Friends help friends watch good movies
Reelfriends
An app designed to provide you the best streaming movie recommendations by utilizing your existing social network
Role
UX Designer
Skills
UX/UI
User Interviews
Wireframes
Prototypes
Visual Design
Usability Testing
Platforms
App
Tools
Figma
Maze
Miro
After Effects
Gallery
Overview
First time user
Create an account, connect to your friends, and add your streaming networks
Welcome home, friend
From here you can quickly find your recommendations or send one to a friend
Top recommendation
The single best recommendation for what to watch based on multiple factors (close friend or not, recency of the recommendation, the total number of times the movie has been recommended by friends, etc.)
Just push "play"
Immediately start playing on your primary device
Ask for help
Use three tags to describe the type of recommendation you want to receive
Sharing is caring
Select a movie, and add three tags, to send to a friend
Case Study
“To explore a problem space you’re passionate about, and design a solution for it. Weekly assignments will culminate in a mid-course design critique, and the final project demo to be delivered to the class.”
I love film. Movies have always played a huge role in my life.
My grandparents movie palace / home in Pakistan
During the COVID-19 pandemic we found ourselves “sheltering-in-place” with little to do.
March 2020: "Shelter-in-place" begins
With the closure of movie theaters, and the desire for studios to launch their own streaming services, there was an endless amount of content to watch, at any time
2020: Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock, and more
Research
User interviews focused on streaming services, and movie/tv watching behavior.
Every user found choosing what to watch to be a frustrating, and difficult process. This issue, by far, dominated every interview.
“It’s hard for me to decide [what to watch]”
“I find it difficult to figure out what to watch”
“I “doom-scroll” trying to find something"
“I worry about time, and picking the wrong thing”
Further responses helped provide deeper insights into the users' behavior
“I don’t trust the platform
recommendations”
“What I watch depends on
what mood I’m in”
“I usually rely on what my
friends recommend”
“I never watch what is on
my watchlist”
In a study of 2,000 Americans:
30 minutes spent deciding what to watch
58% struggle to track what to watch
56% turn off the TV and do something else
55% opt for re-watching a show or movie
Interview responses fell into one of five categories: decision making, recommendations, general/habits, platforms, and watchlists
Completed affinity map
Streaming movie watchers need a better way to receive recommendations so that they can spend more time watching, and less time scrolling.
How might we provide better recommendations to streaming movie watchers?
With sketching completed, I began to define the features for consideration
Design
The key feature of the solution would be the ability to give or receive a recommendation for a movie
User flows for primary features
Multiple rounds of wireframes and usability tests helped quickly validate and define feasibility of key features
Selection of wireframes
Prioritization
Provide the fewest, but strongest recommendations - ideally, one (inverse of “paradox of choice”)
Personalization
Only personally relevant content based on social network, history, and existing subscriptions
Efficiency
The goal is to watch a movie, not spend time on the app - this should be focused on efficiently getting you off the app and watching a movie
Testing and redesign
Words + context matter
“Mood”, like art, is subjective. What was driving the feelings around the “mood” feature (and the streaming platform recommendations) was that moods, and art, are subjective. Not everyone finds the same things funny, or sad, or romantic, or disturbing. We all have independent lives, and unique experiences. Because of this the platform recommendations usually don’t feel accurate, or personal. The algorithms that drive them are built to find statistical similarities, not to understand and respond to our subjective experience.
However, there is something that is great at understanding and responding to your subjective experience: your friends and family. In the continued discussions and interviews, a crucial finding emerged: users did trust recommendations and guidance from friends and family.
Redesigning with tags
Users can to add three unique “tags” to each request or submission. Users can apply familiar vernacular to confidently express their preferences or attitudes, with each specific interaction.
"Mood", redesigned into "tags"
Visual Design
Each design consideration was made to ensure we were meeting users where they were
The goal of reelfriends is to be a simple, and easy app to talk about and share movies with friends and family
