that would compete in the socially interactive photography industry.

My UX design team has been assigned to accommodate our client who is a founder of Anthology, a brand that’s mission goals align with creating a digital platform for photographers and enthusiasts to showcase their work to expand their network in professional manner as well as to build the community to buy and sell photographs to express support for another. Not only Anthology provide the service of professional and business interactions, it offers a tool service to let the users locate the perfect hotspot for photoshoots.

PROBLEM SPACE

The road to launch a successful career in photography is not always easy and requires a significant amount of exposure and publicity towards the photographer. They not only need resources to find the hotspots to shoot photos but also to maximize their exposure and to expand their professional network and earn income.

How might we create a digital space for users who are involved in photography to gain easy access to find best hotspots for photoshoots, professionally expand their exposure and earn income?

USER RESEARCH

Our team began conducting the research by first interviewing our ideal target users. From the interview, our team gathered insights that informed us the scope of professional photographers and photography enthusiasts and what exactly they are expecting from the digital space that can enhance their photography network. Our team was tasked with understanding the challenges that exist in the space of the photography industry. The interview consisted 7 participants in the ratio of 4 professional photographers and 3 enthusiasts.

From our user interviews we were able to clearly see what current tools enthusiasts and professionals were using to share, self promote and network. We were also able to hear about the challenges photographers face in gaining employment and being able to have control over the sale of their work. Below are some of research methodologies we have conducted:

• User Interview

• Competitor's Feature Analysis

• Moscow Map

• Feature prioritization

• Competitor's Matrix

After the interview, we gathered our observations and put them in an affinity map to organize and observe the pattern in the user’s perspectives and their experiences. This allowed our team to isolate key insights and quotes from user interviews and group them to common themes, goals, needs and pain points as well as to define the current problem space and how users currently face these issues.

PERSONA

From the insights we gained through our user’s interview and affinity mapping, we were able to create our personas; Johnny Brooks the professional photographer and Christina Brewer the enthusiast for photography. They are fictional characters that represents what our ideal users will be and allows us to empathize with their problems and needs. Based on our personas, our team asked ourselves,

“What kind of pain points are they experiencing within the digital platform and what do they need? How can we help them resolve these issues?”

USER JOURNEY

Although we came up with two personas to empathize with, we looked more in to Johnny, who we believe would be the primary user of the website as well as to be more likely to be active in subscribing for paid features as our client started to gear towards the subscription model for Anthology where certain features are to be paid for accessibility. By visualizing Johnny’s day into a journey map, it allowed us to get a perspective of a the day of his life of their user base. We were able to experience his daily routine and the emotional highs and lows. Then we were able to see where our product can help Johnny and our ideal users to feel more accomplished and satisfied by seeing opportunities on their pain points.

INSIGHTS TO FEATURES

Our team proceeded to start constructing our website by taking our key insights from our user research then conceptualize into our main features.

STYLEGUIDE

Anthology style guide is designed around photographer/artist's showcase and marketplace concept. Minimalistic style, neutral beige/pink color palette provide a welcoming feel that appeals to the photography portfolio/ social media/ marketplace industry.