Honest Movie Reviews

CASE STUDY

Most movie ratings are conducted by movie critics. Their job is to review a movie based on certain criteria. They review all types of movies, so their opinions aren’t based on a genuine understanding of the movie that they are reviewing. This will be reflected in their rating. It isn’t an honest barometer of a good or bad movie.

Problem Statement:
Can you create a simple, easy-to-use movie review site and get true unbiased movie ratings from a (genre-aware) fan's point of view?

Overview: About the project

Challenges

I surveyed over 20 candidates, and based on the answers they submitted, I selected 5 to further the discussion about true unbiased movie ratings from a (genre-aware) fan’s point of view.

Interviewed each of the applicants selected for no more than 30 minutes. From there, I was able to gather and
dissect the opinions given.
I wanted my concerns to align with the users, so testing revolved around features that could improve the credibility of the ratings given on a movie review site.
Ease-of-use, categories, and the option to view user-submitted or expert opinion reviews were common issues.

What I Learned

Putting the users’ values first and seeing their reactions after realizing their input contributed to the success of the project was a journey worth taking.

Research Plan

Here is my research plan (click to download) which lists out my research goals, as well as the methods I used to accomplish those goals.

Affinity Map

I used the notes I gathered from the participant interviews to create an affinity map. This grouping of notes allowed me to synthesize the information gathered and helped me decide my design solution.

Empathy Map

I needed a visual way to organize insights, observations, and quotes collected from my user interview to better understand your user’s pain points, goals, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

Persona

I created a persona for each user type identified. This persona helped me identify goals that need to be met to provide a good user experience for specific user groups.

User Stories

I created a user story that helped me decide what to prioritize for the MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

Sitemap

Next, I created a sitemap that helped me visualize the various pages that I needed to design.

UserFlows

I created a user flow that will help identify the critical path users will follow when using the app or site.

Here is the red route. Which is the critical and frequent path that a user will take to complete a task.

Sketches

Here I start to sketch the red routes of the site.

Wireflow

Combination of wireframe and userflow.

Moodboard

Here is a collage of imagery gathered from various sources to represent the visual aesthetics I wanted to incorporate into the UI of the site.

High Fidelity Mockups

Here is where I worked out all the visual details of the UI. The information provided was key in the development of the revised wireframe and mockup from the original concept (shown below).

Results

Based off the prototype reviews, users felt the issues we discussed during the interview process were addressed. They loved the simplicity of the prototype and mentioned that the site was easy to navigate.

20 interviews

5 usability tests

3 iterations

Prototype

Click image to view prototype

Conclusion

This projects biggest challenge was creating a simple, easy-to-use movie review site where you could get true unbiased movie ratings from a (genre-aware) fan's point of view. I was able to achieve this by taking the information gathered from those interviewed and implementing their suggestions into my prototype design. After several rounds of usability testing and iterations, the final prototype was deemed successful. If Honest Movie Reviews went live, I could foresee a challenge on the backend in regards to server space when hosting a movie and tv review site. But, if these issues are taken into account and a plan is put in place Honest Movie Reviews could stake its claim as the new online aggregator of movie and TV show reviews.

Testimonial from Prototype user

“It was clean and easy to use. If it was real, I’d use it.”