FilterPixel is a productivity desktop application equipped with AI capabilities, built from the ground up to fit the needs of photographers & prosumers, allowing them to automate the repetetive & mundane tasks within their existing workflow, such as selection, editing, retouching and publishing the final delivery to their client.
Ever since Adobe Lightroom revolutionised digital photography editing, the photography workflow has been a typically manual process. Photographers would shoot their images, import them to local storage, spend hours sifting through hundreds, if not thousands, of images, edit their selected photos and then find a way to deliver these to their clients. The process is often tedious and repetetive, costing photographers immense time.
FilterPixel's vision is to enhance the photographer's productivity. At the heart of FilterPixel is their in-house AI technology, with which they intend to automate part of the photographer's workflow. AI and Machine Learning within photography is still a fairly unexplored area, and so employing this technology without being intrusive will be key.
Constantly analysing faces for focus and whether eyes are open
Existing solutions for photo selection & organising are not intuitive
Finding the best photos out of duplicates is a chore
Available file sharing tools are not well suited to sharing photos with clients
Given the large scope of the project, the solution was one that facilitated a multi tiered approach to enhancing productivity seamlessly with AI. From research it was clear that photographers were already set within the current structure of their workflow, so the solution would aim to greatly enhance the current experience without alienating it, whilst providing powerful new tools that feel fresh yet comfortable, allowing photographers to jump right in.
With the AI enhanced Tag system, users able to quickly apply specific tags to photos and categorise them in place, whilst the AI applies Tags after analysing photos on import. During this analysis on import, FilterPixel's AI detects potential errors and applies relevant tags to images. Examples of AI generated tags include "Underexposed", "Group Photo", "Portrait Photo" and "Out of Focus", to name a few. The user then uses the Filters panel, to filter their view based on these tags, allowing them to easily see photos categorised under various Tags quickly.
In our discovery sessions, we decided to pivot the target audience for FilterPixel to event and wedding photographer's. Within the photography niche, these are the photographer's who will often rack up with 1000's of photographers from a single event, and who would benefit the most from a productivity enhancing software. With this in mind, the Faces view was designed to allow rapid navigation through photos, and allow quick analysis of the subjects within the image, without wasting time opening and closing individual images checking for the same repetetive mistakes; closed eyes, focus levels and exposure.
As FilterPixel would slot in to the photographer's existing workflow, it was imperative that the user experience and interface aligned with other softwares within the ecosystem. Photographers have come to expect certain features, so our intention was to take these expectations and push them beyond the scope of which other applications offered. Similar to Lightroom, Capture One and Photomechanic, FilterPixel has multiple views for photo selection and viewing. However, we implemented a unique panel based interface system that would give the user maximum customisation of their workflow.
Prior to my employment, FilterPixel conducted a series of interviews with photographer's from across the globe. These findings were invaluable as they helped provide an understanding of the daily lives of different photographer's, their workflow, their schedules and most importantly, what common experiences and pain points they shared that could drive the vision of the app going forward.
You can view the interview details here. Interviews were conducted by FilterPixel over Zoom.
Despite the nature of the role, photographers spend a significant amount of time on tasks outside of the actual photoshoot. This includes managing business operations, selecting and editing photos and delivery to the client.
Editing and Culling photos is the largest pain point commonly faced by photographers due to the repetetive and tedious nature of the role.
Photographers would gladly invite automation or a new tool into their existing workflow that eliminated these tasks if it worked seamlessly as part of the process.
Considering FilterPixel would be entering an already crowded marketplace, we knew we had to look at what our competitors were doing and how they were doing it before making any further decisions on the product itself. I analysed several key competitors in the market in detail, you can find the analysis round-up below.
It would prove to be a difficult task to infiltrate the market without being able to integrate with either the Lightroom or Capture One workflow seamlessly, given they are used by a wide share of photographers. We decided that we would develop FilterPixel as both an app and a plug-in.
AI photo culling is a fine balancing act. We found users of Optyx were not particularly keen on the subjective nature of its culling, whilst Narrative Select did not provide enough information with its culling. To tackle this, we will be conducting thorough testing of our approach to AI culling and how the UI displays this.
Subscription models are not as popular as easy one time payments, however subscription models are healthier for long term growth and product delivery to the user.
With the groundwork of research complete, I used this research to build the ideal user persona for FilterPixel; David.
As FilterPixel would need a variety of features, we brainstormed several ideas using user insights to understand ways in which we could provide solutions to consistent problems.
The aim of this product is to create a simplistic front-end process driven by a complex backend. During the brainstorming of this process, we came up with many various solutions and flows, but often found that these were too complicated. If the user was being forced to make too many macro decisions in the software, then the productivity aspect would fall apart. Therefore I decided to boil down the app into 3 macro decisions; one on launch, one after the first AI cull, and the final before exporting the photos to an Editing application.
Given the already complex nature of south asian weddings, I felt that focusing on simplicity in design would be a firm anchor point for the app. Creating a rich design system that felt alive without being distracting or daunting would give the user the impression that planning a south asian wedding won't be a stressful experience, but a joy. I was especially mindful of the fact that competitor apps were filled to the brim with information on every screen, something I wished to avoid.
Once the mid-fidelity wireframes complete, I held six moderated usability tests, a mix of both remote and in-person. My goals were to:
Some of the data I gained from the research and testing process can be seen below.
Once the mid-fidelity wireframes complete, I held six moderated usability tests, a mix of both remote and in-person. My goals were to:
Some of the data I gained from the research and testing process can be seen below.
Designing a competitive Photography application from the ground up was a genuine challenge, and yet it was also highly rewarding. As the team were working entirely remote, and user interviews were done with people all over the world, a large part of this application involved fascilitating this worldwide collaborative environment.
With FilterPixel, I contributed to the design of a product that solves a major problem within an Industry. As the engineers built the application, it became clear with every version iteration that this has the potential to be a market leader, as constant user interviews allowed both the developers and the design side to validate the product in build status.
Going forward, the team at FilterPixel is looking to launch to the market in Q1 2021 as a subscription based service.
Hours are spent on the photo selection process, repeating steps