The problem
Moviegoers need a convenient way to buy movie tickets near them and share those tickets with their friends.
Primary users
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College students who are involved in extracurricular clubs and organizations such as greek life.
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Teachers and professors wanting to track attendance in their classes.
Persona: Christine
Christine is a mother of 4 who lives in New York City. She likes to take her family and friends to go see the most popular movies, but she feels frustrated because she searches for a long time to find a time when everyone can sit together.
Cina
UX DESIGN
Buy movie tickets anytime, anywhere.
SKILLS UTILIZED
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, and ensuring cross-platform optimization for mobile and desktop use.
The goal
Design an app and responsive website that provides an effortless experience for finding movie tickets and sharing those with friends and family.
Pain points
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Users with larger parties have trouble finding seats together in theaters with reserved seating.
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Users with accessibility needs waste time by searching through theaters that can’t accommodate them.
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Users don’t want to wait in line for food before the movie starts.
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Paying for a group of people can cause stress around being refunded.
"I wish it didn't take me so long to find a movie where my whole group can all sit together."
AGE: 50
GENDER: FEMALE
OCCUPATION: NURSE
HOMETOWN: NEW YORK, NEW YORK
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User journey map
Mapping Christine's user journey showed that it would be helpful to add filters on the movie times that are based on group size.
Digital wireframes
As I began to create my digital wireframes, I kept the user front and center when pulling together the most important elements from my hand-drawn wireframes. One element that is important is the ability to filter movie times by accessibility and by seat availability.
Paper
wireframes
I drafted many iterations of each screen of my mobile app to start so that the digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. For the home screen, I prioritized large images of movies, since that is where the majority of users I interviewed started their typical ticketing purchase.
Low-fidelity prototype
You can view the Cina low-fidelity prototype here.
Usability study findings
I conducted a total of two rounds of usability studies. The first study helped me make significant improvements which I incorporated into high-fidelity mockups. The second study allowed me to identify which elements of the mockup needed to be modified.
Round 1
Round 2
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Users want multiple ways to split the bill.
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Users wanted more filtration options.
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Users needed an easier way to access their profile information.
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Split the bill wording needed clarification.
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Users wanted to select their number of tickets and see pricing before selecting seats.​
Creating mockups
After the usability studies, I created the option for users to split the bill by percent and to split the bill by item. This offers users more flexibility in their group payments.
Key mockups
High-fidelity prototype
You can view the Cina high-fidelity prototype here.
Accessibility considerations
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Utilized photos of movies and icons along with text to help make navigation easier.
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Provided filters for users to find theaters that matched their accessibility needs.
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Darkened color choices to make text easily readable.
Impact
The Cina App makes ordering movie tickets less stressful, and saves time for users.
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"I have never seen the ability to split the bill by item before and I love that you included that feature! I don’t have to do any math, I can just click on what needs to be shared!"
Takeaways
I realized that creating a great user experience requires a plethora of user feedback and iteration. I now have a great appreciation for the apps I use everyday and realize that the only way to build a product that is useful is to always keep the user front and center.
Let's connect
If you like my work, don't hesitate to reach out!
Email: Lorrie.m.axelrod@vanderbilt.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrie-axelrod/
