What Has Social Media Done For Me Lately? UX Exploration In Possible Solutions For Artists Working Against the Algorithm. A case study.

Problem

Artists need a way to create more business and network with VIP’s because their current tools don’t set them up for success in an industry with vague guidelines as to how to be successful.

Through speaking with peers I explored potential obstacles artsists face in an online society. Through discussion some key pain points stuck out to me.

• Struggles with or no marketing
• Feels limited to Instagram
• Instagram feels toxic
• Would like more critical discussion and REAL feedback
• Stronger connection to community
• Achieves most opportunities through networking

This prompted me to dig a little deeper. I wanted to find out the level of success artists are experiencing. So i conducted online research to get as much data as I could to find out:

1. What percentage of artists are making a living doing their work?
2. How does social media help?

The Data

The most helpful data I found was a study by the Creative Independent from 2018. It surveyed 1,016 visual artists to capture information on artist’s financial success and its factors.

Some key findings were annual income for artists. A large chunk of artists make below median income while supplementing their practice with income outside of their art. While still potentially making above median income some were still supplementing art while only 17% make 75–100% of their income through artwork.

In addition to financial information it was important to look into how artists were getting recognized. Typical ways artists are discovered are networking and publishing, but I wanted to take a look at how social media effects the artist experience. Because I was unable to find a healthy amount of data as how social media specifically effects artists, I felt it was relevant to look at the areas social media (specifically Instagram) does have an effect on.

While social media can undoubtedly be a beneficially tool for artists (or anyone for that matter), it’s business is really catered to advertising. Not only that the bulk of its most circulated content on a whole doesn’t have much to do with art. Looking at and article from Brand Watch on the most liked instagram posts of 2020 unsurprisingly the top content consisted mostly of posts from Kylie Jenner, Cristiano Ranaldo, and Selena Gomez. Oh and an egg.

I also wanted to look at Instagram’s business. How are they making money? What drives their platform?I did a little digging and pulled some key points from Oberlo and Hootsuite.

• In 2020 Instagram earned $18.16 billion in ad revenue.
• 81% of people use instagram to help research products.
• 25 million businesses are on Instagram as of 2018.
• 71% of businesses use Instagram.
• From 2018–2019 influencer publishing sponsored content grew 133%.

Naturally these numbers lead me to the conclusion that Instagram isn’t in the business of elevating creatives. Perhaps not anyone. What this info (and probably anyone that has ever used the app) tells me is that Instagram is an advertising platform.

So what other platforms exist for artists to showcase their work and get recognized?

Tumblr

Tumblr really has some great content if you know where to look but at times feels aimless as there no real structure to it’s content. You can find anything from art, memes to porn on the site. In essence it’s just a content management system not to mention it’s kind of lost it’s relevence.

Deviant Art

If you enjoy illustrations, anime, CGI, concept art, fantasy, etc. then look no further. It’s been a while but I can remember DA as a very supportive community for artists of the like. That said if you’re looking to advance yourself as a fine artist this probably isn’t the place for you as I highly doubt artist representation keeps an eye out here.

Behance

By far the most useful of these three, Behance allows you to connect with jobs and show off your process. It’s a great platform especially if you’re looking for corporate gigs. That said, it feels a little light on the fine art side of things.

There are a handful of other platforms out there but none seem to really offer a robust toolbox for artists looking to get connected to galleries and representation. Nor do they offer critical feedback other than likes or comments that offer little substance other than validation.

So where does that leave us?

Solution

What if there was a social media platform designed especially for artists that created a community that not only connected artists with the VIP’s the need to get places but the critical discussion that pushes them forward?

What if there was an app that offered:

• Feedback, not comments! Artists are required to participate in 5 critiques monthly
• No likes! Metrics measured by feedback
• Access to galleries, reps, and educators (also required to critique)
• 6 month rotating artist feature for every artist
• CV and Portfolio

Sounds good right? I took a week to develop a rapid prototype addressing artists pain points and incorporating the features above.

Design Process

Through the prototyping phase i created a user flow, sketches, and a clickable prototype in Balsamiq.

First was a basic user flow of the onboarding process and creating a new post.

Next would be some basic screens for onboarding, homepage, and adding a new post.

Finally a more robust clickable prototype.

Taking Things Further

After rapidly developing a prototype for a week there were obviously some things I’d love to add. If time and resources were to allow I’d love to:

• Research on how Breakthru can help gallery owners and representatives
• More artist interviews
• Firming up features
• Branding
• Usability testing
• BIPOC and LGBTQIA focus
• Events implementation
• Workshop implementation
• E Commerce and marketplace

While I might be moving on to new projects, this will still be on my mind and hope maybe to develop this more with a bigger team as this could be a crucial tool for artists especially post pandemic.