Alema Fitisemanu | UX Designer
Multi-industry designer & startup founder
Fleur Case Study
Consumer art tech startup matching people with artists they love
(Predecessor to spring.art)
Project Summary
Problem Domain: Art
Timeline: 1 year, Jun. 2021 - May 2022
Role & Team: Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Lead Designer, Team of 3
Tools: Figma
Methodologies: paper sketches, usability testing, digital prototyping, user interviews, iterative design
Final Product: alpha web app (now deactivated), hi-fi digital mock-ups
Problem
Getting involved in the art world is near impossible if you are not born an insider.
From having to attend parties, to being very wealthy, or well networked in the art space, today’s art world does not cater to the uninitiated.
"Is it wrong to say that I don't like any pieces in this exhibit?"
George K.
Art newcomer, Stanford grad, LACMA exhibit disliker
Early Design Process
Point of sale → lifetime user value
Continual artist-user relationship development, daily engagement, viral shareability
Fleur conceptual graphics
Decentralized communities
Bottom-up flow
Early adopter support
Final Designs
"I really enjoyed taking the quiz, I really liked figuring out what I liked and disliked. "
Tina Y.
Art newcomer, grandmother, seal photographer
"Oh, I didn't know you like black and white interiors Hendrix."
Stacie Y.
Art newcomer, physical therapy student, Hendrix's girlfriend
"I miss getting my artist recommendations. I loved getting my artist recommendation emails every week"
Andre C.
Art newcomer, law professor, father
*Quote was after we deactivated Fleur's web app
Designs For Future Development
Reflections & Impact
Before Fleur, our team founded Passage Arts, a fine art, minority-centered online marketplace. We shifted our focus to consumer tech with Fleur because of the inability to scale the marketplace model by working with artists 1:1.
It was great to lead this shift to consumer tech with Fleur because we knew our future reach would be able to be so much larger.
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After building and testing Fleur for 1 year, we were able to meet a life-changing mentor, Christina Noren (Splunk Product Exec, artist and vibrant art collector).
Christina aligned with our mission and values, but also opened our eyes to Fleur's faults. Thus we decided to sunset Fleur, and begin a new to build an even more comprehensive art experience, spring.art.