Dates: Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
Where: TUD
Type: UI/UX, Research, Dev
Explore A New Art Perspective
Why Decolonise The Art Narrative?
A Personal Reflection / Lack of Celebration
My journey with Artifakt started as a personal reflection on my own knowledge of art. Growing up with the British education system, I felt disconnected from my Indian heritage. I started questioning why the art of other cultures wasn’t equally represented or celebrated with the same enthusiasm as European art.
Missing Stories
I realised that many stories are absent from European art, and there is an assumption that non- Western communities are inferior to Western progress (Meier, 2010). The history of African Britons is often neglected in the UK’s pictorial stories, with African children often depicted as “servants” in seventeenth-century portraits.
Non-Western Woman In Art
It also overlooked the narratives of non-Western women. After reading Mohanty's (1984) paper, Under Western Eyes, I learned that non-Western women were often grouped as a homogenous entity in Western feminism. Writers stereotyped them as domestic and family-oriented, while Western women were depicted as educated and modern. This reinforced the Western feminist perspective as the standard for women.
Conceptual Figma Snapshot - Art As A Universal Language
Concepts: Daily art features, global portraits, discussion boards, and statement collections to spark conversations around forgotten art narratives.
Daily Art Feature
Curated Art Galleries
Historical Collection
Artwork
Dynamic daily art feature to explore.
Historical and statement art curations.
Detailed information about artwork.
Add Insights To Art
Search Feature
Map (Discontinued)
Discussions
Allow users to add their interpretation.
Dynamic search function for art.
Discussions to spark important topics.
A Gallery Of Global Perspectives
Quality Over Quantity
Museum Curation / How To Tell A Story
Initially, I wanted to fill the space with as much art as I could. But I soon realised that impact comes from curation, not volume. Each piece needed to speak, to carry meaning. I found myself inspired by museums—the way they choose each work with care, weaving stories through every display.
Art Curations | HISTORICAL CURATION | Set 1
Cultural Journeys - Unheard Cultural Narratives
To capture unheard voices, I created "Cultural Journeys," showcasing art from different world regions. Each journey includes 3-4 mini-curations, exploring historical events or unique art styles from that region. This truly aims to highlight non-Western narratives.
Art Curations | STATEMENT PIECES | Set 2
Bite Sized Treasures - Art As A Statement
I also created smaller curated content, called Bite-Sized treasures. These have a thematic focus, serving as statements, designed to elicit a reaction from users.
User Needs Analysis
Situational Accessibility: Allow users to view art when they have travel constraints.
Centralised Artwork: Brings together different forms and kinds of marginalised art.
Community: Discuss art and culture with other users of common interests.
Developed App Snapshot - Coded It Myself!
I put together my Figma concepts and coded Artifakt on React Native. This is a snapshot overview of the major screens.
Daily Art Feature
Curated Art Galleries
Historical Art (Cultural Journeys)
Dynamic daily art feature to explore.
Historical and statement art curations.
Historical collections that feature various regions.
Curation Within Historical Collection
Artwork Grid
Art Piece
Historical collections reveal the richness of diverse cultural voices.
Invites exploration of art, challenging Eurocentric narratives.
Contextual information that amplifies the cultural voices behind the art.
Bite-Sized Treasure
Artwork
User Insights
Art becomes a voice for urgent and timeless conversations.
A universal language to express human experience and belief.
User contributions expand dialogues around art.
Adding Art To Favourites
User Favourite Boards
User Liked Pieces
Save artworks for study, reference, or inspiration.
Users can organise saved artworks into custom boards.
A simple like feature for saving artworks outside boards.
Art Charities For Donations
Search Page Filters
Search Feature
Instant access to donate toward meaningful causes.
Dynamic, engaging filters for smarter searches.
A straightforward search for favourite pieces.
All Discussion Boards
Weekly Discussion
User Liked Pieces
Weekly, seasonal discussions with images and tags.
3-4 curated links to articles and studies for deeper insight.
Interactive space for sharing thoughts and replies.
How Discussion Board Work
Curated Discussion Boards
Artifakt sparks weekly, event-driven discussions on art through curated articles and videos. From exploring dragon symbolism during Chinese New Year to other timely themes, it keeps conversations alive and evolving.
Initial Sketches
After gaining a basic understanding of Artifakt as a digital art gallery - aimed at showcasing unheard narratives beyond Europe - I began sketching ideas. I also received early feedback on layout and buttons and incorporated it.
Competitor Analysis
Conducted a competitor analysis of three mobile applications, gaining insights into the market. Google Arts & Culture offers a vast art library and gamified elements. Reddit provides a platform for community building and discussions. Instagram excels in features for saving and liking content in one place.
User Personas
Created three distinct user personas for potential Artifakt users, focused on those who would enjoy or benefit from the app. These personas include users learning about their own culture, viewing art from their home, and educating others about art.
Design System
Figma Prototypes
Daily Art Feature
Art Curations
Liking An Artwork
Creating A Favourites Board
Figma Prototypes - Feedback
Discussion boards are unique and helpful to create dialogues about specific themes and pieces. It is much harder to do on something as expansive as Google or Reddit.
I like to put my cultural influence in my art but can’t find that many artists that do the same….it will be so helpful for me to get inspiration and be inspired by similar artists.
Artifakt is extremely useful as a research tool for finding connections between the art world and topics I am writing about in my paper. I can easily reference the curations.
Addressing Accessibility
Settings: Default Text
Settings: Small Text
Settings: Large Text
Light Mode / Settings
Light Mode / Artwork
Dark Mode / Settings
Dark Mode / Artwork
Gives users a preference of dark and light modes.
Accessible for people with vision difficulties.
Final App Video Snapshot - Coded Myself!
A final set of videos from the Artifakt app, developed in React Native for iPhones (mainly iPhone 8 and above). All images are sourced from Wikipedia or online museums, stored in Firebase Firestore, and cached locally to reduce fetch calls.
Post login, viewing a cultural journey and creating an insight
Exploring a bite-sized treasure, liking, and saving to boards
Commenting on the weekly discussion and reporting spam
Searching for Frida Kahlo's artworks with the search tool
Making a change by looking at charities to donate to
Final Insights
Intuitive Design: User ratings and timings showed Artifakt’s interactions are intuitive and efficient.
Balanced Speed: Speed of the tasks is not the main priority, but users still completed tasks smoothly.
Positive Feedback: Quantitative feedback confirmed the app supports exploration while maintaining usability.
Artifakt - A Gallery Of Global Perspectives
