Hand holding a smartphone displaying the Spectra app login screen with a blue abstract background and welcome message.

Spectra Case Study

Project Type:

Solo project completed in 6 weeks as part of the Google UX Certificate Program.

Chosen Prompt: Design an app for a public art museum to promote exhibitions and events and allow patrons to schedule visits.

Problem Discovery:

Many museum apps fail to reflect the vibrancy and creativity of the museums they represent.

Critical Questions:

What makes a museum experience memorable?

How can design create deeper, emotional connections with users?

94% of first impressions are influenced by design, and users form credibility judgements within 50 milliseconds. (Clique Studios)

Competitive Analysis: The Getty

Strengths:

  • Functional & easy navigation

  • Clear organization

  • Offers unique information

Weaknesses:

  • Visual Design feels generic & uninspired

  • Does not reflect the richness of the collections

Screenshots of a mobile app interface for exploring art and museum exhibits, including a woman viewing a painting in a gallery, exploration options, and details of an exhibit titled 'Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages' at the Getty Center.

User Interviews:

I conducted five interviews with frequent museum-goers, most of whom were students. I aimed to uncover common patterns in how they engage with museums and museum apps.

I started with two core questions:

  • What motivates you to visit museums?

  • What frustrates you about museum apps?

From these conversations, three recurring pain points emerged:

  1. Creativity disconnect

  2. Disorganized navigation

  3. Frustrating ticketing systems

To address those needs, I set three design goals:

  1. Reflect creativity

  2. Streamline navigation

  3. Seamless ticketing

User Flow:

Flowchart diagram illustrating the user journey within an app, including steps like onboarding, sign in/sign up, viewing homepage, exploring exhibitions, selecting exhibition details, buying tickets, and managing profile

Creating this user flow helped me map out how users interact with the app to complete key tasks. For example, purchasing a ticket might seem straightforward, but mapping out every step allowed me to identify potential friction points.

Wireframes

The wireframes were designed to logically organize content and ensure users could navigate seamlessly through the app. They served as a blueprint for refining the user flow and a foundation for iterative feedback, allowing me to make informed decisions about the layout and hierarchy of information.

A series of mobile app interface screens in grayscale, showing a workflow for event or ticket management, including onboarding, homepage, navigation, exhibition details, ticket purchase, profile, and ticket management.

Final Design:

Three smartphone screens showing the app interface of Spectra. The first screen displays a blue abstract background with the text "Welcome to SPECTRA" and options to sign in or sign up. The second screen shows a login page with an abstract blue background, email and password fields, and a sign-in button. The third screen features the app's home page with an announcement for interactive installations, a banner, and sections for exhibitions and events with images and details.

Bold visual identity

Smartphone app screens displaying event exhibitions, saved tickets, upcoming tickets, and user profile with profile picture, name, email, and settings options.

Intuitive navigation

Integrated ticketing

What I Would Do Differently:

Looking back, one thing I would do differently is push myself to seek feedback from other designers. Though all of my user feedback was incredibly valuable in understanding the perspective of typical users, I now realize I missed an opportunity to hear from designers who might have provided deeper insights into the app’s design, usability, and visual elements.

Collaborating with designers could have challenged me to think more critically about my design decisions, refine the user experience further, and perhaps uncover solutions I hadn’t considered. In future projects, I’ll make it a priority to incorporate this perspective alongside user feedback.