Project Context
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Time frame: 12 Weeks
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Individual project for Google UX Design Course.
Responsibilities
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User Research
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UX Design: Ideation, Wireframing, Lo-fi prototype
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UI Design
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Usability Testing + Iteration
Tools used
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Figma
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FigJam
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Procreate
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Google Forms
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Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Powerpoint)
PROBLEM
When going to the cinema,
I'm often fed up with the long queue at the box office and snack bar. It's really frustrating! The worst-case scenario is when tickets are sold out or I miss the opening scenes of the movie. In fact, not only this nuisance happens to me, but also happens to almost every moviegoer.
THE SOLUTION
Moviechill App
is designed to enhance moviegoers' experience in cinema by allowing them to easily book tickets and order snacks in advance. At the same time, the application also provides users with a flexible and time-saving solution when searching for theatres and movies.
TAKING THE DIVE
User Interviews
There is no better way to understand what a person wants than to talk to them directly. Therefore, I conducted interviews in order to understand the users I'm designing for and their needs. I talked to 5 people ages 20-35 among my network who go to the cinema at least twice per month. After this primary research, my assumptions about challenges that moviegoers are facing, such as long queues or disappointment when there are no tickets left for them after long waiting time, were confirmed. I've also discovered new points, like frustration at limited snack options as well as what makes them hesitant to book tickets online such as the lengthy and annoying booking process or poor payment methods. Besides, most cinema fans often feel indecisive when choosing a movie to watch.
USER PAIN POINTS
Insights acquired from interviews help me find major and minor pain points
A. Long Queues
1. 4/5 complained about having to wait in the long line-up to buy a ticket especially when the movie is a blockbuster.
2. 3/5 complained about having to wait in the long queue to buy movie snacks and missing the opening scene of the movie they have paid for.
B. Price
3. 2/5 would like to get tickets at cheap and affordable prices.
4. 4/5 complained that they have to pay extra fees when booking online.
C. Booking Process
5. 3/5 complained about the long and frustrating booking process on online platforms.
6. 3/5 complained about not having seats after going through the entire process on online platforms during busy evenings.
7. 3/5 feels indecisive when choosing movie to see.
TARGETED USER PERSONAS
Right after the interviews, I created empathy maps for each interviewee and developed them into two personas that represent two main user groups.
Images from Rulo Davila and Cottonbro on Pexels
USER EMPATHIZE
User Journey Map
To empathise with the users, I also created a map simulating the physical and emotional journey of my personas throughout their booking process of movie tickets until they settle in front of the screen and enjoy their movie. To ensure the product is inclusive and equitable, I considered accessibility in my journey map as well. Thereby, I suggested some opportunities for improvement of their experience.
DEFINING USER PROBLEMS
Problem statement & Hypothesis statement
After initial analysis to have a basic understanding of my users, I built problem statements for my primary personas that comprehensively demonstrate overall picture of the design problem. Then, I created the hypothesis for the potential user experience. This point will be addressed in the usability testing section.
IDEATION
Crazy Eights
Based on the hypothesis and thorough effort of research and prep work, it's time to get my brain bumping. Keeping in mind the question "How might I provide an experience that is engaging, useful and easy to use?", it is important to conduct Crazy Eights sessions as much as possible to finally lay down initial ideas for my app.
Storyboard
A "big-picture" storyboard illustrates how a user might use my product in their daily life, and why the product will be useful. I also made a "close-up" storyboard that zooms in the key steps a user will take when using the product. These really helped me to visualize how my idea can be implemented.
Big-picture Storyboard
Close-up Storyboard
THE MAKING OF MOVIECHILL
User Flow Diagram
In this step of design process, the ideas will be implemented in real life and building user flow diagram is a good start. This flowchart outlines how a typical user navigates through the app. From here I could decide what actions and features are crucial and beneficial, as well as make a checklist of all the pages to be designed.
Wireframe + Low-Fidelity Prototype
INITIAL DESIGN
I referred to my user flow diagram to create wireframes and then the low-fidelity version of the design that focuses on layout and functionalities rather than on details and aesthetics. The goal is to try to make my design testable which helps me quickly test out ideas with users before investing resources in creating a more polished version.
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
Major Insights
Based on various feedback I got from the usability study with real users, I synthesized all my observations and categorized them into themes in Affinity Map. From here, I came up with insights that helped me figure out the drawbacks of my current design and then try to improve it.
5 major improvements in my design
Upon collected insights, I continually iterated my design with 5 major improvements:
CONCLUSION
Lessons I've learned
It is hard to believe that I've finished my first-ever project in UX design. After all, I’m immensely grateful to have been through an entire UX process so I can see what it is actually like to design an application from scratch and answer whether I want to continue pursuing this field or not, it's definitely YES. In the following note, there are valuable things I’ve learned:
1. Keep iterating.
"People’s problems are always changing. So really, design is never done."(— Luke Wroblewski, Product Director at Google). I've figured out design is an iterative process. Whenever I've done with usability study, I always see new problems in my design. That's when I have to sit down, iterate the process and solve them. I understand that there is no perfect design, only better design.
2. Understanding users is very important.
I really appreciate that Google continuously reminds me to put my users front and center throughout their course. In the end, the goal of UX design is to solve users' problems, not personal problems, so complacent thought could not stop me from questioning if my own decisions were truly best for the user.
3. Set a clear goal at the beginning.
As I mention above, iteration is a part of the design process, but honestly, it didn't happen in an easy-peasy way. During 3 months of project, I created at least 5 versions of each screen in both lo-fi and hi-fi design. I've ended up restarting my project over 3 times with so many iterations of my Figma file to make sure every aspect of the app was designed with user empathy, which is significantly exhausting. At that time, I reminded myself of the initial goal of this project and then immediately regained my motivation and kept going. In summary, I realized that the clearer your goal, the smoother your work will be.
