HOW IT ALL STARTED
As an artist myself as well a personal friend to many visual artists, I’ve been intimately familiar with the struggles of running an art business. What started as casually advising friends on how to better optimize their art businesses ultimately became the startup I founded: Makemix. In starting, all I knew was that I wanted to help automate the not-so-fun aspects of running an art business to free up more time for artists to focus on what they really love: being creative. So, I started as I would with any new product — with an extensive Research & Discovery phase, ultimately identifying automating the custom client art commissions experience as the most valuable opportunity from a user, competitive, and market perspective.
Discovery ACTIVITIES
General User Interviews: Professional Creatives
Targeted User Interviews: Visual Artists
Persona Development
Competitive Analysis
Market Trend Assessment
User Journey Mapping
MVP Definition
HOW I APPROACHED MAKEMIX’S PRODUCT DISCOVERY
I started with my favorite activity: interviewing actual people. From there, personas were built out, opportunities were mapped, solutions were conceptualized, and an MVP was defined.
