Artpilot case study
Artpilot is the digital tool for the people who make the art world work.
6 weeks · Solo project
SUS 78 · 80% task completion
Overview
Artpilot is a six-week project to digitise art-service bookings across mobile and web. As the sole designer, I led research, prototyping, testing, and branding. Two test rounds yielded a SUS 78 and 80% unmoderated task completion. Deliverables: a responsive design system, clearer language, and faster booking for novices and experts.
Overview
The project at a glance
Role: Solo Product/UX Designer (research → IA → prototyping → testing → visual/brand)
Scope: Mobile and responsive web for art-service booking and order management
Timeline: 6 weeks (2025)
Team: Sole designer; collaborated with stakeholders and test participants.
Deliverables: Research plan and synthesis, task flows, prototypes, design system with documented accessibility, brand kit, presentation decks
Tools: Figma, Miro, Google Forms
Case study sections
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Section 1 of 8
Project summary & introduction
A video showing various screens, components and the logo animation for the project.
Summary
Artpilot is a six-week project to digitise art-service bookings across mobile and web. As the sole designer, I led research, prototyping, testing, and branding. Two test rounds yielded a SUS 78 and 80% unmoderated task completion. Deliverables: a responsive design system, clearer language, and faster booking for novices and experts.
Problem
Art services are still booked by email/phone, causing errors and delays. Clients can’t compare scope or pricing, and providers lack critical site details up front.
Role and responsibilities
End-to-end product design: research plan → interviews/surveys → flows → wireframes → hi-fi prototypes.
Ran moderated/unmoderated usability tests, synthesised findings, and iterated.
Defined brand (personality, logo) and applied identity to key mockups.
Built a lightweight design system (tokens, components, docs).
Wrote product copy and alt-text patterns for clarity and accessibility.
Goals
Replace ad-hoc comms with a guided booking flow to cut back-and-forth.
Make pricing, scope, and requirements clear before checkout.
Support novices and professionals without added complexity.
Establish a responsive, accessible design system.
Key challenges
Reducing intimidation for newcomers while respecting expert workflows.
Explaining service types, pricing, and lead times in plain language.
Capturing the right job details early without overwhelming users.
Balancing a friendly tone with a minimal, “white-cube” aesthetic familiar to galleries.
Constraints
Time/team: 6 weeks, solo → focused on booking; inventory/framing consults remain at wireframe.
Participants: Small, Toronto-centred interviews → directional insights; unmoderated testers from 5+ regions.
Field access: Limited on-site observation → used interviews/scenarios for edge cases.
Prototype: Figma only → performance untested; success/error/empty states documented.
The before and after
Before: Many providers (incl. a 20+-employee Toronto firm with blue-chip clients) still process orders by email, with multi-day replies, unclear pricing, and missing site details.
After (prototype): Guided booking with upfront requirements, clearer language, and comparative pricing—validated by SUS 78 and 80% task completion in unmoderated tests.
Left: Without Artpilot: Superframe's online form showing confusing booking times and requiring 1-2 days for email followup.
Right: With Artpilot: A confirmation screen including order information. The prototype ensure immediate confirmation, and limits the need for followups.
Section 2 of 8
Testing, feedback, and iteration
Understanding the stakeholders
Alongside defining user groups, I mapped key stakeholders—art handlers who perform the labour and businesses that might use a white-label version. Feedback from handlers exposed gaps between existing intake forms and on-site needs. I built those requirements into the booking flow with auto-fill: common cases are pre-populated; users add details only when a job falls outside the standard.
Insight → decision → evidence
Ex. 1: Service clarity
Insight: Interviewees confused by overlapping service terms (e.g., “delivery vs. installation”).
Decision: Consolidated into a single labelled flow and removed overlapping service blocks.
Evidence: In moderated tests, participants who were confused dropped from 3/5 → 0/5.
Ex. 2: Pricing transparency
Insight: Interviews surfaced confusion regarding install complications (“stairs,” “oversized works”) and were unsure of price increases or turned off by language regarding these considerations.
Decision: Added scoping questions early in the flow to surface complexity before checkout and modify language to remove anything that could blame on the user.
Evidence: Unmoderated tests: No participants flagged this as a concern after changes were made vs. 2/5 in baseline flow.
Ex. 3: Device breakpoints
Insight: Art handler noted that gallerists/collection managers use desktop during office hours, not just mobile.
Decision: Designed a browser-based version and expanded design system for responsive use.
Evidence: 100% of participants from these user group said they would be more likely to use the new desktop based service while still saying that they would be interested in using the mobile app for personal projects and checking statuses.
Process
Method |
|---|
Goal |
|---|
Participants |
|---|
Semi-structured interviews
3 (art handler, art consultant, artist)
Understand pain points in booking, quoting, and coordination.
Competitive audit
5 comparators (Framebridge, Pikto, TaskRabbit, etc.)
Identify service booking models and gaps.
Moderated usability tests
5 (mix of novices and art professionals)
Validate flows, identify friction in service definitions.
Unmoderated prototype tests
6 online participants
|
Survey (Google Forms)
6 responses (mixed roles and locations)
Gauge clarity of terminology, pricing expectations.
Design artefacts in Miro and Google forms used for user testing.
Section 3 of 8
Prototyping & early validation
Promising early feedback
Starting with low-fidelity screens to test task flow and terminology, then moving to mid-fidelity to explore layout and hierarchy. Early testing showed users enjoyed comparing service options before committing, so I added a services overview with short descriptions, typical lead times, and common add-ons. Initial testing yielded promising results:
SUS of 78 across iterative rounds. SUS administered post-test; scores directional given small-n.
80% of unmoderated participants followed the intended flow without assistance.
Participants strongly preferred the prototype over existing form + email flows.
Low fidelity wireframes made for usability testing and determining layouts.
Section 4 of 8
Refinements & design system
Move fast and have a plan
Interviews with commercial users (collection managers, gallerists) confirmed the need for a desktop experience alongside the app, so I designed a browser-based counterpart. Knowing this from the outset, I planned the system for multiple breakpoints—standardising icons, adjusting typography and layouts, and streamlining flows per context (mobile → desktop). Front-loading these responsive requirements sped up iteration; heavy use of Figma variables and sticker sheets enabled quick, cross-component changes later despite the initial setup cost.
Icon sizes for the basic set at 5 sizes to ensure standardized layouts across different screen sizes.
Section 5 of 8
Brand identity
Friendly institutional efficiency
Artpilot balances a friendly, approachable tone with a minimal “white-cube” aesthetic of the art world. The brand promise—approachable, museum-quality services—brings the rigour of a gallery to the user’s door without intimidation. The typeface Suisse by Swiss Typefaces provides a workhorse sans-serif with excellent readability along-side support for a wide variety of languages and condensed styles applicable for packaging, signage, uniforms and shipping labels.
Above: A large billboard advertisement showing the brand's playful yet task-oriented identity.
Below: A mockup of a truck used in shipping. Due to the nature of services offered, the logo needed to be highly legible and work well on transport trucks.
Section 6 of 8
The prototype
Most important flow: Placing an order with the app
Flow: App home → New order → Ordering forms 1-5 → Confirmation
This video illustrates the ordering flow showing the streamlined process. Autofill fields and concise summaries reduce complexity; only relevant details are shown, and most answers are pre‑populated. Users mainly confirm each step, which feels like interacting with an in‑store sales associate and keeps cognitive load low. Animations during loading screens help retain interest and confirmation and pricing are clear.
Interactive prototype
Try it yourself! Try scheduling a technician to deliver your completed frames.
Section 7 of 8
Accessibility considerations
Considering ability from the start
The design uses high‑contrast text by default, and alt text and semantic headings are documented in the designs to aid screen‑reader navigation. Typographic guidelines informed line spacing and character sizes, and icons are paired with labels when appropriate and given appropriate accessibility tags.
Headings follow a simple, linear hierarchy; no skipped levels.
Clear, descriptive link text (avoiding “Click here” or bare numbers).
Minimum 44px / 48dp tap targets; focus states are visible and consistent.
Form labels are explicit; helper text explains why we ask for a field when appropriate.
Error messages use plain language and provide a next step.
Motion is subtle and non-blocking; no essential information is conveyed by motion alone.
Colour contrast meets or exceeds WCAG AA; do not rely on colour alone to signal state.
Alt-text patterns prioritise purpose and unique visual information; decorative images are marked decorative.
Card states showing elevation states included to help users with low vision.
Section 8 of 8
Learning and outcomes
Outcomes
By the numbers
System Usability Scale (SUS) of 78.
80% of unmoderated participants completed the intended flow.
What I delivered
Mid- to high-fidelity mobile prototypes for booking, order review, and confirmation.
A browser-based counterpart for gallerists/collection managers who work at a desk.
Brand identity applied across UI, motion, and key touchpoints (packaging, signage, transport mock-ups).
What I’d do next
Explore a consult flow implementing AR as a way to view frame mockups
Flesh out inventory features and test the possibility of the platform being a full service inventory management system for galleries/collections.
Explore the possibility of AI integration to have a LLM manage smaller consults.
Impact of the project
Reduced ambiguity by standardising service names, product offerings, and early scoping questions.
Increased confidence through visible order status, clear timelines, and predictable actions.
Created a reusable system of tokens and components that speeds future work and ensures consistency.
Learning
Language is a design material; swapping jargon for task-oriented labels meaningfully changes behaviour.
A small set of high-leverage questions early in the flow prevents costly back-and-forth later.
Designing for people who book on behalf of others surfaces edge cases that improve the experience for everyone.
Overview
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info@gregmccarthystudios.com
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