Royal Reels | Portfolio

Royal Reels is a tool that determines and organizes theater showtimes based on the least amount of reservations and cheapest prices which will make movie-going more attainable for those previously wanting to stay at home.

Title

Royal Reels Mobile App: Using seat reservations to locate emptier theaters

Duration

4 months (June-September 2023)

Role

Research & UI/UX

Tools

Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator

Overview

With the increased prevalence of working from home, and varying weather conditions keeping people from enjoying themselves outside, people desire to enjoy indoor activities that will get them out of the house. However, some are finding it difficult to enjoy the indoor activities they once were accustomed to as they have an increased weariness for interacting with the public.

Royal Reels is the perfect opportunity to accompany big and small movie theaters alike. Many people are skeptical of their once-frequented movie theaters because they see it as an unnecessary health hazard that they can easily circumvent by using streaming services.

Main User Flow

Problem

There are four major deterrents to people attending movie theaters. People aren’t interested in the movies shown. Streaming services have made it more convenient for people to watch movies from the comfort of their own homes. Ticket prices are too high. People are still wary of going to public places like movie theaters due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. People want to enjoy the big screen and surround sound of the movie theater, but so often aren’t interested in the movies shown or find themselves getting disrupted by other movie-goers whether it's babies crying, people snacking, talking, or using their phones. This ultimately leads them to save money and watch their next movie at the convenience and safety of their own home.

Ideate

Storyboards

User Flow

Paper Wireframes

Research

Competitive Audit

In order to evaluate existing products in the market and determine what could be improved upon, I conducted a competitive analysis of other existing movie apps. The competitors fail to have tailored app experiences for each user and lack the ability to filter theaters by how many seats are reserved. They have overwhelming pages that could make it hard to find the information a user is looking for.

Competitors

Fandango, an app that has simplified the movie ticket ordering and selection process for multiple movie theaters; AMC an international brand that allows for special enmities in their theaters through their app. An indirect competitor to movie theaters with a less desirable app experience is Six Flags.

+ Offers tickets to large selection of theaters

+ Own reward system

+ Create owned content for users

- Hidden fees at checkout

- Filters are limited

- Not compatible with other rewards programs

+ Readability and user experience

+ Strong visual design

+ Strong accesibility

- Lack of brand identity

- No social interactions/reviews

+ Good map interactivity

- Slow load times

- UI needs updating

- Poor checkout experience

Secondary Research

As of May 2022, around 55 percent of adult internet users surveyed in the United States said a major reason why they rarely or never went to the movies was that they were more interested in watching films at home

Insights Gained

Insight 1

The most prevalent reason people don’t attend movie theaters is the lack of interest in most movies shown.

Insight 2

More than half of the people surveyed are more interested in watching films at the convenience of their homes.

Insight 3

⅕ of 18-24-year-olds are not going to movies because of COVID-19 concerns

Insight 4

Ticket prices are a large reason why people don’t frequent movies

Prototypes

Initial Prototype

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Testing

Research Questions

Are users able to successfully order tickets for the time, theatre, movie, and seats they want?
What can we learn from the steps users take to select tickets?