Boosting replay value for the National Gallery of Art's game and engagement.

Boosting replay value for the National Gallery of Art's game and engagement.

Skills Applied

Usability Testing, Interviewing, Thematic Coding, Moderating, Affinity Mapping, Mockups

Timeline

6 weeks (April 2024 - May 2024)

Team

Gerard Samson, Jiatong Gu, Jiten Thakkar, Michaela Jackson, Haochen Shen

In a collaboration between The National Gallery of Art and Pratt Institute, I lead a team of usability consultants to assess the usability of NGA's art guessing game, Artle, and past games page through user testing and ideate recommendations based on the results.

Client

The National Gallery of Art, founded as a gift to the nation, is a art & culture center holding over 150,000 diverse array of art pieces.

The National Gallery of Art, founded as a gift to the nation, is a art & culture center holding over 150,000 diverse array of art pieces.

Scope

  • Evaluating usability for Artle game and the past games page

  • Identifying pain points

  • Assessing game replayability

  • Ideating design solutions

  • Evaluating usability for Artle game and the past games page

  • Identifying pain points

  • Assessing game replayability

  • Ideating design solutions

Responsibilities

  • Scheduling user testing sessions

  • Synthesizing testing scenarios and tasks

  • Moderating user tests

  • Maintaining timelines and data

  • Ideating new gameplay

  • Editing the final report

  • Scheduling user testing sessions

  • Synthesizing testing scenarios and tasks

  • Moderating user tests

  • Maintaining timelines and data

  • Ideating new gameplay

  • Editing the final report

The Process: Staying faithful to client expectations in their personas and testing dimensions.

Kick-Off

To kick-off the project, the usability team met with clients to guide our project scope into the right direction.

Recruitment

We stayed faithful to the client's expectations in target population by also recruiting those who sought fun and interactive activities with themselves or for their kids (fun seekers), mobile users, new users, and art/museum affiliates.

Screening

A screener survey was sent through the School of Information at Pratt Institute as the population had a high likelihood of meeting participant criteria.

Study

A total of 11 participants participated in the in-person, moderated by researchers for a 30-minute, mobile-phone study to properly observe hand gestures. A pre-test and post-test were also applied to every session.

Research Results: Restructuring how-to-play instructions, past games button, art information, past game filters, and gameplay to relieve user pain points.

Before

After

Issue

8 out of 11 (73%) users expressed confusion with the gameplay in the beginning.

“This button looks like an ad.”

– User 2
“This button looks like an ad.”

– User 2

Recommendation

Minimize ‘Past-Games’ Button and putting closer to the game interface, such as the left-hand corner, to increase visibility.

Before

After

Issue

8 out of 11 (73%) users expressed confusion with the gameplay in the beginning.

“I’m wondering if it’s all by the same artist.”

– User 2

Recommendation

Arrange the how-to-play instructions to be communicated in the initial pop-up and add pictorial references for easier reference.

Issue

7 out of 11 (64%) users complained in lack of feedback on changes being made as filters were applied.

“The filter should have options instead of having to scroll down to find them.”
- User 8
“The filter should have options instead of having to scroll down to find them.”

- User 8

Recommendation

Add an apply button as well as filter tags so user understands what changes have been applied.

Before

Before

After

After

Before

After

Issue

11 out of 11 (100%) users expressed desire in enhancing gameplay

“Making it more engaging and make it feel like a game, and not just a search engine.”

– User 7

Recommendation

Adding hints for misplaced letters and correct letters to increase ease of use and replayability

Before

After

Issue

3 out of 11 (27%) users expressed desire in finding more information about artists but found roadblocks in doing so.

“It would be nice for me to see all four images of the game after I solved it.”

– User 9

Recommendation

Add pop-up showing all art pieces featured and a section with the artist’s biography to ease accessing information about the artist.

Before

Before

After

After

Issue

10 out of 11 (91%) users expressed confusion with the gameplay in the beginning.

“I’m wondering if it’s all by the same artist.”

– User 2

Recommendation

Arrange the how-to-play instructions to be communicated in the initial pop-up and add pictorial references for easier reference.

Before

After

Before

After

Issue

3 out of 11 (27%) users expressed desire in finding more information about artists but found roadblocks in doing so.

“It would be nice for me to see all four images of the game after I solved it.”
– User 9

Recommendation

Add pop-up showing all art pieces featured and a section with the artist’s biography to ease accessing information about the artist.

Before

After

Before

After

Issue

11 out of 11 (100%) users expressed desire in enhancing gameplay

“Making it more engaging and make it feel like a game, and not just a search engine.”
– User 7

Recommendation

Adding hints for misplaced letters and correct letters to increase ease of use and replayability

Limitations in programming obstruct new recommendations, but results validated client’s past tests.

Limitations in programming obstruct new recommendations, but results validated client’s past tests.

Our client found our deliverables found our results satisfactory as they “validated past results.” These outcomes ultimately aided in developing a new Artle with a fresh clean look. Some of our suggestions, included in our recommendations and other conversations, that coincide with the new Artle include:

  • Adding imagery to increase learnability in the tutorial (Recommendation 1)

  • Displaying a blurb about the artist to encourage exploration (Recommendation 4)

  • Adding confetti to increase delight and replay value

  • Adding imagery to increase learnability in the tutorial (Recommendation 1)

  • Displaying a blurb about the artist to encourage exploration (Recommendation 4)

  • Adding confetti to increase delight and replay value

Issue

7 out of 11 (64%) users complained in lack of feedback on changes being made as filters were applied.

“The filter should have options instead of having to scroll down to find them.”

- User 8

Recommendation

Add an apply button as well as filter tags so user understands what changes have been applied.

Issue

8 out of 11 (73%) users expressed confusion with the gameplay in the beginning.

“This button looks like an ad.”

– User 2

Recommendation

Minimize ‘Past-Games’ Button and putting closer to the game interface, such as the left-hand corner, to increase visibility.

Issue

8 out of 11 (73%) users expressed confusion with the gameplay in the beginning.

“I’m wondering if it’s all by the same artist.”

– User 2

Recommendation

Arrange the how-to-play instructions to be communicated in the initial pop-up and add pictorial references for easier reference.

Issue

3 out of 11 (27%) users expressed desire in finding more information about artists but found roadblocks in doing so.

“It would be nice for me to see all four images of the game after I solved it.”

– User 9

Recommendation

Add pop-up showing all art pieces featured and a section with the artist’s biography to ease accessing information about the artist.

Issue

11 out of 11 (100%) users expressed desire in enhancing gameplay

“Making it more engaging and make it feel like a game, and not just a search engine.”

– User 7

Recommendation

Adding hints for misplaced letters and correct letters to increase ease of use and replayability

  • Adding imagery to increase learnability in the tutorial (Recommendation 1)

  • Displaying a blurb about the artist to encourage exploration (Recommendation 4)

  • Adding confetti to increase delight and replay value

Issue

3 out of 11 (27%) users expressed desire in finding more information about artists but found roadblocks in doing so.

“It would be nice for me to see all four images of the game after I solved it.”
– User 9

Recommendation

Add pop-up showing all art pieces featured and a section with the artist’s biography to ease accessing information about the artist.

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