Art Discovery Tool with Artificial Intelligence
This is a relaunch after my first, very embarrassing design (after all, if your first version doesn't embarrass you, you launched too late). In addition to having a landing page up, I now have a working demo.
Page: https://www.artwerks.io
Feedback Requested: Honestly, anything, but I'm mostly concerned with the copy - is it clear what the app does and is it sufficiently brief and compelling. If you do try the demo, is it fun/enjoyable? Do the muted like/dislike colors (as opposed to more traditional green/red work (my goal is to not detract from the actual art).
The idea: Think Tinder, but for finding new art. As you "like" and "dislike" the displayed artwork your responses are fed into the database and compared against other users' preferences in order to show you artwork you are more likely to enjoy.
More background: Back in 2002 I helped design what might have been the first WYSIWYG art gallery builder for the internet, but it went nowhere. I've always had it in the back of my mind to help artists, so I thought this might be a fun idea to try.
Hi Michael,
I find the value clear for artists and collectors. However the paragraph at the top of the page is a little confusing. I understand you might not want to explicitly say "it's like Tinder but for art" because it detracts the value of your product. I would remove the buzz words and the technical terms: "Art Discovery", "Artificial Intelligence", "innovative technology". (Is "Art Discovery" a term common in the art world? The way you spell it and mention it twice makes me think so.) Here's what I would suggest instead:
Title: Discover Art You'll Love
Paragraph: Artwerks.io uses the power of AI to learn your taste and help you discover art you'll love.
I also tried the demo (entered a temporary email, sorry). It's pretty straightforward. I couldn't say that it was very fun/enjoyable, because it was so short. So I didn't really get to experience the power of your product and get to that WOW moment when I'm seeing (what I think is) dope after dope art work.
I'm also curious about your target audience? Right now you seem to have more classical works in your DB. But you also seem to be targeting contemporary artists, most likely lesser-known ones who need the boost. My understanding of the art world is limited, so please pardon me if my comment is way off: are art collectors as interested in that kind of artists? Conversely, if your focus is classical art (which may just be an artifact of the marketing imagery you chose and your limited DB), is there much to be discovered that's not already in a museum, a private collection or an auction house?
I don't consider myself an art collector, but I like buying a new drawing or painting every now and then, when I come across one and fall in love with it. I have a rather low budget for art, around $100-150. A service like yours that helps me find new artworks from young artists would be absolutely great. Although at some point I might run out of wall space.
Cheers,
Ben
Ben, first off, thank you so much for the feedback, this is dope. Have some responses to your feedback since you were kind enough to give it, and a couple follow up questions, as well.
Will definitely update some of the language but glad that overall the idea comes out. It's funny because a circa 55 year old friend who is in the arts responded to an email from me (in which I consciously did not describe it as such) with "oh, so Tinder for art" ( \/O\/ ). There was a similar app called Wydr that shut down a few years ago that did a media blitz as "Tinder for Art" so I'm not sure how well that would actually play? I'm also going at this with not much insight into the art world, so we shall see.
You're right, the demo is all classical work because that is what is available for free licensing use from the National Gallery of Art. I only populated a few pieces so that folks could get the general idea. I'm going to hopefully start on boarding my first artists in the next couple of days and as they upload art it will be made available via the demo.
I'd say my target audience is "real" collectors, more "average" collectors (I fall in the category, buying only a few pieces I really like for say between $100 and $500), and then interior designers who could use the app with their clients to find suitable pieces.
2 questions for you:
I'm thinking the demo can eventually stop being called a demo and just be the app, meaning the app isn't so "sensitive" that collectors really "need" a password or any functionality behind a paywall, but maybe able say 20 views the are required to "verify" their email? Would "registering" turn you off? I'm just thinking the less friction to get collectors the better.
How do I find YOU! This is a part time side project, my budget is close to zero, but I don't mind some paid ads or maybe a podcast spot. Do you consume any art or design related media? Do you ever use anything on reddit? Where would you be most likely to respond to an ad or marketing about this type of idea?
Thank you!
As for language, I do prefer "alpha" or "beta" over "demo". Demo rings old school. In any case it's useful to keep one of those terms around so long as your tool isn't able to deliver 100% of the promised value. That way people will be more lenient in the way they judge it, and you can get back in touch with them later to tell them that you've improved the system. On that note, you could consider having a newsletter signup somewhere, for those who don't quite want to register for the product but are intrigued and want to keep in touch.
I like your idea of marketing to interior designers. Tangentially it makes me think that homeowners would be a good target. There's plenty of places to reach them like Zillow, Houzz, HGTV. You could even go down the Pinterest route, which is great for home decor fans. I actually did spend a fair amount of time there myself as we were redoing our house, and their ads don't get blocked by my extensions. You could start sharing the works of cool artists that are featured on your platform, preferably linking back to your site (where people can see the art in larger format and find out more details about it), and slowly build an audience. If you decide to do that, Instagram also works wonders with anything visual. Just share the same art works on both, and then promote those channels to your site visitors as another way to learn about cool new art.