background
Visual artists often face burnout which hinders their creativity and motivation. Over time, this undermines their love for art. This is something I have personal experience with, so I wanted to research artistic burnout and how to re-kindle motivation for creative hobbies.
research
When sharing art on social media platforms, artists are extrinsically motivated by engagement which inhibits creativity (Wu et al., 2022). This strive for perfectionism also hinders motivation and passion (Hall & Hill, 2012). Artists need intrinsic motivation, defined as the “enjoyment of and interest in an activity for its own sake” (Wang et al., 2018, p. 323) to avoid burnout.
Overall, autonomous motivation is the main drive for creativity. When individuals feel controlled by extrinsic rewards such as social media engagement, they do not behave freely and are less creative (Wu et al., 2022, p. 10).
pain points
Sharing art online creates performance anxiety.
Social media shifts the focus to engagement and lessens passion.
Perfectionism hinders motivation and leads to burnout.
problem statement
Artists need a way to develop self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation for creating art and incorporating it into their daily routine.
competitor analysis
The only similar app I found was Sketch A Day. It has a similar daily challenge feature which motivates users to keep their streak alive. It also provides helpful tutorials and galleries of inspiration for users.
However, Sketch A Day replicates the problems of sharing art on social media by making it too community-based. The ability to like and comment on people's public artwork creates the same competitiveness found on social media platforms. Moreover, the daily prompts are vague and not catered to individuals who want to develop specific skills.
Another app I referenced was Duolingo, which is famous for its streak system. The app does a great job of motivating users to use it daily without being too high-stakes.
goals
Create a motivation system for artists.
Eliminate performance anxiety.
Foster creativity without being daunting.
Let users set attainable goals for incorporating art into their lives.
Be accessible for beginners and experienced artists alike.
information architecture
After finishing my research, I created the information architecture for my app.
branding
For the name, I decided on AllaPrima, an Italian phrase meaning "at first attempt" and also the name of a wet-on-wet painting technique. This encapsulated the brand's philosophy of creating art freely; creating without comparison or perfectionism.
Because this is an app for artists, I used a doodle-like style for the main illustration and logo. The primitive and playful nature of the drawings aligns with AllaPrima’s philosophy of embracing imperfection. While the overall brand identity uses multiple accent colours, I only chose pink and greyscale for the app’s UI so as not to distract from the images and photos.
solution
My final product is AllaPrima, a daily art challenge app for artists of all skill levels and mediums. It aims to solve issues common with visual artists such as burnout, creative block, and overall lack of motivation. Encouraging users to create everyday with prompts tailored to skill level, medium, and the amount of time they have available, AllaPrima emphasizes consistency over perfection. Don't think, just create!
Find tailored daily challenges on the home screen, based on skill level, preferred mediums, and time available.
Search for and save references and tutorials within the app to make creating art easier, especially for beginner artists.
View past uploaded works in the gallery to see natural improvement and progress over time.
Add friends so they can see your stats and activity only – don't worry about having to share your work.
Motivate yourself to keep creating with a daily streak and other achievements.
lessons learned
Creating AllaPrima was a great exercise in balancing practicality with goal-setting. A lot of thought went into how to make the act of creating art less daunting and more attainable. There was also the challenge of creating a professional user interface for a playful brand; something that would be taken seriously without being too clinical. I was happy with how the final product turned out and can definitely see AllaPrima being used by artists to motivate themselves.
Sources
Hall, H.K., & Hill, A.P. (2012). Perfectionism, Dysfunctional Achievement Striving and Burnout in Aspiring Athletes: The Motivational Implications for Performing Artists. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 3(2), 216–228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2012.693534
Wang, C.K.J., Tan, L., & Dairianathan, E.I. (2018). Achievement Goals, Implicit Theories, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Test of Domain Specificity Across Music, Visual Art, and Sports. Journal of Research in Music Education, 66(3), 320–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429418784563
Wu, X., Siu, K.W.M., Bühring, J., & Villani, C. (2022). The Relationship between Creative Self-Efficacy, Achievement Motivation, and Job Burnout among Designers in China’s e-Market. Social Sciences, 11(509), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11110509
