Movie Ticket App Design
B2C | Mobile App
UX Research and Design
Project Overview
In this project for my UX Design Certificate, I designed a mobile app that allows users to purchase movie tickets from a single location movie theater.
The Product
The Problem
The owner of an individual movie theater hopes to compete against other theaters by making it easier to book tickets at their theater. The owner of the movie theater also wants to understand their customers better.
The Goal
Design an app that will serve user needs and allow them to book movie tickets on the go.
Role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
Length
2 Weeks
Toolkit
1:1 Interviews
Personas and Journey Maps
Wireframes
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Usability Studies
My Role
I was the sole person working on this project, and served as both a UX researcher and UX designer. I conducted generative user research, defined user personas and journeys, designed the app, and iterated on the app design by gathering insights from usability studies.
Empathize
Research Goals
Determine the user process of going to the movies.
Determine whether users want an assigned seat.
Determine whether there are pain points related to concessions.
Approach
Qualitative. 1:1 interviews with 5 people who at least occasionally go to the movies.
The 20 minute interviews were conducted via phone.
Why This Approach?
Because I have little background information, a qualitative approach will allow me to quickly gain insight into user experiences at the movies by asking broad questions and allowing the ability to follow-up.
Key Questions in 1:1 Interviews
Tell me about your current process of going to the movies step-by-step.
How do you feel about being able to pick your seat when you purchase a movie ticket?
What frustrates you about the current process of purchasing concessions?
Key Interview Quotes
How do you feel about being able to pick your seat when you purchase a movie ticket?
"I always pick the best seat available. I always know where I want to sit." - Participant T
What frustrates you about the current process of purchasing concessions?
"The line. I also like planning what I'm going to eat in advance [for diet purposes]." - Participant M
"The lines." - Participant D
Define
Persona 1: Steven
With detailed notes from the 1:1 interviews in hand (including the quotes previously mentioned), I started working to define the problem. I developed two different user personas and created their unique journey maps.
I then developed a list of key user pain points.
Steven is a movie buff who likes to go to the movies with his spouse and friends. When he decides to go to the movies, it’s always to see a specific film. His main problems are coordinating times with friends and his spouse, ensuring he gets his favorite seat and waiting in line for concessions.
Steven has two main times during his typical journey when he's feeling frustrated or overwhelmed. One, when he consults with his spouse or friends about movie times (coordinating schedules and constantly typing show times is difficult), and two, when he gets to the theater and has to wait in line for concessions.
Persona 2: Emma
Emma is a busy mom and professional. When she decides to see a movie, she researches what movies are playing at the time she can go. Her main frustrations are tracking down what movies fit into her schedule and waiting in line for concessions.
Emma has two main times during her journey when she's feeling frustrated or overwhelmed. She can't find an easy way to select her time then see which movies are showing, so it's a lot of work to figure out what movies fit her schedule. She also doesn't like waiting in line for concessions.
(1). Users want to make sure they sit in their favorite seat
(2). Users don't like waiting in line for concessions - they're worried they'll miss the movie or trailers.
(3). For Emma persona only: Emma finds it difficult to research which movies are playing at a specific time, because most websites organize show times by movie.
(4). For Steven persona only: Steven finds it tedious to type out movie times to his spouse and friends when trying to coordinate which movie times work for everyone.
Main Pain Points
Ideate
After brainstorming, I arrived at four features I would integrate into the app that emerged from the four pain points.
Hypothesis 1: I believe that allowing customers to select their favorite seat will help ensure they're satisfied with their visit.
App Feature 1: App will allow users to select a seat when they're booking their ticket.
Hypothesis 2: I believe that allowing users to preorder their concessions and have them delivered to their seat will save them the frustration of waiting in line.
Hypothesis 3: I believe that having an option for users to select their availability and see what’s playing at that time will make it easier for Emmas to go to the movies.
Hypothesis 4: I believe that having an option for users to share movie times will make it less tedious for Stevens to organize with friends what time they want to see a movie.
App Feature 2: App will allow users to prepurchase concessions that will then be delivered fresh to their seat.
App Feature 3: App will allow users to select their availability and see what's playing during that time.
App Feature 4: App will allow users to share movie times via email or text.
Prototype
Next up, the prototype phase! Because movies are such a visual experience, I chose to have a heavily image-driven design that would rely on alt-text for accessibility. To serve users of both personas, the app opening screen would allow people to choose to see show times by movie title (for Stevens) or movies by their availability (for Emmas).
I started off with paper wireframes.
Using Figma, I then created digital wireframes and a low-fidelity prototype.
For the mockup and high-fidelity prototypes in Figma, I went with a red and yellow color palette reminiscent of the classic red popcorn box filled with buttered popcorn. I relied on Font Awesome for icons, Material 3 for date and time pickers, and Cinema Ticket for the seat picker.
Test, Re-Design, Test
Next, it was time to test the high-fidelity prototype to determine whether users could accomplish key tasks.
Research Design
Study Type: Unmoderated usability study held remotely.
Participants: 5 adults who attend movies at least occasionally (determined via screener) performed 2 tasks in the high-fidelity prototype and answered questions about their experience for 15 minutes in exchange for $25 in gift cards.
KPIs: Task success rate and time on task
Study Programming: Lookback
Participant Recruitment: User Interviews
This approach allows participants to perform tasks on their schedule in a slightly more natural environment than if I was moderating the test.
Why This Approach?
Unmoderated Usability Study Findings and Action Items
Book by Availability Feature
During their first task, users were asked to book a movie by time as opposed to title (mimicking persona Emma's expected behavior). Most participants were very confused by the home screen that allowed them to book either by movie title or by setting their availability and then seeing which movies were available. Only 40% of users successfully booked using the book by availability feature even when prompted to use the feature. It took on average 2 minutes and 9 seconds for users to book a movie.
Most users in the test were Stevens who typically chose by movie title first (as opposed to availability) when going to the movies. They found the opening home screen options confusing:
"I though having these two different options was really confusing....I'm normally going to pick a movie rather than a time to go to the movies." - Participant E
"I was a little confused about where to go." - Participant D
In addition, the wording itself was confusing to users:
"The verbiage on the home screen [about] trying to pick the movie time first is confusing." - Participant B
In response, I redesigned the home screen so that the default option was to see show times by movie (as this approach seems to be more common among research participants). However, users like Emma can still click into a separate area to book by their availability.
Finally, one task test did go well. 100% of users were able to successfully find their ticket barcode to scan for a ticket-taker. It took users on average 8.8 seconds to find a ticket barcode.
As Participant B put it, "That was really easy." - Participant B
Though the home screen re-design removed an "Open Tickets" prompt, 0% of users in the test found the tickets via the button on the home screen (100% used the app menu). I thus was confident users would continue to find the ticket barcodes via the app menu.
Show Tickets Feature
Preorder Concessions Feature
During their first task, participants were told to add a large popcorn to their movie ticket order and 80% of users successfully added popcorn, in on average, 22 seconds. However, users were frustrated with the design of the concession area. The initial design of the app required users to return to the main snack page to checkout, and users found this cumbersome:
"It's confusing. I had to go back instead of forward. Should be an option to just check out [on page for the specific snack I order]." - Participant C
In response, I redesigned the concessions pages to include a checkout button that allows users to add popcorn and immediately jump to the checkout.
Re-Test and Results
After finishing the newly redesigned high-fidelity prototype, I replicated the unmoderated usability study but focused only on participants booking movie tickets and adding popcorn to their order.
The re-design performed better on most KPIs than the initial design. Participants were able to successfully find and use the book by time feature, and also experienced very little frustration (whereas participants in the first usability test experienced quite a bit of frustration).
Book by Availability
Success rate increased from 40% to 100% with redesign.
Average time on task decreased from 2 minutes and 9 seconds to 1 minute and 34 seconds with redesign.
Preorder Concessions
Success rate increased from 80% to 100% in redesign.
Average time on task was 22 seconds for both the initial design and redesign. However, user frustration was far lower with redesign.
Next Steps
With the major pain points addressed, it would be time to hand off the app to developers and launch.
Important steps I would continue to explore after the app launch include:
Compare ticket sales before and after app introduction
Request user sentiment feedback using popup screens in the app asking users to select a smiley (or frowny) face that represents their experience with the app
Perform hallway research in the movie theater lobby asking about experiences with the app (or why a customer does not use it)
After app has been deployed for a few months, conduct interview research with frequent users
What I Learned
Impact and Learnings
Impact
Redesign more than doubled booking success rate and shaved 35 seconds off average time on task.
Redesign increased concession preordering success rate to 100% and resulted in less user frustration
Users who fell into either persona were able to use the app successfully.
Some of the key things I have learned include:
Need to always be sure to test whether a design feature will confuse a major category of persona
Sometimes a redesign may not improve time on task, but it may reduce user frustration.