Portland Prime Theater Seat Reservation Mobile App
Project Overview
The problem:
Busy adults lack the time to plan for a fun night out at the movies.
The goal:
Design an app for Portland Prime Theater that allows users to quickly and easily reserve movie theater seats for a movie they want to see.
The product:
Portland Prime Theater is located in the heart of the city. The theater offers a wide array of movie choices for movie goers with the intention to create a fun filled experience for all. Portland Prime Theater App’s goal is to provide seat reservations for its patrons to select ahead of time to be able to schedule in these fun moments.
My role:
UX designer & UX researcher designing an app for Portland Prime Theater from movie selection to arriving at the theater.
Responsibilities:
User research consisting of conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
Type of Project & Project duration:
This was a project done through my Google UX Design Program to receive my professional certification.
March 2021 to September 2021
Understanding the User
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the kind of users that I’m designing for and what they need. One of the user groups that was identified through research was busy, working adults that have very little free time for a night out at the movies.
Going into this research it was assumed that there would be constrains such as time and navigation when using reservation apps and that was revealed to be true. There were also additional pain points revealed such as seat selection for big groups in the app and for groups that would require an accessible seat as well.
User Research: Pain Points
Persona & Problem Statement
Del is a music teacher with a busy schedule who needs to complete his theater seat reservation for him and his group, fast and easily because he wants to be able to enjoy the little free time he gets with friends and family by having a movie night plan go smoothly.
User Journey Map
By mapping Del’s user journey, it was shown that it would benefit the user to have a seat reservation app for the Portland movie theater.
Starting the Design
Paper Wireframes
Drawing different iterations of each screen for the app allowed me to be able to find the most suitable choices for both aesthetics as well as functionality for the users. The home screen, shown here, was best depicted with movie options (both photo and text description) to start the user flow easily and navigation sections to other areas of the app if needed.
These 5 paper wireframes show different versions of the same home screen and to the right of them is the new, refined version.
Digital Wireframes
In the initial design phase I added features like titles and dividers to help users distinguish areas of search for their movies.
The addition of a navigation menu as well as a menu bar across the bottom of all of the screens allowed the users to find where they wanted to go with more ease. It also allowed assistive technologies to work with the app.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype connected the user’s flow of selecting movie, show times, quantity, then seat selection and confirmation so that it could be used in a usability study with participants.
View the Portland Prime Theater low-fidelity prototype.
Usability Study: Findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. The findings from the first study lead me to construct, change and add on design elements from the wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and unveiled even more aspects within the mockup designs that could use some refining, tweaks and smaller changes.
Refining the Design
Mockups
Early mockup designs did not account for any additional review of order for users before the confirmation. I added that review order page as well as visual design elements such as iconography and color.
Early mockup designs did not account for any additional review of order for users before the confirmation. I added that review order page as well as visual design elements such as iconography and color.
Final Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype connected the user’s flow of selecting movie, show times, quantity, then seat selection and confirmation so that it could be used in a second usability study with participants.
View the Portland Prime Theater
Accessibility Considerations
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact:
The app allows users to get to their goal of reserving seats to a movie at the Portland Prime Theater.
One quote from peer feedback:
“The app is very easy to maneuver and it seemed like a pretty convenient way to make sure you get the theater seats you want ahead of time.”
What I learned:
While researching and designing the Portland Prime Theater App, I learned that there will be many iterations of an initial idea for the app. Throughout the process, both with usability studies and peer reviews, so many ideas and options can end up broadening those designs into something much better and bigger than what you might have imagined.
Next Steps
