The Impact of UX Design in Virtual Art Galleries
It is common knowledge that thanks to emerging technologies, people are now able to set their imagination free and can now get more personalized experiences, especially with regards to new designs. According to the 2015 trendwatch report, many visitors are currently opting for more personalised experiences in museums and art galleries. Existing art galleries are encountering new challenges as they continue to miss out on opportunities to grow. For many galleries, limited spacing is one of the many problems such galleries face. Space directly affects the number of art exhibitions on display and often determines the level of visitors’ experiences.
UX design is a term that is increasingly becoming popular in the field of art, and many museums and art galleries are venturing into it. User Experience(UX) relates to how an individual feels when interacting with a given system. Such systems can be in the form of websites, software, mobile apps, and other modes of interaction between humans and technology.
UX Design in Art Galleries
- Turning a home into a virtual art gallery
The biggest frustration for many people who visit physical art galleries is that they often fail to understand certain art pieces’ deeper meaning. However, through Augmented Reality, art gallery visitors can now enjoy interacting with and gaining more information on art pieces. Image recognition technology allows visitors to get more knowledge on satellite image artworks by viewing them through smartphones and different tablet gadgets. Such innovation makes it possible for one to have a private art gallery at home.
Space expansion
Excess storage of art pieces is inevitable for many art galleries because they continue to acquire more artworks yet lack adequate space to display them. With art galleries struggling to showcase all their art pieces because of space constraints, virtual reality technology offers a good solution to this problem. Exhibiting art pieces in virtual art galleries solves the problem of limited exhibition space since it is possible to pick a suitable exhibition space prior to setting up such a virtual space. Companies offering VR services allow their clients to choose the size of exhibition spaces they require, thereby solving the problem of an ever-growing art collection that visitors never even get to see.
Increased accessibility
Many people love going to art galleries either to admire artworks or to boost their creativity. Thanks to UX design, virtual gallery pieces are now easily accessible on online platforms. Expansion of the art market online is a trend that is rapidly gaining momentum in different countries. VR-All-Art is a good example of a platform that allows designers and owners of art galleries to make their exhibitions available to audiences 24/7. This means that those who were once limited to accessing art galleries because of time can now do so. In the past, those whose work hours coincided with the opening and closing hours of physical art galleries were restricted from visiting them. UX design has made it possible for folks to access artworks from the comfort of their homes, either during the day or at night.
In conclusion, UX design has impacted virtual galleries in many positive ways. The virtual exhibition makes it possible for the art ecosystem to remain functional despite strict lockdown situations experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.
References
- American Alliance of Museums (2021). TrendsWatch: Navigating a Disrupted Future (2021) [Online] Available at: https://www.aam-us.org/programs/center-for-the-future-of-museums/trendswatch/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
- Heritage And Memory Studies (2017). The challenge of shaping the layout of an exhibition SPACE [Online] May 2017. Available at: https://heritageandmemory.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/the-challenge-of-shaping-the-layout-of-an-exhibition-space/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
- Stachiw S..(2021). How Can Image Recognition Benefit Your Augmented Reality Program? [Online] Available at: https://roundtablelearning.com/ar-image-recognition/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
- Groskopf C.. (2016). Museums are keeping a ton of the world’s most famous art locked away in storage [Online] January 2016. Available at: https://qz.com/583354/why-is-so-much-of-the-worlds-great-art-in-storage/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
- VR-All-Art (2021). VR For Museums – Engage your audience with new technology [Online] Available at: https://vrallart.com/vr-for-museums/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
- ARTnews (2020). What’s Next? 18 Trends That Will Move the Art World Forward [Online] June 2020. Available at: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/art-trends-that-move-art-world-forward-1202692078/ [Accessed: 20th May 2021]
