Making Friends

Connecting artists and creators to trade and share resources


Product Design   Mobile Application








Limited income and resources create challenges for artists’ practices, livelihoods and wellbeing.
The art economy is exclusive and inaccessible to many creators, and artists often struggle to earn a viable and sustainable living. As a result, they engage in trade with one another.  This phenomena inspired me to think about alternative economies for artists, specifically bartering economies—could increasing opportunities for trade increase sustainability? Could an autonomous, independent artist economy exist? Would artists be interested in sustaining a cashless art market of their own? I set out to explore trading between artists/creators and models for sustainability.
Role
Research
UX/UI
Prototyping

Team 
1

Tools
Figma

Duration
6 weeks


I wanted to learn what artists are trading, what they enjoy about trade, their motivations for trade, and who they’re trading with.
I interviewed artists and creators between 25 and 40 years old across a range of disciplines, experience levels, and cultural identities. Interviewing participants across disciplines would allow me to understand if trading happened outside of visual art and beyond trading objects. My hypothesis was that artwork and objects would be the most desirable things to trade. Sampling across experience levels would also allow me to understand if trading was limited to a specific age or socioeconomic context.  Age Range
25 - 40

Disciplines Represented
visual arts, research, writing, media, skilled trade

Number of Sessions
7 virtual interviews

“We’re in a scarcity for certain things.”


“I’m looking for collaborators or people that I can bring onto projects because a lot of my work is very cross-disciplinary.  I often need creative  technologists or people who are more well-versed in complex design things, people who can help complement my strengths and weaknesses.

“When I think about how hard it is to get by as an artist in  New York City, one of the first things that comes to mind  is housing or studio space.”

“Personally I would be nervous to approach friends and ask, ‘Do you want to barter this thing for this?’ There’s an anxiety there. I think creating a space where you can do that would reduce some of the anxiety.”



Key Insights
Resources and services (labor, information, space, advice, and materials) were the more frequently traded and urgent needs expressed by participants.
My hypothesis was that artwork and objects would be the most coveted things to trade, but the research showed otherwise. Economic scarcity, relationships and trust were the 3 major themes identified across the data. I created 3 personas based on trading scenarios shared in the research: trading objects, trading resources and trading skills. Each persona shares the value of community and the problem of economic scarcity, with differences in additional values and goals. Values
Relationship, care, intention, trust, fairness, respect, economic justice, community


Problems
Economic scarcity, anxiety, lack of trust


Opportunities
Skill sharing, resource sharing, mediation

Personas






Competitive Analysis
Industry Key Findings

  • Communities often turn to bartering in times of crisis and national financial instability

  • Barter transactions rely on the double coincidence of wants – each party wants something the other has

  • “Time banking” - exchanging an hour of work with someone who then completes an hour of work for you - is also a method of bartering

  • Bartering is a lot more personal than cash exchanges

  • Bartering is associated with community, kindness, anti-capitalism and intimacy

  • US-based International Reciprocal Trade Association

  • The available platforms center social good, necessity items and services—often via timebanking—as opposed to specialized goods


Opportunities
  1. Center specialized goods and objects (artwork, design objects, collector items, etc.)
  2. Center artists, designers and creators
  3. Focus on connecting over shared interests in goods or taste (as opposed to services)




Defining the Problem


The shared problem between participants was economic scarcity and their shared values were relationships, care, trust, and community. Trading is considered personal and intimate—both parties must share a relationship, trust, and mutual expectations. Trading artwork may be considered too intimate of an experience to be created artificially. Participants experience anxiety around initiating trade, but the potential for mutual benefit is attractive. All participants are interested in increased trading, with sharing resources and skills as the priorities. There’s also a desire for a potential mediator to help facilitate connections and exchange.


How might we help artists and creators that are interested in bartering and trade to initiate and facilitate trade?

How might we help artists and creators share resources and skills with one another?

How might we help artists and creators build trust and authentic connections?



“Sometimes in the current model we’re seen as in competition with each other. What could be a model where we’re not in competition with one another, but in community with each other?”

“Somehow answering that question of how to build trust somehow leads to the possibility of the moneyless marketplace.”


 “We’re kind of headed into a world  where bartering might be more applicable.  I think the flexibility will come when the time is called for, and the time is coming, it might be here.”





Concepts and Initial Testing


I moved forward with a concept for a platform that connects artists and creators to barter and share resources. 
It allows users to post classified ads of their needs for exchange that other users can respond to. Users will be matched to other users with relevant needs or offerings. It also allows users to connect mutual friends to one another, to act as “matchmaker” to friends with mutual needs and interests. Users are also able to browse member profiles and initiate connections of their own. 




Information Architecture



Low Fidelity Wireframes
I created a feature matrix and mapped the flows for onboarding, creating a profile, browsing profiles, and initiating trades. Shortly after, I pivoted to users being able to create specific targeted classified ads–I didn’t want to enable doom scrolling and thought it would be more effective to lead with the need than the offer. I combined the onboarding and profile creation flows and created low fidelity screens.


Onboarding Flow






Create a Classified Flow





Matchmaking Flows
In version A, users connect other users to one another. In version B, the system connects users with other users.






    Key Insights

    1. Users wanted a more exhaustive list of disciplines in the onboarding flow, or the option to search and add disciplines

    2. Users wanted more specific language across the application

    3. Users wanted the application process to be clarified before onboarding

    4. Long form text inputs needed a call to action or prompt

    5. Users had questions about parameters for an “equal” trade. A standardized measurement of currency (e.g. time) may still need to be established

    6. People preferred the system to “match” them with opportunities, but preferred friends to match them with other friends





    Iterations and Further Testing


    Iterations
    I eliminated the matchmaking feature for now—it isn’t the priority for users and requires a more time-consuming buildout. In the next iteration the priorities were language specificity, visual clarity, and making sure users could capture what they do and what they need easily and accurately.

    Onboarding Flow






    Creating a Classified Flow 






    Branding


    The color scheme is a gradient of primary colors that represent blending, osmosis, and fluidity as metaphors for connection and community. I chose a primarily yellow, red, and blue color palette as a callback to paint, and to provide a bit more contrast than the previous color explorations. The logo is a monogram for Making Friends and its liquid chrome style represents the fluid and blended core values. The chrome is a reference to the future and a forward-thinking way of imagining economy. Gradients and logos by Chicago-based designer Ashley King. 










    Final Prototype


    Navigate to Prototype


    Insights, Iterations and Final Prototype

    Successful completion of tasks and user satisfaction were high. Users appreciated the visual design and felt its simplicity was effective. They struggled with contrast and color, and asked that the tags be clarified. They expected to be able to edit directly on the last pages of each flow, and to be able to easily navigate back. They felt that including a budget option could compromise the platform or change intentions. However, they said it could be useful to have a “slightly more community-oriented way of passing around money.” They believed seeing what a person is offering is necessary because it’s important to see what they’re bringing to the table and the community. What someone is open to receiving, less so because it can change or be nuanced.


    Onboarding Flow









               



    Creating a Classified Flow













    Reflection


    This project has been impactful and personal for me. I care about empowering community and enabling creativity, and this is an exercise in design and also in sustainability and financial activism. “Building trust” emerging as a primary theme was unexpected. For Making Friends’ future iterations I’ll be thinking about ways to build trust offline and lean into my engagement and strategy background. Users felt the matchmaking component could potentially its own product—creative matchmaking driven by users could be a thread for future exploration.


    Future Enhancements
      • Include local institutions or artist-run spaces to connect people with
      • Perhaps enable AI to help users write their asks and long form text since users often had questions or comments about word count, prompts, etc.
      • Design confirmation pages with the community guidelines and instructions for next steps 
      • Design a feature that allows users to forward classifieds to other users
      • Do A/B testing with the “I have a budget” option included