Redesigning Genesis cinema mobile app
This article is in no way downplaying the services of Genesis Cinema. It is actually my choice cinema. I am only trying to connect a way by which cinemas like Genesis cinema can make use of their mobile apps to create a more personalized experience and faster service accessibility for their audience. A good mobile app can also go a long way in helping them expand their services and achieve some business goals easily e.g. marketing of ongoing promotions.
Introduction
Almost 500,000 Nigerians spent N551.2 million watching movies at cinemas across the country in May 2019 alone. This is way more than the 363,550 people who visited cinemas in March 2019. (Pulse TV)
I, like many people in Nigeria, goes to the cinema at least once a month and I am sure some people go more than once.
Even though I love seeing movies in the cinema and I actually can afford to see more than a movie in a month, I am very bad at keeping up with what movie is playing, when it is playing. I also suck at choosing a movie to watch, most times I just go by people’s recommendations (apart from popular franchises and blockbusters).
I can not possibly count how many times I have wished there was a mobile app out there that can just recommend a movie for me based on my free time and genre interest.
About a year ago, I finally found the app I was looking for, or not! At first, when I saw it on Play store, I was like yes! People’s review threw me off a bit, but that did not stop me from downloading hoping to have a positive experience. Long story short, I did not have a pleasant experience using the app.
The current state of the Genesis Cinema mobile app
There is an existing app for Genesis cinema which looks more like an abandoned effort at making an app. The current app has many problems from the UI to the UX which I believe needs to be solved at both the development and design side. With an average rating of 2.3 from 118 reviews on Play store, the frustration that comes with using this app is evident.
Few of the problems I faced during my time with this app are;
- Poor user interface
- A generic design that makes you feel the pp was not meant for a cinema in the first place
- Un-intuitive UX
- Incoherent branding to the Genesis Cinema brand
- No sort of personalized experience
- Rigorous and unintuitive booking system that does not in any way build trust
- No option to watch a movie trailer
- No booking history
- Late information update and frequent downtimes
The good parts;
- Easy to select the cinema closest to you
- Information about a movie is easily gotten
What can be done better?
While my idea is not based on extensive research and viability in the market is not certain, I still believe a lot can be changed on the current app that can make it work better and maybe draw the interest of other people who might not have thought of using a mobile app from a cinema.
Below is the list of some parts of the app I worked on and redesigned to give a better overall experience for users.
1. Consistent branding and style
2. Customizing user experience
3. Now playing recommendations on your off-days
4. Push notifications for new releases
5. Recommendations based on interests
6. Intuitive ticket booking
- Consistent branding and style
the redesign uses Genesis cinema colours to ensure users can easily relate the app with the brand. Good contrast, clean design, and modern design elements were adopted to give the redesign a modern and appealing feel.
2. Customizing experience
One of the major focuses of this redesign is to give users the option of customizing what they want to see and notified for based on their interests.
Two screens were designed to take care of this. During the sign-up process, users are asked to pick 3 or more genres they are interested in and also set their off-days. This information will be used to recommend to users if something they might be interested in is playing or will be played during their free days.
3. Push notifications
Push notification is an effective tool for keeping users engaged with your mobile app (think Jumia).
These notifications are not just random, they are tailored based on each user’s customization settings. e.g., Bad boys, 2 is recommended for a user that selects action as a genre he is interested in, Will Smith as one of the actors the night before the users’ off-day.
It can also be used to notify users about new releases or movies coming soon they might be interested in.
Think about the precise targeting that this can give a cinema by giving users exactly what they want when they want it. Business-wise, this can be a value-added service that can convince producers to air their movies in the Genesis cinema instead of a rival cinema.
4. Ticket booking
Taking a cue from the existing app, a new ticket booking process was designed to make booing easier and more intuitive with a minimal number of steps. At every stage of this booking, users are giving visual cues and enough information for them to know exactly what to expect from a booking.
There is a live prototype of the app you can try out from the link below. Be informed that it is not fully functional
Closing note
This redesign is just a small part of what cinemas, in general, can achieve from a usable mobile application in Nigeria. There are other features like “knowing the number of available seats”, “booking a specific seat” that can change the way people book movie tickets and ultimately lead to a seamless booking system that eliminates some of the stress of going to book a movie ticket in the cinema in person.
Finally, Nigeria being the most populous black nation and has the third largest movie industry in the world has enough potential customers that will be happy to have an app that eases their movie ticket booking experience.
Thanks for reading.
