OVerview

An app in collaboration with the Sol LeWitt estate, that brings people into the life and legacy of the world-renowned artist, a key member of the conceptual art movement. 

The app transports users into LeWitt’s world, enabling them to explore his work through a 360° tour of his Connecticut studio, never-before-seen archival audio and video, location-aware stories from his life, and the ability to scan his artworks with AI to unlock their process at leading arts institutions across the globe.

ROLE

Creative Director

RESPONSIBILITIES

Concept development, information architecture, design direction, UX/UI management, client management, article editing, usability testing and QA

CLIENTS

Sol LeWitt estate, Microsoft

APP DOWNLOAD

iOS, Android, Microsoft

The Problem

Conceptual art is hard to explain, understand, and appreciate

Project Goal

Design an app that makes conceptual art and Sol LeWitt’s work more accessible by levering innovate mobile technologies to engage new and younger audiences

Casual Museum Visitors

Peel back the curtain behind LeWitt artworks in museums to explain the concepts behind conceptual art

Art Students & Fans

Show how LeWitt worked and where to find his artworks to inspire and educate those that are passionate about art

Art World Academics

Tell in-depth narratives behind LeWitt's inspiration and process in his own words using never-before-seen content from his personal archive

App Features

4 experiences were conceived of and designed to open up LeWitt’s work to our target users, with the intention of both demystifying and educating the public on LeWitt and conceptual art.

Scan A Wall Drawing

Demystifying Conceptual art in museums with AI

LeWitt’s work has been installed on some of the most prestigious and fascinating walls across the globe.

Armed with the app, museum-goers can scan over 40 of his wall drawings to unlock their process with the help of AI. After scanning an artwork, guests receive artwork information and are invited to explore that work type through an interactive article. Artwork scanning acts as the accessible entry point into a world of information about LeWitt and Conceptual art for on-site visitors.

We wanted the experience to feel effortless and magical so we created a simple interface and integrated sound and animation to make the scanning process feel powerful and memorable.

Participating Institutions

Virtual Studio Tour

UnearthING insights behind the creative process

LeWitt’s Chester, Connecticut studio is a special place. Previously inaccessible to the public, the app opens it up for the first time to the world. Left fully intact upon his death, it still holds the energy of the artist.

Through a VR-like mobile experience users can explore every detail of the space to uncover more about conceptual art and how LeWitt worked. Tappable POIs invite users to go even deeper into select objects such as his desk, telephone, pin-up board, and art supplies to view unseen images, video and audio clips.

We wanted our experience to reward exploration, so we positioned the experience as a scavenger hunt and including ultra hi-res object imagery for users to zoom into to find inspiration in the smallest of details.

Mapping LeWitt

Making Conceptual art relatable to people all over the world

LeWitt’s influence spans the planet. Looking to reinvent the traditional artist biography, we told his life story through the places he traveled and left a lasting impact, making him relevant to audiences across the globe.

Users navigate the information through a scrubbable timeline that transports them to the place through the map and rich media content. Users can also enable location services to see the closest scannable artworks to them, incentivizing users to visit arts institutions.

Work Theme Articles

Making In-depth learning accessible for all audiences

LeWitt categorized his work around 6 themes that were in constant evolution throughout his career. Working with the LeWitt family and scholars, we built rich media articles that unpack these categories like never before.

One of the challenges we faced was making this information accessible to non-art experts. We aimed to solve this through attentive design and interaction, integrating animation and video explainers that rebuild his artworks following his original instructions. The end result is a deep dive into LeWitt’s process and Conceptual art that through interactivity, meets users where they are in their knowledge of conceptual art.

App Design

The layout and design system for the app was derived from LeWitt’s own principles following the same treatment of the grid, line, negative space, and color. Working with a LeWitt scholar, I scoured LeWitt’s printed materials, sketches, and notes to find elements to build upon, looking to approach the design the same way he approached making artwork.

The design for the app is intentionally minimal and stripped back letting LeWitt’s work to take center stage, leverage his vibrant and intricate works to provide richness to the overall visual design.

Learn something new, every time

We wanted users to learn more about LeWitt each time they used the app, so every visit loads a different splash screen, homepage hero image, and homepage quote from the artist.

Impact

• Museum visitors scanned LeWitt artworks at over 35 international museums and locations on 4 continents

• App integrated into museum tours around the world

• App rated 4.7/5 stars on Apple’s App Store

• Made Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Designs of 2021

• Featured in The New York Times’s T List

“A reference point for the art world”

-The Art Newspaper

Download the app

Media from Listen and the Sol Lewitt app.