Solution
Booking a Theater Room Anytime
Finding a movie before or after selecting a theater
Select and book a private room based on location
Select a film before committing to a theater. With this feature, consumers can find a theater playing that film.
Narrow down your choices for any occasion with the filter and search feature
Making the booking process easy
Open Cinema does the heavy lifting. Consumers can choose a theater and snacks before the e-commerce page with a few clicks.
With simple, clear steps, consumers don't have to remember what is next in the booking process.
Seamless and intuitive
Simply E-Commerce Process to follow
Consumers can check out as guests with 3 easy steps.
Once the E-commerce is complete, consumers have confirmation and clear directions on what to expect next
The Process
The movie theater solution was built in 5 months using IDEO's Human-Centered Design and the UX Lean Model.
User Research | Quantitive and Qualitative data
Understanding the Users
To begin, I sent out a screener to ask individuals who go to movies and/or use streaming services to see if they were interested in a 1:1 interview. How many people go to movies? How many perfer streaming services? How much would they pay for a ticket?
Insight
54% of participants prefer their entrainment over streaming services
31 responded
User Interviews
Let's talk to the Users to understand the ‘why’
From my screener, I selected 5 participants for a 1:1 interview. My goal was to listen and understand their needs, wants, and pain points.
Example Questions
When and where was the last time you went to the movie theater?
What did you like most about the movie theater?
What are you getting at the movie theater that you are not getting on a streaming service?
What are you getting on the streaming service that you are not getting at the movie theater?
Target Audience
Participants prefer their streaming service
Participants prefer their entertainment through streaming services.
Synthesizing Data
Affinity Map Groupings
- 1. Price
- 2. Movie Theater Offer
- 3. Advantages of Streaming Service
- 4. Streaming Service Provides
- 5. Coronavirus Affection
- 6. Advantages of the movie theater
- 7. Issues that specific movie theaters have
- 8. Disadvantages of Streaming Service
- 9. Disadvantages of Movie theaters
- 10. Movie Theater Goals
- 11. Movie/TV
- 12. Parking Lot/?
Insight
Participants don't feel safe when they go to the movies.
The movie theater is inconvenient and does not have a controlled environment for participants.
However, many participants love seeing a film on the big screen, eating snacks, and the surround sound.
Market Research
Understanding the Market and Where the Product Fits
By conducting Nielsen Normans Group’s 10 heuristic principles, I am able to see how the movie theaters adopted Covid. It also allows me to see what features they are using and how I can leverage them for my products. I analyzed 3 movie theaters that provide booking.
Insight
Movie theaters are adopting the new challenges by providing consumers to book private rooms.
Use Control and Freedom: Users can have control when booking a theater. However, there are a few movie theaters where you fill out a form, and there is no “emergency exists.”
Error Prevention: Some forms let users submit documents with missing information.
Recognition rather than recall: Booking a private space online is filling out a long-form with little or no instructions on what to instructions.
User Persona
Who is our target audience?
With the insights that I gathered from my research, 2 potential customers would be using the product, Kevin and Sarah. This allows me to have a better empathize with users throughout the process and discover their pain points and goals.
The Challenge...
How might we help Kevin and Sarah return to the movie theater where they feel like they have a controlled and safe environment that is convenient for them?
The Vision
Create a Responsive Application
Sarah and Kevin would be using a responsive web application for booking a private room at the movie theater. There are 3 main pain points that were identified and finding solutions for each were.
Navigation : Design a clean and straightforward booking process where consumers can choose their movie theater and snacks before the eCommerce page with a few clicks.
Accessible: By making the content have transparent contrast colors, the icons and text fields are labeled so they can be readable and scannable. The goal is to make the content clear to as many devices as possible.
Clear Next Steps: Show each step clearly and simply throughout the process, so the consumer does not have to remember what step they completed.
User Stories/MVP Creation
What are Kevin and Sarah’s stories?
To keep my Sarah and Kevin goals at the focused point, I created stories. This way I am able to prioritize my epics or features for my minimum viable product (MVP).
User Flow
Mapping out Sarah and Kevin's Journey
It was vital for me to map and see each step of their journey to know which areas decreased any confusion and had my overall product low risk. Sarah and Kevin's journey would be booking their theater room, accessing their confirmation, and canceling they're booking.
Design
Sketching out Ideas
Since the goal of the product was going to be accessible and responsive, I design the mobile-first. The goal was to allow me to explore different layouts. Then, I design the desktop version. Once I had my ideas down I combine them into a usable prototype by using the POP Marvel app for a round of testing. Then with the feedback, I updated Sarah’s and Kevin's flows using Figma and get ready for 2 rounds of usability testing.
User Testing #1 Insights
What is my user’s thinking?
I took my prototype and reached out to 5 participants via zoom and ask them to complete tasks for feedback.Participants wanted to choose a movie before the location. I designed a few options with this feedback and conducted a/b testing on the search bar. As a result, 5 participants chose option A, which I used for my mid-fidelity wireframes.
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During the testing, I observed that participants did not know the purpose of the application more than others. Some participants did not understand the meaning of the application. I believe this needs to be explained more clearly in the beginning.
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Participants did not understand what movie theaters have and have not. Some theaters have a way where consumers can bring their film, and others don't. This was confusing to participants.
Iterations
Building the product
With the feedback that I received, I updated Sarah’s and Kevin's flows using Figma and get ready for 2 rounds of usability testing.
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
Any improvements from the 1st round?
I reached out to family, friends, and people whom I knew that go to the movies to ask them for the complete task and received feedback. This was conducted with both 3 in-person and 2 moderate remote interviews.
Usability Issue #1 : Functionality with Search Bar
Problem:
- 5 participants were using the search bar interchangeably when searching for a theater
Solution:
- Instead of the search bar going to a results page, the consumer can filter out the theaters of their preference.
Usability Issue #2 :404 Error State
Problem:
- 5 participants were confused about the next steps when receiving a 404 error message
Solution:
- By adding a button, consumers clearly understand how to proceed with their booking.
Prototype
Making Open Cinema feel realistic
With the feedback, style guide, and key featured screens decided on. I combined them all into one cohesive prototype to make them feel more realistic.
Interactive Prototype
Lessons & Outcome
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Limitations when it came to the prototype. Since there is limitations when it comes to prototypes, I am planning on using Axure it make it more realistic
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The usability sessions could have more communication in the beginning. It was some of my participant’s first time using Figma. Perhaps I should have done an example of a task or asked them to think hard before completing it
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Task were completed faster the 2nd time of usability testing. As I observed the majority of the task given, participants could complete faster than the 1st rounds.
Feature Improvements and Next Steps
Speak with engineers to develop the prototype as a native one or at least have Axure to it to make it more interactive.
Continue to test my product and make updates to it. I know that would be a great product since everyone loves to go out and socialize at the movies.
Designs are more inclusive. I would like to expand on some features to make it more inclusive for use. These would be a filter for wheelchairs, so users would know which movie theaters provides that. Also, I would like to add a voice feature to the search bar.
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