Apostrophe Art
Empowering Artists 🧑🎨 with Tools to Streamline Their Business
Apostrophe Art is a business management SaaS app that empowers artists
to streamline their inventory and sales management.
TEAM
MY FOCUS
4 Designers
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Designed inventory upload flow using industry-specific fields and descriptors
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Designed payment processing flow with quick select sales options
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Conducted usability testing and iterated on core features
MY ROLE
IMPACT
User & Market Research
Wireframing & Prototyping
Usability Testing
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Increased efficiency of inventory upload flow, reducing time on task 1m46s → 1m3s (-43s)
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Optimized speed of creating sale, increasing task success 60% → 80% (+20%)
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Increased perceived ease of use 3.6/5 → 4/5 for sales generation
Our client, Apostrophe Art, had a mission:
To end the starving artist stereotype
By giving them the tools to make art business management easier
How?
What's hard about it?
Let's find out!
Conversations with artists revealed
USER INSIGHTS
OPPORTUNITY
"I find it hard to keep up with my inventory when I'm busy because it's time-consuming and I don't have a system in place."
Inventory Management
Individual and bulk art upload process with relevant art-specific details and descriptors
"I regularly compile a view of my entire portfolio or a curated selection because it is important to show potential clients."
Portfolios & Catalogs
Quick and easy generation of customizable catalogs
Payment Pain Points
Integrated payment processing with automatic release of funds upon confirmed receipt
Database of client contact information for easy follow-up and customer relationship management (CRM)
"It's important to me as an artist to
receive payment, ideally without having to constantly personally follow up."
Relationship Management
"I value my network of artists and curators because I rely on trust and word of mouth to lead me to more opportunities."
OPPORTUNITY
OPPORTUNITY
OPPORTUNITY
How does Apostrophe Art differ from competitors?
BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Artist First
While competitor products also serve galleries and collectors, Apostrophe focuses on artists' needs.
Mobile Forward
Apostrophe is the first to offer a mobile forward solution, which reflects user trends of preferring mobile over desktop.
Custom Dropship API
Apostrophe's seamless
print dropshipping API optimizes the experience for both artists and collectors.
The question
How might we make the process of tracking inventory and selling art more efficient and tailored to artists?
Design Inspiration
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY: A VISIT TO AN ART GALLERY
Simple clean lines that add structure without drawing attention
Using shadows and opacity to add texture without color
Real objects for scale
Minimalist aesthetic that emulates a familiar setting for artists
Organizing art into themed clusters
Persona: Who are we solving for
Journey Map: Where and how can we help?
(Hover to see how we can improve Morgan's journey!)
Core Experiences
ART UPLOAD
Earlier iterations had descriptors separated into sequential screens but after usability testing I learned that having all descriptors on one screen was a smoother experience
QUICK SELECT SALES GENERATION
PAYMENT PROCESSING & SALES TRACKING
43s decrease in time on task
Not only is Stripe a trusted provider, it solves one of our artists' core problems of not being paid. Once the collector confirms receipt of the artwork, the funds are automatically released to the artist, which is convenient for the buyer and worry-free for the seller.
Previously, the sales generation flow started with a search screen and an option to browse for artworks to sell.
However, testing revealed that this step required recall, which slowed users down.
To reduce cognitive load and optimize for the speed of on-the-spot sales, I added a Quick Select option with artwork that was recently included in catalogs sent to potential buyers
This resulted in a 14s decrease in time-on-task, increasing the efficiency of this flow which translates into greater potential conversion for the artist, ultimately encouraging user engagement by demonstrating the value of this feature.
My goal for increasing the efficiency of this flow is to reduce friction for users, which will lower dropoff rates in usage, enhancing user retention.
To fulfill the user requirement of providing multiple payment methods, and the business requirement of supporting payment processing in-app, I designed a flow that included a Stripe integration that would allow both in-person sales or invoice generation.
Conclusion
MISSIONS ACCOMPLISHED
Our client project concluded with a complete V1 prototype that is ready for development.
Additionally, this prototype was used by our client, Apostrophe Art in a pitch to YCombinator.
LEARNING PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS
In the weeks and months following the launch of the Apostrophe App, we recommend our clients to keep track of the following metrics and analytics to evaluate whether the platform is resonating with our audience as intended.
Engagement
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Volume of uploaded artwork
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Monthly art sales volume
Retention
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Daily Active Users
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New and Returning Users
Task Success
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Time to generate catalog
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Error rate in shipment tracking
