HOW IT STARTED
I started Makemix to automate the not-so-fun aspects of running an art business to free up more time for artists to focus on doing 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 client commissions experience as the most valuable opportunity from a user, competitive, and market perspective.
My makemix Research & discovery process
User research
1. USER INTERVIEWS
I conducted 12 initial discovery interviews with a wide variety of visual artists I sourced via Instagram DMs, ranging from fashion designers to portrait artists.
2. INTERVIEW SYNTHESIS
I translated each interview into Snapshot Cards where I extracted and noted key insights stickies regarding the artists’ processes, pain points, and current solutions.
3. AFFINITY MAPPING
I plotted all of the interview key needs and organized them into thematic buckets, weighting the needs in accordance with how universal to creatives they were.
Needs + Opportunity Analysis
4. Competitive Landscape
I took a broad look at the Creatives Business Management Tools market and then dug into 4 primary competitors, bucketing & ranking their functionality.
5. problems Mind MAP
I plotted the main problems and solution opportunities I saw when considering both the Competitive Landscape findings and the Affinity Mapping exercise.
6. needs survey scoring
After selecting Commissions as the initial go-after opportunity, I crafted a commissions-specific survey to 250 artists and scored their responses.
PRIORITIZATION
7. User Journey Mapping
From the commission artists survey and additional commissions-specific user interviews, I plotted the artist/client commissions journey, identifying process pains & gains.
8. Jobs to be done
Out of the User Journey Map, I dug into more specific Jobs to Be Done, noting the emotional highs and lows in each step.
9. Mvp definition
Considering all of the conducted research & discovery activities and also conferring with engineering, I determined the Must Haves, Should Haves, Could Haves, and Won’t Haves for Makemix’s MVP.