Artsy is an online art marketplace that aggregates artworks from leading galleries around the world. Users can shop for art, browse shows and auctions, and learn about the art world at large using Artsy’s online platform or iOS app.
Artsy’s navigation needed an update. It had never been considered holistically and reflected an old business model that prioritized partner visibility and education instead of its marketplace.
We often heard feedback from users stating how difficult it was to find what they were looking for. We knew we needed to create a navigation experience that was both user-friendly and commercially-focused. Our plan was to approach this problem with a series of smaller, iterative steps and evaluate our strategy along the way.
Initial User Studies
We walked participants through a series of designs and had them rank their choices while providing context throughout the process. Our goal was to understand what conceptual models stood out to users. In the online art space, there was no one-size-fits-all solution for this and it made it all the more challenging to get a deep understanding of how collectors preferred to navigate through an inventory of artwork.
Participants first step in browsing consistently began with selecting Artists or Artwork. This signaled to us the importance of their placement within the top-line navigation. Other influences we heard from users were around regionality, artist identity, career stage, and artwork medium.
Key observations
Regionality is a major catalyst in a collectors browsing behavior.
Collectors discern quality and crave freshness.
Medium is the most common conceptual model for browsing art.
Collectors have a strong desire to learn about artists' identities.
Emerging artist status suggests accessibility and affordability.
Power-browsers prefer visual inspiration and an abundance of pathways.
Nav Bar AB Test
Our next steps built upon the findings from the above user research and led us to a lightweight AB test that reorganized some of the existing navigation items on the site. The outcome would tell us whether these top-level nav items were an effective combination for users to begin browsing by.
We ran the AB Test for 10 days. We saw “Artists” attract 13% higher click-through rate than “Artworks” and “Auctions” combined. The initial click-throughs were a clear indicator that users were interested in the resurfaced “Artists” nav item and gave us confidence to move forward with this direction.
Nav Bar Pilot/ MVP
To push our learnings further with quantitative data, we introduced top-level drop-downs underneath the two most selected categories. The design included sets of subcategories which would tell us even more about what pathways resonated most with our users.
After 5 weeks, our update MVP nav resulted in 6% higher conversions to artwork pages. Based on traffic patterns, we would continue to reconfigure the subcategories over time.
Future Vision
We created a holistic recommendation for a future vision for web navigation that included product, business, and brand considerations. Our goal was to give users an immediate understanding of what Artsy has to offer and the most important services provided.
Design Principles
Navigation had to speak to the two sides of Artsy’s business model—sellers and buyers alike. We had to strike a balance that told the right story and provided necessary pathways for all types of users.
A sense of purpose should be
immediately understood.
Our aim was to provide users with the right amount of context to intuit what services Artsy offered and what could be done on the platform.
Language should feel clear, concise and actionable.
We wanted to speak to the user and empower them to make selections with ease and confidence.
Information density should
feel gradual.
To avoid overwhelming users, we recommended providing fewer pathways initially and slowly open more as the user engages.
Trends within the marketplace
should be evident and clear.
Users should have an idea of what is trending or popular on the site and not have to decipher information on their own.