EL ATICO
Experience Design | Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop/Figma | ARTD 451 - Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy
PROJECT BRIEF
I was given the opportunity through my ARTD 451 course at UIUC to design something beneficial for La Casa, a cultural house on my campus. When researching and communicating with La Casa, I discovered they had an unused attic space and their artists needed an outlet to network.
For my design intervention, I created an online art gallery that would raise money for La Casa while giving the artists a platform to network. The main goal is to use the money to create an art gallery in the attic space of La Casa.
La Casa’s Mission
To promote a welcoming and dynamic atmosphere by developing educational, cultural, socio-political, and social programs that lead to greater recruitment, retention, advancement, and empowerment of LatinX students.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How might we use the attic space as an immersive and creative area?
La Casa does not have the budget to showcase its Latin artists and art pieces, what are other ways of expansion?
La Casa does have an unused attic space, how could that space become an immersive and creative area?
mY GOALS
My intention with this project was to create an immediate way of creative expansion and networking for LatinX students through an online art gallery website. This website would not only connect students but allow students to showcase their art while having it raise money. The money would then go towards making the unused attic space an in-person art gallery as well as a space for them to connect and create.
LOW FIDELITY
I conceptualized what features would be a part of the website, and how they interact with each other and the user.
I thought about including the following pages, our mission page, art, blog, artists, contact, socials, connect, resources, and events.
I then made a page layout in Figma to gain better visualization.
I wanted to use the murals that are in La Casa as the backgrounds for all the pages.
This allowed the website to feel more connected to La Casa, showing users that it would be a perfect place for an Art Gallery.
MID FIDELITY
For the next iteration, I condensed the navigation menu, allowing the website to have a clear purpose.
Art Artists Chat Profile, as well as a link to the La Casa website.
Additional changes
Adding the mission statement to the homepage
Customizable art presentation
Allowing artists to make a profit
Requiring NET ID (student account) to ensure security.
Allowing art to be searched by mediums
Adding a chat feature for students to connect.
ITERATIONS AFTER CLIENT MEETING
Branding
I decided to name the online art gallery El Atico, in order to keep the main goal of the website in mind.
I came up with a more defined color palette. This made certain pages more readable and allowed for individual profiles to be more personalized.
As for the background of every page, which are murals from La Casa, I created a colorful gradient map, allowing for more vibrance.
Rewording the homepage
The client emphasized how using terms like “donate and gift” are more acceptable for the university than “buy and sell”.
This allows for users to better understand the concept.
For Artists
In order to help create El Ático, we need young artists LIKE YOU to share and upload their work. Upon uploading, some questions will be prompted. We simply want to know if we can use your artwork as the design for the gifts that will be given to the people who donate to El Ático. The more you upload the more you help La Casa.
For Donors
In order to help create El Ático, we need people LIKE YOU to donate. We accept any amount of donations, just donate whatever you can. After donating, you will receive a gift! We have multiple gift options depending on the amount you give. The design on the gift item will be your choice of artwork from this online art gallery. Check out the options in the donate tab and then pick up your gift at La Casa!
When an artist’s designs get chosen to be on multiple gift items, they are eligible to receive a scholarship from La Casa! You will be contacted through your UIUC email if this is the case. Scholarship values vary.
Adding donate Tab & Mockups
Since the communication around this website changed after meeting with my client, I added a donate tab.
Adding a mobile version.
I also added a mobile component. This allows the entire concept to be more accessible to students.
BIGGEST CHALLENGES
Although it was a bit difficult at first, I did get the opportunity to learn a completely new software. Figma turned out to be the perfect software I needed for the website. And after practicing it for a few hours, I got the hang of it. It will definitely be useful in the future.
The biggest challenge for me was rewording everything relating to money. Finding a straightforward and effective way to get the website’s point across was very hard for me. I retyped the call to action and profile questions countless times until they finally made sense from an outside perspective.
Another big challenge has been making this page for my website. Especially when implementing and embedding aspects of my project from Figma to Squarespace. That is why this page doesn’t look as pretty on a mobile device compared to a laptop.
REFLECTION
I love the way this project turned out. I was able to create something that fulfilled all the main points I had from the beginning. El Ático does represent inclusion and community. It is allowing not only a virtual space, but a physical space in the making for Latin artists to come together and collaborate. The in-person connections will happen when the attic space is actually cleaned up and are more likely to happen due to the chat page on the website. It is also very accessible to all UIUC students, but still remains secure, only requiring a NET ID to make an account. This website showcases beautiful work thats intended to expand beyond its own platform, allowing it to be the design for gifted items. What makes this website special, is how it benefits both La Casa and its artists. La Casa gets help in raising money for its attic space, and artists not only get exposure through their local art scene but also will be eligible for a scholarship.
This project really taught me a lot. It taught me to slow down during my research process, fully conceptualize a project that will impact others, and make sure I am going about it in an efficient way.