Artists are not only busy making art, they are also tasked with the invisible labor listed above. Is Etsy meeting their needs and goals? Artists have an abundance of platforms to choose from for promoting, selling and managing their art. What platform features do artists prioritize in selling art online? 

Hard-working artists have to divide their time between creating beautiful art and running their businesses. This includes:

•Speaking with customers
•Promoting their art

Recommendations

• Notify artists about platform updates and changes that might affect their sales to increase engagement and inclusivity.

• Invest in a straightforward universal online platform that allows simple business management.

• Allow artists to do more customization and modifications on their Etsy storefront.

• Consider creating different fee model options for artists.

• Develop tools that help artists navigate updates, especially fees-related updates.

• Consider sponsoring local art events.

•Brand Management
•Budgeting/Financing
•Online Store Maintenance

Last year, the online art market worldwide was estimated at 13.6 billion U.S. dollars. While Covid-19 attributed to the sharp increase, the rise in popularity also indicated the potential growth in this market.

Recruitment was done at local art markets and on social media platforms. Participants  were screened and scheduled within a few hours of initial contact. Once the user interview session was confirmed, participants were sent a Zoom link, an invitation to join the diary study, and reminders were sent a day before the scheduled session. Demographics of participants are listed below: 

• 18 years old or above

• 23 women and 4 men

Diary studies: Upon receiving confirmation from artists. Participants were sent a google form to log their daily experiences and challenges for three consecutive days. Collected data was considered when the team and I synthesized the user interview notes and uncover themes. 

User interviews: Session goals, participant rights, and consent were discussed at the beginning of each session. Upon receiving consent, each participant was invited to join a 45 minutes - 1 hour in-depth interview session on either Zoom or Google Meet. My team and I met with online artists to understand their routines and delve into the challenges they experienced with selling art on various platforms. After each session, I analyzed my notes and rewatched recordings to ensure quality of data. My team and I discussed the 7 themes we uncovered from the user interviews and diary studies and had rich conversations about artists' goals and motivations. Recommendations were then created based on the research findings. We detailed the end-to-end research in our presentation and shared it with stakeholders.