Gallery Pal: Designing a Personal Art Experience That Lasts

UX/UI Solo Project

Gallery Pal is a concept app designed to help people save, revisit, and emotionally connect with the art they love. It’s for the gallery-goer who finds something that moves them and forgets it by the time they get home.

I created this experience to extend the impact of that moment. Users can explore art, build collections, and return to pieces that meant something to them. The goal was to increase engagement, extend session time, and inspire return visits through thoughtful UX and memory-driven design.

Why This Matters

Apps like this grow not because they sell but because people keep coming back.

The more a user favorites, the more they return. And the more they return, the more opportunities emerge: ticket sales, gallery promotions, memberships, and deeper cultural participation.

This wasn’t just about making something pretty, it was about designing for memory, habit, and long-term value.

My Role

I led this project end to end, from research to final prototype. I focused on creating a calm, intuitive experience that invited users to emotionally invest.

  • Mapped flows for saving, organizing, and revisiting art
  • Wrote UX copy to reflect a soft, thoughtful tone
  • Built a minimalist interface that centers the artwork
  • Used emotional prompts to drive engagement

The Problem

People often connect with a piece of art during a visit then forget the name, lose their notes, and never see it again. Cultural platforms miss out on return visits, loyalty, and word-of-mouth.

Gallery Pal was designed to fix that by making the connection last.

Design Goals

  • Make art feel personal and collectible
  • Make saving art feel natural and quick
  • Encourage return visits through subtle nudges

Key Features I Designed

✓ Tap-to-Favorite with Emotional Feedback
A heart icon with soft animation confirms the save and reinforces personal connection.

✓ “My Collection” Interface
A curated grid of saved works users can tag, sort, and filter based on mood or memory.

✓ Smart Revisit Nudges
Prompts like “Want to revisit the 3 pieces you saved at The Met?” turn memory into action.

✓ Minimalist Emotional UI
Quiet design that lets the art lead with soft tones, blurred backdrops, and intuitive spacing.

Strategic Impact

  • Saved artwork = longer engagement and re-entry points
  • More returning users = stronger platform stickiness
  • Collections = natural conversation starters + sharing
  • Established UX patterns for future monetization (memberships, events, paid features)

What This Project Proved

People don’t come back for design — they come back for what it lets them feel. Gallery Pal showed me how to design for emotional memory. Not just usability, but intimacy. And that’s where real engagement lives.

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