%20(Stroke).png)
In Kenya, many artists are talented. There are a lot of studios and galleries where the artists work and keep their artwork. Most of them rely on art galleries for exposure and to sell their paintings. Another way they sell their paintings is through art expos and studio visits. It would be beneficial for artists to showcase their work to a wider audience outside of Kenya without waiting for potential buyers to come and find them in their studios and galleries.
How might we empower East African Artists through modern technology to showcase their talents and work on an International stage?
I’ve designed a mobile app that Kenyan and other East Africans artists can use to upload their paintings for sale and where buyers in the US can find Kenyan artwork. The app will be available in the US to begin. Later, it will expand to include other countries around the world.
UX Design, UI Design
UX Researcher, UI/UX Designer
Figma
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Personas
User Flows
Wireframes
Visual Design
Secondary research was useful for this project, as there are many art selling sites that have good ideas that I could learn from. As I looked at these site, I tried to determine how many East African artists were using or selling on these sites. I also tried to find Art for Sale from East Africa region by searching the listings.
My main discovery from this research was that generally speaking “African Art” on such sites is usually not produced by East African Artists, but is usually created by artists from other countries. This confirmed my problem of trying to empower East African Artists to sell their work on an international stage.
After identifying a problem during my secondary research, I then found real artists in Kenya who have either sold art internationally or may desire to. I found six people through my connections in my hometown of Nairobi, as well as through Twitter. I created a template for the interviews, but also let the conversations lead where they went. Through these interviews, I was able to identify pain points and define the problem more clearly.
Some questions asked included:-
After the interview, I did affinity mapping so I could identify patters and themes from the data I got after user research. Through the patterns I identified, I was able to make 1 user persona names James. He represents the artist form East Africa.
I did HMW and POV statements to help me keep focus on my user and their needs and Insights about them. Below are the three HMW statements I chose to focus on:-
Pain Points:-
-Difficult to get their work exhibited in galleries that align with their style
-Lack of information about which online marketplaces are available to sell artwork.
-Galleries taking commissions when they sell their art.
My biggest research insight was that East African artists don’t even know where to sell their art because no platforms were built for them to showcase their talents.
By creating Africanvas, I am solving this problem in the sense that there will be a platform just for them and Artists truly from East Africa. Additionally, making it easy to sell to the US directly solves a lot of their problems around payments and shipping to a foreign country.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
I created a sitemap to visualize the placement of all the features I developed and to establish a clear visual representation of the app's layout.
Before creating lo-fidelity wireframes, I first outlined the various flows through Africanvas. I came up with these three main flows:-
-Signup & Login
-Buying a Work of Art
-Selling a Work of Art
For each of the flows, I focussed on a specific use case to ensure I covered all steps. For the Buyer and Seller flows, I used the case of a “Landscape painting”, as this helped to think through the Search and Categorization.
I began by designing low-fidelity wireframes to provide a clearer visualization of how and where
the content will be.
Once I finalized the mid fidelity wireframes and as I was gathering feedback, I compiled a style tile and UI components for Africanvas. I chose two brand colors which are a vibrant shade of purple and burnt orange.
The idea behind using these colors was because orange in color psychology is usually associated with energy, warmth, enthusiasm, and creativity. It's a vibrant and attention-grabbing color that can create a sense of excitement.
In Africanvas app, using orange can convey a message of creativity, passion, and enthusiasm for art. It can encourage users to explore, discover, and engage with the artistic content available on the platform. Orange can also create a sense of urgency, urging users to take action, such as making a purchase or interacting with the app's features.
For purple, it's associated with creativity, luxury and sophistication. It can evoke a sense of mystery and uniqueness.
In Africanvas, purple can communicate a sense of artistic elegance and uniqueness. It can appeal to users who appreciate fine art and creative expression, which is what the app is aiming to achieve. Purple can also create a feeling of luxury and exclusivity, which might align with the idea of selling unique and valuable artworks.
After receiving feedback and prioritizing, I made the change and went ahead to create Hi fidelity wireframes.
With the iterations implemented, I went ahead to design Hi Fidelity wireframes
One of the most surprising discoveries I had during this project was realizing just how little of the “African Art” sold on most global online Art Marketplaces is produced by artists not from Africa.
I had imagined this might somehow be true but it was very surprising to see how underrepresented African Artists are. This made me realize an app like Africanvas truly would help to give African Artists more exposure.
After chatting with Kenyan Artists, I realized that most of them had a different view of Prints compared to Americans. In the US, many prefer prints because they’re significantly cheaper.
However, Kenyan Artists typically don’t ever get requests for prints and haven’t considered making them. The goal of Africanvas is to sell only original art. This would make it unique and also fit the needs more of East African Artists.
It might take some work to market only original art platform to an American Audience, since the art will be higher cost.