Bridging Artists and Buyers: Designing a Tailored Art Discovery Flow
UX/UI Designer
Role
Time
2 Weeks
Platform
Mobile
Context
Aether is a digital platform and art gallery app designed to empower independent artists in an overcrowded digital ecosystem. Traditional portfolio platforms often rely on opaque algorithms that bury original work and diminish creator visibility. Aether restores agency to artists by providing a focused environment to showcase, market, and sell their work directly to prospective buyers.
Operating under a compressed project timeline, I adopted a rapid, iterative design framework. I began by sketching low-fidelity wireframes to quickly explore structural layouts and test core user flows. Moving directly from validated wireframes to a high-fidelity prototype, I incorporated insights from a thorough competitive audit of platforms like ArtStation. Finally, I refined the interface through targeted usability testing, using direct qualitative feedback to balance aesthetic presentation with functional, user-centered navigation.
Scope
My role as the UX UI designer for this project was to come up with Low fidelity wireframes and HiFi Prototypes.
The Problem: The Erosion of the Digital Art Ecosystem
Independent artists are currently facing systemic challenges across major digital portfolio and gallery platforms:
Algorithmic Suppression & Low organic reach: Legacy platforms prioritize high-frequency engagement and ad-driven algorithms, burying qualitative human artwork under flood levels of rapid-fire content and leaves independent creators struggling to gain visibility.
Unvetted Content & Rampant IP Theft: The absence of provenance verification and copyright safeguards leaves artists vulnerable to unauthorized web scraping, art theft, and commercial misattribution.
Lack of Human Moderation & Verification: Automated moderation systems consistently fail to distinguish original human creations from stolen work or low-effort prompt outputs, diluting marketplace quality and severing trust between artists and potential buyers.
Together, these factors create a hostile environment where artists lose control over their distribution, brand identity, and monetization—forcing them off traditional portfolio networks in search of dedicated, artist-centric platforms.
“Some sellers are just stealing art and selling it, showing zero respect for the original creators’ hard work. They’re just money-hungry... Their DMCA is fake, people can share and sell anything that’s yours. DeviantArt is poison”
Process
To rapidly translate user research into scalable interface designs, I followed a structured, three-phase design workflow:
Conceptual Wireframing & Pattern Mapping:
I began by sketching low-fidelity wireframes, synthesizing proven interaction patterns from content-rich platforms like ArtStation and Pinterest. This allowed me to establish intuitive navigation architectures and explore spatial layouts without getting bogged down by visual details.
Information Architecture & Visual Hierarchy:
Translating these wireframes into high-fidelity screens, I focused on establishing a clean visual hierarchy that elevates artwork as the primary focus. I prioritized core artist workflows—specifically streamlining portfolio customization, provenance verification indicators, and friction-free storefront management.
Evaluative Usability Testing & Iteration:
To validate the initial layout, I conducted a targeted usability session with an active digital artist. The testing highlighted key usability gaps and overlooked edge cases, providing actionable qualitative feedback that directly informed my final design polish and feature additions.
Solution
Key Features & UI Solutions
Curated Home Screen (Discovery Hub):
The Home screen serves as an immersive entry point, showcasing a diverse array of medium types, styles, and emerging creators. By presenting a varied visual spectrum up front, it immediately sets platform expectations, encourages broad exploration, and exposes users to new artistic disciplines.
Algorithmic & Personalized Feed:
The Feed screen adapts dynamically to individual user preferences, tailoring content based on selected interest categories and real-time browsing behavior. This ensures artists gain organic visibility among relevant audiences, while collectors enjoy a hyper-focused, distraction-free discovery experience.
Streamlined Submission & Moderation Pipeline:
The Submission screen provides a low-friction workflow for artists to upload and organize their work. Once submitted, the artwork enters an integrated moderation queue for provenance and identity verification, ensuring authenticity and protecting creators against unauthorized uploads before final approval.
Home Screen
Feed Screen
Submission Screen
Reflections: Designing for Artists in an Algorithm-Driven World
Key Takeaways & Reflection
This project highlighted what digital artists genuinely value in a professional portfolio platform, personalized reach and robust content protection. Designing Aether reinforced that creator retention isn't driven by flashy trends, but by establishing trust—specifically through transparent feed personalization that respects artistic intent and active security measures that mitigate intellectual property theft.
Future Scope & Next Steps
Given additional time and resources, I would expand on the following areas: Deeper iteration on the Feed screen to give users granular controls over their content preferences, such as explicit filters for medium types, style tags, and chronological feeds. Conducting additional rounds of evaluative testing with a broader cohort of artists and prospective art buyers to validate the end-to-end purchasing and moderation pipeline. High-fidelity prototyping of the moderation dashboard to detail how human moderators verify artwork provenance and protect original creations.