Online Viewing Room

In March 2020 Covid-19 changed the world and with it in person experiences of all kinds – the gallery had to rapidly scale their approach to online exhibitions to meet the moment.

My Role

Lead UX/UI Designer working remotely with small team including Product Manager, Brand & Content Designer and Leader Engineer.

Outcomes

  • Created template that was used for 40+ exhibitions

  • 20+ works sold 

  • One work of $15m sold purely from the Online Viewing Room experience

“After two decades of slow digitalization, the global quarantine has convinced galleries and fairs to fully embrace online resources. And now, the pressure they may have felt to organize a dinner during Art Basel or attend every regional fair has been translated into pressure to do it all online…”

— Nate Freeman, Artnet News

The Online Viewing Room (OVR) concept was in its nascent stages before the COVID-19 outbreak and it quickly became a crowded space with many similarities across galleries.

Common Features

  • Focused rooms i.e. no filtering abilities, no connection to different parts of website

  • Email capture to enter Viewing Room

  • High res images with text snippets and archival/supplemental images

  • Availability and Pricing information

  • Inquire via email

  • Video/motion capture e.g. artist’s practice, artwork details

Based on research we knew we had to stand apart by:

  • Moving away from simple image grids to enhance storytelling & give better sense of physical & social journey

    • Include video, motion capture, AR/VR where possible to enhance viewing experience.

  • Ensure we were differentiated from other e-commerce experiences

Remote collaboration with the Content Designer and Product Manager to bring their vision to life.

Requirements: Full Bleed Header Image, Images (Full screen and Carousel), Quote, Provenance, Essay (optional), Contact Specialist, Exhibitions Footer

My quick sketches to capture ideas via Zoom collaboration sessions

Keeping track of changing content and extra requirements for special Art Basel ‘Celebrating Basel Basel’ experience.

Requirements for Basel Basel: Full Bleed Video Header, Images Layouts (two and three across),

Style Sheet for Online Viewing Room

Creation of flexible wireframe templates and mockups were used to draft designs and gather approval from executive stakeholders to go live. 

Example below is the Artwork Presentation page wireframe and design.

We launched successfully in collaboration with Art Basel

For a subsequent Art Fair we iterated and updated our templates to add an Augmented Reality feature.

Reflection & Outcomes

  • 20+ works sold 

  • Created template that was used for 40+ online exhibitions

  • One work of $15m sold purely from the Viewing Room experience

This was an incredible opportunity to  work with the team at Hauser & Wirth. Strong communication between myself, the team and our lead developer created a smooth process and enjoyable remote collaboration across three timezones.  The launch was extremely successful with multiple works sold and positive press.

For more information on this project, contact me info@jillymp.com