Imurj is a community for emerging visual artists, performing artists, and fans. They offer a large variety of programs to support emerging artists, grow local art communities, and provide a way to learn from local creatives.
The Problem
Looking towards scaling art communities through grassroots collaboration, Imurj wanted a platform to manage and better serve their creative members. With input from an entire community of creatives in dozens of industries, Imurj had an abundance of ideas and programs without the focus needed to deliver a productized version of their community brand. Previous developers struggled to make consistent progress with a constant barrage of new feature ideas -- most of which already existed on popular sites like Facebook, Etsy, Eventbrite, and Soundcloud. Even with full time managers, connecting and delivering on so many ideas was challenging.
Started Small
Through our lean development process, we started with a small chunk of core functionality focused on encouraging users to track activity throughout the community in exchange for "frequent flyer" points and rewards. With a visual gamification mechanism (achievements and milestones) this core functionality provided a unique experience that could scale to multiple locations while providing immediate value for the local community.
Added Integrations
After the initial launch and beta period, Imurj needed to capture more artists, so we integrated with existing artist communities like Etsy and Soundcloud with Facebook authentication. To expand management functionality, we integrated Eventbrite for live event and space management alongside Shopify for an online art gallery to mirror their physical gallery space. Finally, we added Imurj Radio, a customized iTunes music library management replacement for Imurj's musician community.
