The Design Process: Content Inventory
ContextSave for the very long term, I expect my art subscription service's only permanent presence will be online, and initially it would exist solely as a website to be encountered by users browsing at home or at work (eventually a portable device program could be developed for digital art). The visual and interactive experience will be somewhat casual (like looking at pretty photographs online) and also with an eye to buying (though nothing like most online stores, which are so over-saturated with information and distractions).
Information
The information on the site would consist of images of the artworks provided by the artists, biographic information about the artists and curators that they would provide, descriptions of the artists' works by the curators who selected them, and a standard online purchasing form like those available through services like PayPal.
Participation
On the administrative side the site will require monthly updates with the new artwork sent out in the subscription, updates with news about other projects the artists and curators involved are working on, and any scheduled events to do with the subscribers. Part of the subscription service will include access to a private blog and social network for members, which will foster a sense of involvement and community among what may be a very geographically dispersed clientele, which will also give them a place to communicate with the participating artists and curators. Administering this online discussion space will mean more frequent participation for all involved.
Experience
The service needs a name, logo, letterhead/envelope/business card, website and blog interface. I'll also need to choose a specific web-based store application, or perhaps request that checks be sent directly to an office or bank. There will also have to be some research to find a shipping service that can guarantee safe delivery of sometimes fragile objects. When, occasionally, subscribers are brought together for a special event, suitable spaces will have to be found.
Content Source
I will design the logo, printed matter and web site, the blog interface will be existing blogging software, the payment system will already exist and simply be integrated into a page of the website I design.
The artists and curators will provide their biographical information, the curators will be asked to write 400 to 600 words on each artist they choose. The artists will be given a pre-determined period of time to create their works, which will be created specifically for the subscription service rather than selected from their pre-existing body of work.
The biggest problem several of the people I spoke to raised was the idea of creating something more involved and personal than just a subscription service whereby an object arrives in the mail every month. Getting subscribers to participate, engage and produce their own content in the form of questions for artists and curators, feedback for administrators, suggestions and ideas for fellow members and the like will be especially important and contingent to a large degree on the blog design.
Dream employees: Several gallery directors and curators from organizations with different audiences and backgrounds would be ideal for this service to give it a comprehensive outlook that covers both well-known artists and newcomers. I'd choose a combination of very established figures like Larry Gagosian, owner of the international Gagosian gallery chain, and curators more attuned to emerging artists like Juan Puntes of White Box Gallery and Fionn Meade, the curator at SculptureCenter.
Dream employers: This is the kind of service that could very easily be licensed to a large gallery looking to diversify its income from just major sales into smaller and steadier income, or that a larger online store might want to have as a specialized members section. In terms of the latter, I especially think such a subscription service could be integrated into sites like Etsy or ThumbtackPress, offering users a more engaging and exciting way of buying and collecting art. An example of the former would be Pace Wildenstein, which operates three galleries in New York and represents some very famous artists, but relies heavily on sales of very expensive works.
Dream artists and designers: Part of the challenge of this website will be to create a design that is at once clear and clean yet not too stilted or visually uninspiring. Though it's much busier than I would want the subscription service to be, the homepage of Deitch Projects, designed by Agnieszka Gasparska is one of the best and most interesting of any gallery I've ever come across. Two artists whose work I'd love to have included and whose visual style might influence the visual style of the website are Jonathan Schipper (a sculptor and installation artist whose work is very high tech, slick and violent) and Swoon (a street artist whose posters and installations tend to be very organic and Utopian).
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