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Anzoor Gallery Online Art Marketplace

1. Context

I designed the Anzoor Gallery website an online art marketplace for Mafkoora Research & Development Centre, a Peshawar-based scholastic organization founded in June 2020. The vision was to create a clean, elegant platform where art lovers can discover, browse, and purchase original artworks from local and global painters. The platform also allows painters to register and sell their work directly.

Note: This is a real organization project collaboration with solcore. Mafkoora is registered under Societies Act XXI of 1860 in the Office of the Provincial Registrar Joint Stock Companies & Societies, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

2. Problem Statement

According to the client, local Pakistani artists especially from KPK have no proper digital platform to showcase and sell their original artwork. Buyers interested in original art have no reliable, curated online gallery to discover authentic pieces. There is a gap for a trusted, well organized online art marketplace that serves both artists and art buyers in the region.

3. Project Overview

Designer

Zeeshan Ahmed

Role

UI / UX Designer

Duration

2 Weeks

Tools

  • Figma
  • Claude
  • Maze

4. Project Goal

To build a clean, filterable online art gallery that allows buyers to discover and purchase original artworks by category, style, size, and artist while also giving painters a platform to register and list their work.

5. Research Part

Persona: Art Buyer / Art Enthusiast

Age: 25–50
Tech Level: Medium (regular users of e commerce sites like Daraz, Amazon)

Pain Points: Cannot find authentic local original artwork online. Existing platforms feel generic and untrustworthy for buying original art.

Values: Authenticity, cultural connection, visual quality, easy discovery.

Analysis (Competitive Analysis)

I compared Saatchi Art, Artsy, and local Facebook art selling groups. Saatchi and Artsy serve international markets with no local focus. Facebook groups lack structure, filters, and purchase flow. This showed a clear gap for a structured, locally focused online art gallery with proper filtering and painter profiles.

Target Audience

Age: 20–55
Demographics: art collectors, interior decorators, cultural enthusiasts, gift buyers people who value original handmade artwork from local artists.

Target Audience Pain Points

  • No single platform to browse and buy authentic local Pakistani artwork
  • Cannot filter art by style, size, orientation, or artist
  • No way for local painters to list and sell work professionally
  • Existing options (Facebook groups, bazaars) feel informal and untrustworthy

Use Case Analysis

Created scenarios in Maze searching for artwork, applying category and style filters, viewing an artwork detail, browsing by artist, and using the "Become a Painter" registration flow.

6. Brainstorming & Ideation

Your Approach

After client research, I identified that the website needed two user types Buyers and Painters. For buyers, the key was powerful filtering and a beautiful gallery grid. For painters, a simple registration CTA ("Become a Painter") in the header was enough to start.

Possible Solutions

Build an ecommerce style art gallery with a sidebar filter system (Category, Availability, Products, Style, Orientation, Size, Artist) combined with a full width hero banner and a clean card grid. Keep the visual design warm and minimal so the artwork itself takes center stage not the UI.

7. Final Designs (Mockups)

final design

8. Design System / Style Guide

Typography

Playfair Display - serif italic for headings to match art gallery feel.
Inter - sans-serif for body and filters.

Colors

Warm cream/beige (#F5EFE6) as background giving a gallery wall feel. Dark charcoal for text. Orange accent for CTAs ("Become a Painter"). Minimal color UI so artwork colors shine.

9. Conclusion

The main challenge was designing a UI that stays invisible meaning the design should never compete with the artwork being displayed. The outcome was a warm, minimal gallery aesthetic with a cream background and strong filter sidebar that makes finding art easy. I learned how to design ecommerce experiences where the product (artwork) is the hero, and the UI simply gets out of the way.

10. Scope of Improvements

AI-Powered Art Recommendations

Based on the user's browsing and purchase history, an AI engine suggests artworks that match their personal taste style, color palette, and subject preference making discovery feel curated and personal.

Visual Search (Search by Image)

Allow users to upload any image or photo and the AI finds visually similar artworks in the gallery. Buyers who are inspired by a color, texture, or style can find matching pieces instantly without needing words to describe it.

AI Art Style Tagging

Instead of manually tagging each artwork, AI automatically analyzes uploaded paintings and assigns style, mood, color, and subject tags saving painters time and making search results more accurate for buyers.