Artaku story Vol.1
5 min readFeb 8, 2021
This is our documentation of creating the service. We are going to cover here “Interview (artist)” and “Interview (art lover)”. (28/Nov/2020–15/Dec/2020)
You can read about our interview rush on Vol.10.
From this article, we will write about Artaku because we have concluded that it is difficult to monetize with Cocchi and we are fascinated by art!
Interview (artist)
We interviewed 6 art students to understand their problems.
Persona
Art students who are creating artworks daily.
Problem
Want to keep their own artwork, but they have no place to put it, therefore they are forced to throw it away.
Hypothesis
Want a service that can manage all your own works and turn them into a portfolio.
User test
Results of hypothesis
Tokyo
- Art students generally having trouble finding a place to store their work.
- If art students cannot find a place to store the artworks, they generally throw them away.
- Art students use Instagram as a portfolio, but they want to create a proper portfolio on the Internet.
- Not many art students are used to creating websites, especially fine art majors, and some of them are not familiar with how to use a computer.
- The potential persona would be an art student who is not good at self-promotion, living alone in Tokyo, and creates 2D paintings.
- Art students compare the price of subscription service with Adobe creative cloud and warehouse costs.
New York City
- Need to conduct more interview to understand storage problem because one of them didn’t have a problem with storage and another one had a problem.
Insights
- It is difficult to secure space for art materials and workspace without an atelier or studio.
- Art students are not sure where the paintings are stored currently because can’t manage them.
- Artists want to accumulate their artworks with the awareness that creating a culture, not only to have their artworks appreciated.
- Artists are not familiar with what other artists are doing.
- Artists are worried about amateurs storing the artworks because of the storage conditions.
- There is no space at school or home to store the artworks.
- Want to show only selected artworks on the portfolio, not all.
- Artists are particular about photographing their artworks.
- Artists don’t know how to create a portfolio, so they can’t create one even if they wanted to.
- Artists are not familiar enough with video documentation to structure and edit a video.
- Artists don’t want to draw to sell, they want to express themselves in a new way.
- It’s nice to be able to concentrate on the work and not have to worry about selling it.
- Artists want to expand the connections with other artists.
- Artists want to expose the artworks to increase their value.
- Museums should be more diverse because it is a place where people can feel many cultures.
- There is an image that art is for rich people.
Interview (art lover)
We interviewed 8 art lovers to understand their problems.
Persona
A person who goes to museums a few times a year works remotely and has an empty wall in the room.
Problem
The more time he/she spends in the room due to WFH, the more he/she worries about the room being boring and dull.
Hypothesis
Want to rent out space in the room for art. (looking for something to decorate the room)
User test
Results of hypothesis
Tokyo
- People who consider a room as just a place to sleep don’t need anything other than the bare essentials in their home. (more likely to be male)
- People often change the interior of the room to refresh themselves because of WHF.
- Want a painting as a part of room decoration, but it is not a priority for purchase.
- To display something as interior decorations, posters or reproductions are fine.
- People who are starting to get interested in art want to be particular about a painting, but they don’t know how to choose one.
- People are concerned about choosing a painting because it expresses their thoughts and can be seen by others.
- Paintings add originality to a room, unlike house plants or vases
- Many people are interested in paintings but are not sure if it is okay to make a hole in the wall.
- Want to hang paintings in dreary places such as the bathroom, entrance, living room, or bedroom.
- If people have paintings at parent’s home, they tend to hang paintings on the wall even if they live alone.
Insights
- People who go to art museums every month are not interested in a particular painting, but rather in experiencing the extraordinary feeling through the limitedness of a special exhibition.
- Adding a social experience, such as connecting with other art lovers, is an important experience that goes beyond the one-on-one relationship with the artwork.
- There is a possibility that the moving season is the time to hang the paintings.
- People who moved to a bigger house due to WFH can be a target because the bigger the house, the more people are concerned about white space and want to decorate with paintings.
- People who move frequently will be interested in using the art rental subscription services.
- People who subscribe to furniture are likely to subscribe to art in the same way.
- A generation of 20s who don’t have money and don’t own things are more likely to rent art.
- People who want to change the paintings depending on their mood could be the target.
- Female designers in their 20s who have moved to the city and have smaller rooms, but want to make their living space more comfortable and less conventional will be the target.
- Tie up with renters to display artworks when viewing apartments for promotion.
- The service will be attractive for people who have started to be interested in art but don’t know where to start.
- 1–3 paintings would be borrowed per person.
- Young art lovers are longing for artworks and would like to have one in their room someday, but because it’s expensive and not a necessity, they are less likely to purchase one.
- Artists are already using social media for self-promotion, so there doesn’t seem to be a big pain in communication.
- It is a good idea to buy someone a painting as a gift because it gives them a special feeling.
- Music and painting go well together in the sense of a CD jacket.
- Photographs can be a competitor, but the strength of a painting is its abstraction.
Next Step
Interview (art lover) and pitch deck
