Wink

Discovery

Quantitative insights

Market analysis:

• Tattoo industry growth: Predicted to grow from $2.22 billion to $4.83 billion USD (2024-2032), with Europe accounting for 33.5% of the market in 2023.
• E-learning adoption: In France, 36% of professionals prefer distance learning for its flexibility (Statista, 2023).

The user survey aimed to collect quantitative data and included an initial survey involving 185 beginner and intermediate tattoo artists with less than five years of experience.

• Key results:‍
  • 99% believe tattooing requires continuous learning.‍
  • 92% use multiple apps for their learning needs.‍‍
  • ‍61% rely on YouTube as their primary source, followed by Instagram (42%) and TikTok (27%).
  • The top criteria for a platform: content quality (93%), mentorship (89%), gamification (87%), and community interaction (81%).‍
  • 96% would be interested in a centralized mobile application for learning.

Qualitative insights

Interviews revealed key challenges faced by a significant target group: beginner and intermediate tattoo artists. These individuals often find traditional tattoo schools prohibitively expensive and poorly tailored to their unique learning needs. Online self-education, while flexible, is highly fragmented and time-consuming, requiring them to sift through dispersed and unorganized content. Many feel isolated, hesitant to approach seasoned professionals for guidance, and face difficulties building connections within the tattoo community. This lack of support exacerbates their frustration, turning their journey into a largely solitary experience. These insights highlight a critical need for a centralized and supportive learning platform tailored to their aspirations and circumstances.

Solution

To address the overlapping needs of beginner and experienced tattoo artists, WINK offers a comprehensive, innovative solution focused on community and personalization. Key features include:

• Expert-validated content.
• Gamification to ensure engaging, motivating learning experiences.
• A community-driven approach to bridge gaps for self-taught tattoo artists.
• AI-driven personalization for tailored learning paths.

In essence, WINK redefines tattoo education by making it accessible, engaging, and perfectly aligned with user needs.

Conception

Round Robin workshop

Objective: Enhance community interaction.

The Round Robin workshop is a participatory method designed to rapidly generate ideas while fostering collaboration. It involved four participants: one experienced tattoo artist and three apprentices, whose diverse perspectives enriched the ideation process.

Steps:

1. Idea Generation: Participants wrote down suggestions on sticky notes focused on improving community interaction.
2. Rotation: Sticky notes were passed around, allowing others to build on or refine ideas.
3. Synthesis: The most promising ideas were selected and further elaborated.

Key ideas:

• Thematic discussion groups for mentors and learners.
• Badges to reward mentors based on feedback.
• Displaying popular events on the home page.

Prototypes and iterations

Iteration 1: Light design:

• Issues:
  • A "neutral" aesthetic, as noted by 70% of testers.
  • Ambiguity around the role of tutors.
  • Difficulty in identifying the app's primary purpose.

Iteration 2: Dark design:

• Improvements:
  • Clearer content hierarchy with contrasting colors.
  • Introduction of a prominent "find a mentor" CTA.
  • 90% of testers found the app attractive, and 10% rated it "very attractive".
  • Most participants successfully identified the app's purpose.

{{beforeandafter}}

Usability testing

Scenarios:

1. Resuming a previously started course.
2. Booking a session with a mentor.

• Positive feedback:
  • Easy access to courses via the home page, resuming playback, and saving courses for later were highly appreciated.
  • Quizzes and short video formats within modules were well-received.
  • The search feature was deemed useful for finding courses, and users valued the ability to bookmark and filter mentors.
• Areas for improvement:
  • Terminology issues, such as confusion around the "search" tab in navigation.
  • Need for clear progress indicators to help users track completed courses or videos.
  • Participants expressed a desire for direct communication with mentors, such as an integrated messaging system.
  • The reason behind booking sessions with mentors wasn’t immediately clear to some, highlighting the need to better explain this feature's value.

What I’ve learned

This project taught me valuable lessons about designing for diverse user groups and making strategic decisions under constraints:

• Balancing conflicting objectives: Finding the right balance between beginners’ needs for structured, fast learning and experienced artists’ desire to share their expertise efficiently was both challenging and rewarding. This process strengthened my ability to prioritize effectively while ensuring all user groups feel supported.
• Importance of progress indicators: Usability tests revealed the importance of clear tools to track user progress. This feature not only enhances user satisfaction but also encourages sustained engagement, making it a critical takeaway for any educational platform design.

If given more time, I would have conducted in-depth research with experienced tattoo artists who are motivated to mentor. By understanding their unique challenges and goals, I could have further refined the platform’s mentorship features to better align with their needs.

Additionally, due to time constraints, the community features, quizzes and profil were not fully designed. These elements represent significant opportunities to strengthen user engagement and foster a collaborative learning environment, which could be explored in future iterations.

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