Project Overview
The new Bluethumb - Uncover Australian Art app is helping art sales grow as the market slows by giving artists the tool they need to sell from anywhere, and collectors a new way to curate and buy art direct from artists. Not only is the Bluethumb app a vital tool, it's also beautiful and a pleasure to use. So much more than an e-commerce app, it's the emerging art world on-the-go, where you can explore and uncover Australian art.
Organisation
Team
Bluethumb is Australia's online art marketplace that lets artists exhibit and sell their artwork across Australia. We're a startup that's helped more than 2200 artists build their careers and supports themselves.
Using Bluethumb you can shop through art collections curated by the Bluethumb team, or you can browse collections via your interest, from any device.
Bluethumb makes art available to all art lovers, from those with substantial collections to those just starting out. With a vast range of incredible art starting below $250 there’s original art for all.
Bluethumb guarantees not only the authenticity of the art you buy, but also that you’ll love it. Because we give you 7 days to try before you buy, so that if you get your artwork home and don’t fall in love, you can send it back and we’ll look after it.
The previous version of our Bluethumb iOS app won best eCommerce App at the 2014 Australian App Design Awards and was an Apple New & Noteworthy app. We've completely overhauled the app and added in a heap of new features for art collectors and artists.
Project Brief
The art world is changing and Bluethumb is leading the way in Australia. Despite winning best eCommerce App at the 2014 Australian App Design Awards, we know the importance of innovation and have continually been working on new features, design and UX ever since.
Artists had the most urgent need for innovation. Through months of research, consulting artists, collectors and art industry professionals, we've used their honest, real world feedback and discovered many artists don't have the tools to sell their work and make a living. The majority of artists live below the poverty line which is a shocking statistic. We want to change this.
For collectors they felt most artists work is being locked out the market by the traditional gallery system. By galleries making art less accessible and their spaces an exclusive members only club, artists and buyers have been getting a bad deal with inflated prices and the majority of art never makes it through the door.
Revolution is in the air thanks to our app!
Project Need
In our project brief we highlighted two urgent needs: remote artists need a tool to sell their work nationally and collectors a new way to discover emerging artists and buy direct from them. The needs go hand in hand and the solution is the Bluethumb - Uncover Australian Art app.
Our updated iOS app has made it easier for our remote artists to exhibit and sell. Many don't have access to PCs, but do have access to a smartphone. Now artists can easily upload and manage their art sales all through the Bluethumb iOS app. A seemingly small improvement which will make a big impact to remote artists.
The new “Explore” feature allows collectors to browse collections and curations by industry experts. They can also curate their own collections by favouriting artworks with a simple double-tap. Importantly the "New" feed means collectors will see every work uploaded to Bluethumb so won't miss an artist and might uncover someone truly great.
By improving both the artist and collector interfaces, our innovative app has the capability of making a golden age for Australian art. We will empower the 99% of artists who aren't gallery represented, or don't have to tools to represent their own art. It's giving the power and money back to the hardworking artists whilst making art accessible and affordable for collectors.
User Experience
We want our users to have a delightful experience immediately, so we don't put any barriers between them opening the app and seeing a full width feed of the trending new art. Collectors can immediately start favouriting artworks to curate their own collections (with a simple double tap).
Artists can quickly photograph and upload artwork in app, and have it live on the site in seconds.
Finally, for collectors buying through the app we have a smart shopping cart which remembers a user's non-sensitive details to make for quicker checkout, and a seamless art buying experience. Our average cart checkout size is $630, and we want the quality of the experience using to match the quality of our art.
Project Marketing
We are going to take the app remote to the artists who need it, especially indigenous communities. Through our research we found remote indigenous artists are the likeliest not to have access to a laptop or PC. Most do, however, have access to smartphones and phone signal. We are planning a sustained outreach campaign where we take great smartphones, with our app installed to these remote artists. Empowering them to start selling their artwork directly and give them the tool to do it.
We have also secured advertising and editorial with Australia's leading art and design magazines and blogs including Frankie, The Design Fils, Houzz, Artist Profile, Art Almanac and more.
Project Privacy
We take our users' privacy very seriously - all purchases are made using secure 128bit SSL encryption, and our data is stored on Amazon's AWS which uses best-practice security for cloud storage.
Home & Living
Apps have forever changed how we live our lives. We're looking for those apps that help us live better, smarter, have fun and just get more out of life whether that be cooking, gardening, renovating, shopping, sport, dating, hobbies or searching for your first home.
More Details