How Aerie's redesigned art marketplace lifted engagement on both sides

The platform was designed with a focus on two core objectives: empowering artists to share their works and helping investors make data-driven decisions. Through careful design and development, we ensured that the platform would be capable of handling thousands of artworks, providing detailed information about the artists, and facilitating both online and live auctions.

Aerie’s platform goes beyond traditional portfolios by providing artists with a fully fleshed-out digital identity. Artists can share their work alongside detailed information about their background, artistic journey, and exhibitions. The platform also includes tools to track the sales history of their artworks, display statistics, and connect their social media profiles for deeper engagement.

Art is one of the few markets where buyers tend to commit six figures on instinct, because performance data isn't available. We built Aerie's analytics layer to change this: every artist and every artwork carries a track record, from sales history and last sold price to revenue-share terms and an estimated market valuation updated as the market moves. 

Investors see which pieces are appreciating and what share of future sales they'd hold. Artists get the same visibility into their own market and know what their work commands before signing a deal. Both sides transact with evidence in hand, which keeps high-value deals on the platform.

Open marketplaces drown good work in volume. Bidders scatter and prices stay flat. Aerie runs the opposite model: curators hand-pick lots for scheduled online and live auctions. 

We designed the interface to make this model perform. Lot pages put provenance and revenue-share terms beside the artwork. Buyers no longer need to research off-platform before bidding. During the sale, a countdown, public bid history, and one-tap overbid keep buyers in the contest to the final seconds.

For investors, understanding the full history of an artwork is as important as the artwork itself. We designed each painting's page as a complete dossier: original ownership, every transfer, and price movement over time, alongside detailed descriptions, multi-angle photographs, and provenance documents. 

Buyers can verify authenticity in one place instead of pausing to research elsewhere. Doubt is the main reason bids stall, and removing it keeps money moving through Aerie's auctions.

We designed Aerie's Discover feed to provide investors with a curated view of rising artists and popular artworks. Filters by artist country and painting style narrow the field to work matched to each investor's taste. New talent gets a head start to win a global buyer audience, and investors find tomorrow's names before the wider market does. Each side returns for the other, and the platform's catalog grows more valuable with every visit. 

Art deals move fast, and a missed auction is lost revenue for everyone. We designed Aerie's notification settings with granular control: each event type, e.g., received offers or auction dates, has its own toggle for in-app or email delivery. Investors tune alerts to what they want to be informed about, and react the moment an opportunity appears. 

The financial side is just as direct. Plaid links a buyer's bank in one verified step. Less friction between purchase intent and payment means more completed transactions, and a routine worth repeating keeps investors active on the platform.