What is Moovies?
Moovies is a mobile app designed to help people find a movie to watch. Often times, we struggle to find the PERFECT movie. We sit in front of our TV/Computer, scroll through hundreds of movies, take a look at Rotten Tomato’s certified fresh picks and check “Recommended for You” section on Netflix — only to find ourselves watching The Office yet again. This repetition and struggle had to come to an end. I was inspired to create an app that elegantly solves this problem.
Basics
Skills
Researching, ideating, prototyping, sketching, user testing and designing the userflow and the interface
Team
Collaborated with another UX designer friend
Problem
Finding a movie is a common problem. Not only is it time consuming, but it can also cause stress and tension if you don't make the right choice and end up wasting two hours of free time on a horrible movie. Nowadays, Hollywood and other movie industries around the world are churning out so many movies that it has become more difficult than ever to find a movie that you will enjoy. As everyone has different perspectives and interests, finding a right movie comes down to personal preference. Thus, it is essential that you are presented with personalized movie search that takes into account your preference.
Assumption
- HMW help people save time and
decide on which movie to watch? -
People spend 1.44 days per year finding a movie.....
People are frittering away an entire day and a half
Targetted Audience
- Indecisive movie fans
- Couples
- Time sensitive people
- Cinephiles
Before we initiated our primary and secondary research, we came up with some questions that need to be solved during our research.
Questions
1 - How often do people face the struggle of finding a movie to watch?
2 - What factors contribute to choosing a movie?
3 - How long does it take for people to find a perfect movie?
Research
Research Process
Literature Review
We performed literature review to find answers to our questions that required further research. Searching about the relevant information sources helped us determine what is already known about the topic. We searched through the web for third party opinions, analysis, and observations. This process enriched our understanding of the problems people face while choosing a movie. Major take aways from our research are:
- According to Statista, market research company, “65 percent of … Canadians aged between 18 and 34 years subscribed to Netflix in 2016 … and [has] 3.95 million paying streaming subscribers in Canada
- Based on Google Infographics & Millward Brown Digital, peopledecide their movies based on movie trailer, casting and friends recommendation.
Interviews
We conducted 7 rounds of interviews, consisting of interviewees aged between 18 to 30 who enjoy watching movies on a weekly basis. Our questions were focused on how users go about finding a movie. However, instead of asking interviewees explicitly about what they need and want, we came up with customized and detailed questions that could help us understand in depth the the general approach people take in finding a movie.
“A lot of time, friend recommendation. If not, I just simply browse to find a movie and check the movie I select on Rotten Tomato to get reviews and ratings”
“Netflix is a big one for me. If I can’t find it on Netflix, I will go on Amazon [or] do whatever it takes to find the movie.”
“Can’t really put a time on it. Usually doesn’t take too long. 15-20 minutes maximum.”
Interview Main Takeaways
Majority of the respondents decide on a movie based on friend recommendations, ratings & reviews primarily from rotten tomatoes, genre, and mood
Five people said that their streaming service does not provide the movie that they want to watch. In addition, majority said they stream movies mostly with Netflix
Five people said that their streaming service does not provide the movie that they want to watch. In addition, majority said they stream movies mostly with Netflix
Competitive Analysis
With the findings we have collected through our interviews, we conducted secondary research to analyze existing platforms that are created to mitigate the same problem. Two mobile applications that we could relate to are Popflakes and Justwatch. We downloaded and tested to see if they could solve the current problem.
Top Takeaways
Easy navigation
Information hierarchy
when movie is selected
Curated movie list
Ideation
Personas
We created two provisional personas based on our research and interviews: Andrew who wants to relax and watch a movie after a long day of work, and the other, Vivian, who wants to watch a movie while enjoying a chill day with her friend. These personas were created with the assumptions that pinpoint the users’ goals and pain points. Using such personas will helps us prioritize users’ needs during our design process.
Storyboard
Personas help us have a better understanding of whom this product for. Now that we know whom this app is for, we created two storyboards to visualize in what context this app can be used.
Here are the two storyboards:
Wireframing
Sketching for the best idea
Now we that we know what are crucial for our users, we went straight to the drawing board. We created a paper prototype to test the app’s navigation and workflow and to see if our design can solve the users’ problems.
Three potential main features of Moovies:
- Multiple options to browse for a movie
- Objective movie rating
- Quick access to movie trailers
Here is a
link to the video of how we tested the paper prototype to evaluate the navigation, workflow and the interactions.
Video LinkGreyscale Wireframe
WIth a holistic understanding of the application’s navigation, features and functionality, we transferred our paper wireframe to greyscale fidelity wireframe on Sketchapp
Usability Test Greyscale Wireframe
After creating the greyscale fidelity wireframe, we conducted usability test to validate our ideas/design using a prototyping tool called Invision.
During the test, we wanted the users to imagine as if they were actually in the situation of choosing a movie. We provided them with a scenario and during the test, we asked each of them to articulate their thought process while navigating through the paper prototype.
Conducting usability test on five people enabled us to see what improvement and refinement are required to improve their experience.
Greyscale Wireframe Refinement
Users thought the filter options were sequential steps to find a movie rather than options
Users didn't know they could scroll down to see more categories
Too many call to action (CTA) buttons
Separated the keyword selection and category option into two
Designed the category screen to look scrollable
Users didn’t understand what the streaming provider section was for
Didn’t know what the Alien icon symbolized
Users wanted to see more movies on the screen
Allowing the users to filter their search by choosing their video
streaming service(s) was nice to have, but wasn’t a need
Reduced confusion by taking out the two ratings
Changed the layout to show more movies
Users were confused as to whether the play button starts the movie or the trailer
Users were in desire of share option
Incorporated friend recommendation
over in app rating system
Users found Rotten Tomato to be enough information when it comes to rating
Final Design
During this phase, our creativity juice started flowing. Using our inspiration findings and our creativity, we found our brand color and theme for Moovies. However, the main challenge was making consistency within components, choosing the right color and creating a design system. We used material design by Google, and our logic and to make an intuitive interfaces.
Prototyping With Animation
For the final part of this project, we thought it will be the most ideal if we demonstrate the flow using an animated prototype. To do so, we used Flinto to design our animated transitions.
1. Login
Create a new account or login using Facebook
or Gmail. or if you are already part of Moovies,
welcome back!
2. Pick and Choose
Choose from one of the six filters and scroll through the categories to curate your movie list!
3. Choose a movie
From our curated list of movies, choose what you wish to watch!
4. Look into it and Watch!
Moovies has all the information you need before you watch your movie! Rotten tomato rating, synopsis, movie trailer and more!
Take Aways
This project, although completed in a short period of time, was indeed a long journey. My teammate and I worked on it night and day, in order to design a modern and fun application to solve a problem that stemmed from our personal experience and frustration.
During the project, my biggest challenge was designing a straightforward application that led the users to the final screen in a minimal step. However, through iterative user research and prototyping, I was able to overcome the challenge. I learned that research plays a cardinal role in improving and fixing defects in my designs. I also realized the importance and power of rigorous testing.
In the end, I was satisfied with the result and proud of the fact that I had a lot of fun doing it. The key takeaway from the project is perhaps the job of a user experience designer often involves pushing the boundaries in order to thrive, instilling excitement in users and fostering imagination to invent a product. Hope you enjoyed reading about Moovies, and if you are not busy, checkout my other projects on my portfolio!
