User Testing and Target Audience Feedback

User Testing

To conduct user testing with my target audience, I put together a Google Form with brief instructions, a link to my Figma prototype, and questions for participants to fill out either progressively as they interact with the prototype or afterwards. Participants were tasked with navigating through the onboarding sequence, Walk journey, and Meet journey.

View my full Google Form with questions here.

Participants:

• Noah, 18, WI, incoming sophomore in college studying math and theatre

• Jordynn, 22, PA, actress and student taking a gap year

• Valarie, 25, WI, healthcare administration worker

• Kierstyn, 24, WI, May 2025 BA in Music grad

• Devon, 25, IL, graduate student in engineering

• Joni, 24, IL, software tester

• Tenzin, 25, IL , pediatric nurse
  

User Feedback on Overall Aesthetic and Personality of the App

• "This app has a sense of community and support for other artists, or patrons of the arts, art students, etc. it leads you to other artists, arts, or those who are interested in the arts. It gives you information on other artists by bringing you along on an actual journey. The Meet Ups further solidify that sense of community cause it allows the user an option to find others with the same interests."

• "I love the graphics and colors, it looks very modern and inviting!"

• "When using the app, the visual design makes me feel bright, cozy, and simply satisfied. The light watercolor colors on gentle textures reminds me of kindergarten art class on a rainy day. (In the best way possible) Aside from a couple of issues I have stated previously, I had such a smooth experience navigating this app. I am so happy I got to test it out!"

• "It seemed like the app was designed for a phone longer than mine because I had to scroll down on every page. It felt bright and cute. I loved the illustrations and the color scheme."

• "Aesthetics are good. Feels very artsy. Soft language but not mincing words. Feels fun and inviting."

  

User Feedback About Onboarding Flow:

• "The onboarding screens provide a very clear and engaging introduction to the app. It made me feel excited to get going."

• "The questions mades sense and got me intrigued for the app, and I liked the color schemes."

• "The page about the ideal frequency can be reworded into a more specific question. I understood what was being asked, but others may not."

• "The left and right arrows work on the first page even though they don't quite show which is weird. I'd also recommend making the whole page fit on the screen so I don't have to scroll down to the arrows on each page."

• "The first five screens are very simple. It’s not too detailed that one may click through it, disregarding the information that may be important to the learning and functionality of the app. People might actually will take their time to understand what it’s for and how to utilize it."

  

  

User Feedback on The Walk flow:

• "It's unclear to me how to reopen the info box after hiding it."

• "After the video of the fox ends, it automatically takes you to the completed screen rather than wait for you to interact with the info boxes and decide for yourself if you are finished."

• "I did get confused at first. When I clicked the shoe for the walk journey, at first it did not work. After refreshing my page and redoing the process, it eventually ended up working."

• "If I were to be walking on this tour, I think having the app use landmarks to direct me to the next stop would be very helpful, however, the arrow would work just fine as well!"

• "In the map I expected to be able to click on the A icon, perhaps to see a description or address, but nothing happened. I was also not able to zoom or move around the map - I assume it's just an image for the demo. Any time I tapped the screen (anywhere) dark blue shaded boxes would appear behind buttons that are currently available. It seems like this might be a purposeful hint, but at first I thought it was a bug."

• "When clicking to change the info box to the artist biography, the app jumped the scroll back to the top, but it would have been nicer to keep the scroll where it was."

• "I think the walk journey is a really cool idea and experience to see art that is nearby without having to always leave to go to one. The app having the arrows to guide, and then the virtual walk there itself is fun!"
  

User Feedback on The Meet flow:

• "Everything seemed very helpful, yet not crowded. I did have trouble using the search engine, filters, and clicking on 3 of the 4 listed events, though I understand they may not be ready to use yet. Very intuitive!"

• "It was intuitive to me."

• "I think the Meet Journey is clear, and personable to the user. I think it’s very clear on what that page is for, and I love that you can click them to gather more information on the events that could be useful or intriguing to them. It provides information on the event, what to expect, what’s needed to attend, and I think that is important for a page that helps guide you to others."
  

With this user feedback, I plan to:

• Revisit the UI details on my interest icons. I don't want to have them start in black and white, but the user feedback has inspired me to steer away from having them turn black and white when pressed. Instead, I'd like to add a colorful circle around the edges of the pressed variants.

• Revisit the dialogue box functionality in the Walk flow, making it possible to reopen information after accidentally (or possibly intentionally) closing it.

• Look into swipe functionality for navigation. This seems especially pertinent now that my target audience is a demographic that is very accustomed to that. It also seems like a good idea for accessibility reasons.

• Give some thought to the arrangement of various screens to see how many truly need to be long enough to require scrolling. Scrolling seems to be a topic that comes up again and again, both with previous rounds of user testing and with this current group.

• Look into alternative ways to create sliders.

• Gather more feedback about the new arrows.

Arts-Centered Survey

To gain insight into how artists, arts nonprofits, and small arts business owners might feel towards ArtWalk, I designed a survey in Google Forms. My goals with this survey were to:

• Determine whether the organizations and artists needed to facilitate the experiences in ArtWalk are experiencing problems with isolation themselves

• Find out how people and entities within this group connect with the communities they exist within

• Gain a better understanding of the motivations and experiences of this group as they pertain to art and community connection

• Gather data to help clarify whether (beyond helping the target audience of lonely young adults) ArtWalk could help this group with any problems they are experiencing.

• Gather insights that might help me to later pitch my concept to potential partners within this demographic group

So far, I have had 16 survey responses. I’m leaving the survey open and hope to continue receiving responses.

Some of those responses are from:

• Eryka Blank, aerial artist, CO

• Prentice Berge, co-owner of Muso Madison, WI

• Brian Brittigan, artist, illustrator, and educator, MN

• Melanie and Frank Cain, founders and directors of Fresco Opera Theatre, WI

• Annelise Capossela, illustrator, animator, news designer, and educator, NY

• Nora Germain, jazz violinist and author, CA

• Ruthie Goldman, fiber artist and owner of Cozy Felt Land, OR

• Kaia Kalise, singer/songwriter, WI

• Tom Kastle, singer/songwriter and actor, WI

• Jan Levine Thal, writer, director, and former artistic director of Kathie Rassmussen Women’s Theatre, WI

• Rita Mae Reese, co-director of Arts and Literature Lab, WI

• Chelsie Tamms, lettering artist and owner of Lettering Works, IL

Artist Questions:

1. Please provide a brief description of the type of art you create. 

2. What do you find most rewarding about the work you do in the arts?

3. What do you find to be the biggest challenge in terms of finding or connecting with your audience?

4. Which marketing methods do you find work best for you as an artist? 
selection possibilities: Social MediaWebsite or online portfolio, Mailing list/newsletter, Blog, Paid advertisements, Promotional materials, Press, Attending networking events

5. Have you noticed any changes over the years in the way your audience finds or interacts with your work?

6. Please rate the likelihood of your audience using mobile apps

7. Would you be interested in a service that would help people find your art without relying on social media reach or engagement?

8. What is your least favorite part about setting up an artist profile through a new app or website? Feel free to share any thoughts you have about what could make it better!

9. As an artist, do you feel supported by and connected to the community in which you live?

10. Have you ever participated in a local gallery night, arts tour, or arts-related festival?

11. Would you be interested in attending local meetups with other creatives curated to fit your arts interests?

Arts Administrator/Organization/Business Questions:

1. Please provide a general description of your arts organization or business.

2. What do you find most rewarding about the work you do in the arts?

3. Which marketing methods do you find work best?
selection possibilities: Social MediaWebsite or online portfolio, Mailing list/newsletter, Blog, Paid advertisements, Promotional materials, Press, Attending networking events

4. Have you noticed any changes over the years in the way your audience finds and interacts with your business/organization or its events?

5. What do you find to be the biggest challenge in terms of forming, maintaining, or expanding upon a connection with your business/organization's audience?

6. Please check all that apply.
When people visit your space or events, they are often:
selection possibilities: Solo and enjoying themselves, Sharing the experience with friends or family, Connecting with new people over a shared interest

7. How often does your business/organization host arts-related events?

8. How does your business/organization engage with the community it exists within?

9. Has your business/organization ever participated in a local gallery night, arts tour, or arts-related festival? If so, how did it impact the business/organization's connection with its audience or community?

10. What seems to motivate your business/organization's audience to show up or engage?

11. Please rate the likelihood of your business/organization's target audience using mobile apps

12. How important do you feel it is to draw in new, possibly unexpected, audience members?

13. What is your least favorite part of setting up a business profile through a new app or website? Feel free to share any thoughts you have about what would make it better!

14. Would you be interested in a service that would help people find your business/organization's space and events without relying on social media reach or engagement?

Artist Feedback Highlights Most Rewarding Aspect of Working in the Arts

• "Bringing my generation along into art forms and history that they would not have known about otherwise, and expanding the audience for live and recorded jazz generally amongst the public (beyond the critics and other musicians themselves)"

• "Letting others enjoy it."

• "Achieving more difficult skills and moving through them smoothly"

• "Creating collaboratively and working closely with other artists."

• "Connection to audience"

• "It refreshes my ability to create, experiment and renew the inner artist inside of me. By producing original art I am feeding my abilities and focusing the positive attrebutes of bringing about original pieces of work. In doing so I feed my self worth and focus on my abilities."

• "I love when people see something I’ve made and get so joyful! It’s a wonderful feeling to help make people happy."

Biggest Challenges

• "An overload of social media"

• "I know I need to do MORE social media for more people to find me, but omg it is so frustrating to spend so much time on it."

• "How to monetize engagement; no platform does it all"

• "The perceived value of a small artist vs one with a large following."

• "Getting folks to move outside their comfort zone of seeing traditional dance/ theatre, and coming to something that is usually new & unknown."

• "Much of my work is filtered through each particular client's reach and audience, so it's often not a very direct connection between myself and the viewer. Even if someone really enjoys a piece I worked on, in their mind they might attribute that to the publication/publisher/etc."

• "I have had a huge break in production. When I was at the height of my commercial and gallery work there was a more social and personable connection between galleries and artists as well as an active Art Guild in Madison."

Least Favorite Part of Setting Up New Artist Profile on Web/Apps

• "It's very time consuming to reformat images or posts for multiple platforms, so it can feel like a big commitment to populate a new profile with enough work to actually be engaging for that platform's audience."

• "The time it takes to get established there"

• "The beginning of building engagement."

• "Without knowing which segment of the splintered audience will read it, it's hard to figure out what would appeal to any given audience."

• "Updating my materials"

On Community Engagement

• "Any free or community event helps raise awareness of our company."

• "I honestly wouldn’t still be doing this without the people I’ve met at festivals. It would be so lonely otherwise! Meeting other artists had helped me enormously!!"

  
  

I found these results particularly interesting, given the number of artists who shared that social media isn't working as well as it used to for reaching audiences. If it's not working well, but the other marketing options are yielding even fewer results, that seems like a problem ArtWalk could help with.

Arts Administrator/Organization/Business Feedback Highlights

Most Rewarding Aspect of Working in the Arts

• "Serving students, the community, making art accessible to all"

• "Bringing the art form to new audiences"

• "Connecting people through their humanity and vision"

• "Creative expression and community connection"

• "Interacting with other Musicians and sharing our joy of making music with others."
  

Biggest Challenges

• "Less success with social media. Best to connect via referral/word of mouth"

• "Reach on social media is hard; it can be hard to meet people at the right point when they need creatives services"

• "Our greatest challenge is in getting folks to understand that building an arts community takes everyone's time, participation, effort and financial support in order to grow. As Americans especially, our society has become so 'consumer' oriented that we've lost much of the understanding that great art is participatory, with everyone involved in it's creation and enjoyment. It is not a one way street from performer to audience. Breaking down what are perceived as differences among composer, performer, and audience is both our biggest goal and our greatest challenge."

• "I think there's an inertia after the pandemic; people are more reluctant to go out and interact with people. It is starting to get better though."

• "often times finding funding to make the things happen"

• "Keeping audiences engaged between shows"
  

On Community Engagement

• "We regularly participate in Gallery Night, which is coordinated by Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. I think it does raise awareness of art spaces in general and gives that extra nudge to get people off their couches."

• "I think when we can convey how much it matters to the artists/writers/musicians, people respond. In a way, art is how we still connect with our feelings, despite all the forces trying to separate us from them. So an academic and material approach doesn't necessarily move anyone, but you have to be careful to show the emotion rather than claim it."

• "Although we not officially a non-profit, we offer below cost activities and rent our space to a large variety of musical and theatrical groups and organizations in the community."

• "[we offer]free programming, school tours, accessible programming"

• "We strive to create programs that reflect and involve our communities. For instance, right now we have the Lab4 project, which has 4 teams of 10 people from the community in charge of curating programs. Each team gets 8 weeks and a budget to program exhibitions, readings, concerts, screenings, and other types of programs."

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  Key Arts Takeaways:

• Artists and organizations both expressed frustration with social media, especially as it pertains to audience or community connection.

• There is enthusiasm around building community connection.

• Although my question about this was purposefully vague, so far no one has rejected the concept of using a service outside of social media to connect with existing and new audiences.

• Artists and organizations seem to have a significant difference in marketing strategies, but share some of the same challenges in finding and connecting with audiences.
  

Peer Feedback

Tonight, I met with Camille Gonzalez over Google Meet to delve deeper into sharing our Capstone project progress and giving each other feedback. We have been in classes together throughout the whole MAGWD journey, and I'm so happy we get to go through Capstone together as well. Our discussion tonight was very helpful! Here are some pieces of feedback from Camille that I plan to either consider for the future (post-graduation, perhaps) or explore further in the coming weeks:

• Try adding paint to the tips of the paint brushes in the single color and black and white logo variations

• Try adding more padding around the onboarding arrows. Right now, they're a little too close to the bottom of the screen.

• See what the 3D arrows would look like if they were a simple triangle shape rather than the arrow with the tail/line

• If there is time later on, possibly experiment with motion design to create a short GIF of my full logotype. This could allow more possibilities for playing with the lettering assembling itself. Specifically, I'm thinking of the "Walk" word appearing as it's painted. This would be used as a splash screen.

• Consider opportunities for the green and black from the color palette to be used. I'm starting by changing the lines connecting the art stops in the map from blue to green.

• Last but not least, when talking about logo and branding the topic of merch came up. Camille brought up the idea of mocking up dog apparel with the monogram logo pattern on it. I loved this, because it could encourage dog owners use the app and bring their four legged friends along (for outdoor stops). Long story short, I am now in love with a mockup Frenchie.