TicART - A Check-in App for an Art Gallery
Embedded Files
Timeline
Nov 2023 - Jan 2024
(12 Weeks)
Role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Deliverable
Mobile App
Platform
Figma
Project Vision
TicART is a mobile application designed to enhance how users interact with art galleries and exhibitions. It enables users to effortlessly book digital tickets, check in at events, discover nearby art experiences, and enrich their overall engagement with art.
This project was developed as part of my UX design portfolio, with a focus on showcasing my mobile design skills through a functional, user-centered experience.
Challenges as UX/UI Designer
◆ Design a seamless digital experience for booking tickets and checking in at art exhibitions.
◆ Help users remember upcoming events with smart, non-intrusive reminders.
◆ Enable users to find art experiences around their location, including galleries, exhibitions, street art, and pop-up events.
◆ Motivate ongoing engagement through an achievement that rewards exhibition check-ins.
Design Process
🙋 Empathize
User Research Summary
This project applied a goal-directed design approach focused on understanding user behavior through well-defined personas and their core needs. Two key personas were developed to guide the design process:
◆ Jade – An art student with a busy schedule, struggling to attend her favorite artist’s exhibitions on time.
◆ Joe – A casual art lover looking to discover and explore local art galleries in his hometown.
Personas
The primary goal for both users is to book and check in to art exhibitions easily and efficiently. However, these personas revealed a few common pain points:
◆ Users often forget ticket dates, leading to missed events due to lack of reminders.
◆ Users are unaware of nearby art galleries or events they might enjoy.
These insights highlighted clear opportunities to enhance the digital art experience, laying the foundation for TicART’s design direction in the next phases of the process.
Jade's Journey Map
Following the development of user personas, I created a User Journey Map based on Jade’s experience to better understand the steps, emotions, and potential pain points involved in booking a ticket and checking in for his favorite artist’s exhibition.
Goal: Book a ticket for his favorite artist’s exhibition.
This journey map served as a foundation for defining critical design requirements and features to enhance the overall user experience in the TicART app.
🎯 Define
Defining Pain Points
Based on insights from the personas and user journey map, I identified four key pain points that hinder the overall user experience when attending art exhibitions:
💡 Ideate
Potential Ideas
After completing the Empathize and Define phases, I identified key user pain points and turned them into solution-driven features. These ideas aim to create a smooth and engaging art exhibition experience tailored to users’ needs.
User Flow
After identifying user needs and generating solution ideas, I developed a User Flow to outline the primary journey within the app. This flow focuses on key tasks like booking tickets in advance and checking in at the art gallery, ensuring that the experience is both seamless and intuitive.
Information Architecture
To better understand the structure of the app and how users will navigate through it, I created an Information Architecture (IA) diagram. This IA maps out the app’s core features, including the main user flow for booking and check-in, as well as additional functionalities inspired by user needs and potential ideas
Competitive Audits
To position TicART effectively, I conducted a competitive audit of several digital ticketing platforms and museum websites. The goal was to evaluate their features, user experiences, and identify gaps—especially in the context of art exhibitions in Thailand.
Key Insights:
◆ There are no dedicated ticketing platforms for art galleries in Thailand, presenting a unique opportunity for TicART to become a niche solution in this space.
◆ Most platforms reviewed (e.g., popular event ticketing apps and museum websites) share common functionality:
Multi-platform support (desktop & mobile)
Simplified booking process with minimal steps
Digital-first approach: E-tickets, E-receipts, and Mobile Entry
Email integration for confirmations and reminders
Queue system for high-demand events (used selectively)
◆ Notable Competitor – MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Bangkok):
Booking still requires telephone reservations, which indicates a significant UX gap.
This legacy process underscores the potential value of TicART’s end-to-end digital experience.
Design Implications
The audit reinforces the need for TicART to offer:
◆ A mobile-first, seamless booking experience
◆ Queue and reminder systems for high-demand events
◆ Discovery features for local exhibitions, improving accessibility
◆ Integrated check-in and sharing features to boost engagement
✍️ Low-Fidelity Prototype
Paper Wireframe
To begin the design process, I created multiple paper wireframes for the home screen based on the core user flow and information architecture. This stage allowed for quick iteration and exploration of layout ideas before committing to a digital format.
Digital Wireframe
After finalizing the paper sketch, I translated the concept into a digital wireframe using Figma, covering each essential screen in the user flow.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Once the core pages of the main user flow were designed, I expanded the wireframes to include additional features identified during the ideation phase. Using Figma, I connected all screens into a clickable low-fidelity prototype to visualize and test the overall experience.
📋 Test
Usability Study
Conduct a moderated usability study with 5 Participants in a 25 - 30 minute session (4 males and 1 female with art and architecture backgrounds, ages between 20 to 30 years old)
The Research Goal is to determine if users can complete core tasks within the low-fidelity prototype of the app, which are booking a ticket, checking in at an art exhibition, and using the queue feature and Gallery Near You feature. Determine if the app is difficult to use for improvement before moving on to the visuals.
Research Insights
After the usability study, I organized data into research insights and prioritized those insights from the most urgent to the least urgent.
Refining the Design
After conducting usability testing on the low-fidelity prototype, I analyzed the feedback and identified areas for improvement in both functionality and user flow Based on these insights. These refinements informed the next stage: Developing the high-fidelity prototype, which reflects a more polished and user-ready version of the app.
🖥️ High-Fidelity Prototype
Mockups and High-Fidelity Prototype
After refining the low-fidelity prototype, I developed detailed mockups that visually reflect the final design direction. These mockups were then assembled into a high-fidelity prototype, incorporating key user flows and interactive features.
This prototype addresses the pain points identified during earlier research and integrates insights gathered from usability testing, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience throughout the app.
CHALLENGE 1
A Seamless Experience
TicART is designed to offer users a smooth, all-in-one journey from discovering art exhibitions to booking tickets and checking in with minimal page transitions. The entire process is digital, eliminating the need for printed tickets.
Tickets are issued as secure in-app E-tickets and can adapt to specific exhibition requirements, such as personalized names or age restrictions. Additionally, users can easily and safely transfer tickets to friends directly through the app, enhancing flexibility and convenience.
CHALLENGE 2
Queue
TicART features a queue system for high-demand art exhibitions. When an exhibition is announced, users can join a digital queue in advance. Once it’s their turn, the app notifies them via email, and they have 10 minutes to complete the ticket purchase before their slot expires. This system helps manage high traffic fairly while ensuring users don’t miss out on popular events.
CHALLENGE 3
Discover
TicART empowers users to explore art experiences around them, including galleries, outdoor exhibitions, street art, and local events. This feature encourages deeper interaction with their community while supporting and promoting local cultural happenings.
For instance, the city event Awakening Bangkok features 36 light installation showcases spread throughout the old town, designed to boost the local economy. TicART supports this event by providing an interactive map of the artworks and enabling users to check in as they visit each installation, enhancing both discovery and engagement.
CHALLENGE 4
Achievements & Collectibles
After checking into an art exhibition using an E-ticket within the TicART app, users can collect a digital card representing that exhibition. Each card features the main artwork and can be shared easily on social media. Some cards are exclusive, awarded only during special events like year-end wrap-ups, celebrations, or festivals, adding an extra layer of engagement and reward for users.
Design System
For this art gallery project, I chose Princeton Orange (#FF9500) as the primary color due to its vibrant and energetic qualities that symbolize movement and creativity. To complement this mood, I also selected supporting colors that enhance and balance the overall visual experience.
◆ Colors
◆ Typography : SF Pro Display
◆ UI Components
Key Takeaways
TicART was my first UX design project, developed during my learning journey through the Google UX Design Certificate Program. I chose a topic that resonated with me personally about art and gallery experiences, so I could stay motivated and bring genuine insight into the project. TicART is a mobile app designed to enhance art exploration by enabling digital ticket booking and exhibition check-in.
Throughout this project, I had the opportunity to merge my urban design background with new UX skills. I learned about user research, prototyping, and usability testing especially how to align user goals with seamless design.
While the process was valuable, I also learned some tough lessons:
◆ I spent too much time designing every detail of every screen in the high-fidelity prototype. While this helped me catch visual inconsistencies (such as how posters from different exhibitions appeared in the UI), it wasn't the most efficient use of time.
◆ In the future, I’ll focus more on key user flows that directly address user pain points, rather than covering every possible screen.
Following the prototype, I conducted a usability test with friends, which revealed minor visual and interaction issues that I addressed. Looking forward, here are my next steps for this project:
◆ Conduct additional user research to uncover new insights and refine the experience.
◆ Design a desktop version of the TicART platform.
◆ Meet with outdoor art event organizers to explore how the "Gallery" discovery feature could support real-world exhibitions and community events.
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