Fandango: A ticket booking app
I worked with Fandango to design an android app for booking movie tickets. This app was aimed at being a one stop solution for ticket booking. It would provide all the information needed by the user to make a decision on the movie and its showtime. It would also help users book their tickets online.
Design Process
Analyzing the present day android app
I conducted a cognitive walkthrough of the present day application to find out the user pain points.
Photos on this app were arranged in the form of a deck and user had to swipe to navigate through them. This swiping interaction was not intuitive.
The overview page of the movie did not have a summary or synopsis of the movie.
There were two kinds of review for each movie but the difference between them was not intuitive or clearly defined for a user.
Analyzing user tests
Fandango use to conduct user tests where they would record users going through the app in order to perform a task. Through this activity I was able to understand user practices and their thought process.
Developing personas
Fandango’s design team had a bunch of research on their user base. I went through this research to figure out the main user frustrations and motivations. Understanding user’s frustrations and motivations helped create better personas. I worked on developing these personas through an iterative process involving various stakeholders ( like developers, product managers, visual designers etc). I got continuous feedback from the stakeholders supporting this process.
Empathy Mapping with stakeholders.
Next was conducting empathy mapping with stakeholders. Everyone came together to collaborate and think about what/how each persona thinks, feels, does, says, see & hears in reference to this application. We also included user's pains and gains. Involving different stakeholders brought a lot of perspectives into view and helped keep stakeholders interested in this project. I was able to develop better personas.
User Flows
Next, I created user flows for each of the major user tasks. This included thinking about their world and things around them. It was used to get an insight into the user’s mindset and their thought process.
Field Study
The entire design team went on a field trip to watch a movie. We went through the entire process of deciding on a movie, booking tickets for it on the app. This helped in see the pitfalls in practice and other user requirements. It also helped us identify other places of utility for this app.
Example: Map with a picture of the theatre would help user recognize the theatre faster than the name of the theater.
Developed Sitemaps
Next, I developed sitemaps for this application using omnigraffle. It helped us provide a visual insight into the linking of various functionalities provided by the app.
Sketches
I created sketches with all the information gathered till now. I created alternatives for each of these screens and conducted design charade with other designers to brainstorm on different ideas. Here are some of the sketches created by me:
Sketch I:
Requirements:
Theater page to showcase information about a particular theater.
User Study:
1. Some user's movie decisions depends on movies being played in particular theaters.
2. Theatre information details required by the user. Example: Address, map, movies, show timings etc.
Design:
1. Include Map and location information in theatre page.
2. Calendar visualization helped user's in making the right selection.
3. Users look for the next few show timings.
4. Accessibility options are important to be displayed explicitly.
Sketch II:
Requirements:
A list of theaters for user's going through the process flow of choosing a theater first and then the movie.
User Study:
1. People have some nearest or favourite theaters.
2. People remember theaters by their location.
3. Theatre selection is based on movies playing in various theatres.
Design:
1. Include map and location in theatre list.
2. Minimal information on movies being played in theater enabled more number of theaters on the same page. This helped users to compare amongst different theaters.
These sketches were converted into interactive prototypes using Axure RP.
Requirements:
Theatre information page
User Study:
People make movie decision based on theatre location.
Design:
1. Another view of theater list via map view.
2. Users can toggle between theaters on the map to display all information required pertaining to a specific theater required to make movie decision.
Requirements:
Movie overview page
User study:
1. Participants from User study preferred all the movie information within one screen.
2. Users make movie decision based on time constraints.
3. Users want to share show timings with other users.
4. Users might decide on a particular movie depending on its genre.
Design:
1. All information on one screen and no tabs.
2. Share button to share show timings.
3. Hide synopsis and photos once the user has decided the movie and goes on to make decisions on show timings and theater.
4. Filter show timings.
Overall Experience
This project provided me with a great opportunity to work with an in-house design team at a software company. Senior designers at this company guided me throughout the process and trusted me to design an app for their users.