Movies with a little more magic.

Based on my research, I focused primarily on two types of users:

After user research, competitive research and other observations, my ideas coalesced around three primary focal points that would improve the moviegoing experience in a way that was differentiated from existing offerings:

I explored a variety of approaches to the main user flows on paper, paying particular attention to the in-theater experience. In the paper wireframes below, I considered numerous layout approaches to the Showtime main screen before adapting the best elements of several into a rough design for the screen.

After experimenting on paper, I moved on to digital wireframes of the primary screens and flows, and created a low-fidelity prototype for testing. Below is one flow, showing an example of the primary food and drinks ordering experience.

I performed two rounds of usability testing for the app, one with a low-fidelity prototype and one with a high-fidelity prototype, each with the same five users. While I didn't uncover any serious issues, I did find numerous ways to improve the experience based on user feedback, mostly to provide additional visual feedback and clearer pathways.

Ordering food and drinks is a mature app flow at this point, and has been done in many different ways across apps and websites. But few movie ticket apps allow food ordering, and those that do tend to be slow and cumbersome. My goal was to create a better concessions ordering experience that feels like it was built with movies in mind.

My work on the Silver concept focused primarily on the main user paths and the challenges I laid out at the beginning of the project, so there are a number of other paths I have not yet fleshed out:

Prototyping the Showtime functionality
I created the four states of the Showtime section, but I would like to fully build out the section in prototype form to demonstrate all aspects of how it works.

Building out the Party functionality
The concept of party management — inviting friends and family to a movie and tracking tickets, food and communication for the whole group via the app — is a fairly new concept for an app like this, and one of its key differentiators. I would like to do further research into needs around this feature, and fully build out the functionality within the app prototype to show its potential.

Account, content and other paths
I have not yet built out the Account features, fleshed out how additional content would enhance the experience or pursued a few other secondary paths that would yield a fully realized prototype for Silver.

Additional research
I would love to perform additional research to better understand a broader range of moviegoers and their needs, and further evolve the app to better serve them.

As an avid moviegoer, I had a lot of fun realizing this app concept and prototyping functionality for a better movie app. I also learned about a variety of moviegoer needs and how an app like this can help solve them.

Actually building and releasing an app like this would present a whole host of challenges, particularly building the infrastructure movie theaters would need to implement it, but it's easy to see how Silver would offer a lot of value to theaters as well as their patrons.