Cinex is a UX prototype catering directly to those that are hard of hearing, deaf, or blind. A critically underserved demographic, this app aims to make the American tradition of visiting a movie theater more accessible.

Screen Shot 2019-10-12 at 11.24.18 AM.png — “I arrived 30 minutes before my movie, but when I got there, the caption glasses weren’t charged and I was forced to come back another time.

-CINEX Interviewee

why

People with hearing loss and those that are deaf or blind deserve to engage in the American tradition of visiting the movies without stress or difficulty. Those that are deaf or blind have a much harder time finding movie theaters to accommodate them, and the aim of this UX project was to understand and address this issue. By working closely with stakeholders and other UX designers, our team designed an interface that took into consideration our user’s blockers and concerns, in order to provide them with the best possible experience.

what

Cinex is an app researched, designed, tested, and prototyped while collaborating with my fellow Creative Technology & Design Master’s student, Grace Kroeger. While working in our User Experience class, we found that those that are deaf or hard of hearing have a barrier to watching films in theaters that we never knew existed. Many movie theaters do not provide closed captioning information to those that might need it. We sought to reduce or eliminate these issues by creating an app that prominently displays up to date information, an easy way to communicate with movie theaters, and peace of mind while booking tickets.

how

Our group completed our project with a complete style guide and a mockup interface. Our interface was supported by numerous hours of research, iteration, and hands-on user testing. By leveraging the insights of hard of hearing users, we were able to address their biggest pain points head on. Being able to get feedback from a group that is often overlooked was extremely empowering and exciting; in many cases, this was their first opportunity to impact and call out what made their lives more difficult.

userflow:wireframe digital.jpg — From our interviews with users, we came up with a user flow to help us address issues faced by those with hearing impairments.

The main goal of this project was not to design a fully functional or highly polished prototype, but to focus on the full UX design process and empathize with our target users. Special emphasis was put on interviewing, designing user tests, and iterating based on user feedback. Finally, we completed a full project summary and brief based on our findings.

Screen Shot 2020-02-15 at 4.54.14 PM.png

learnings

Throughout this project, I was struck by how much people time our target users were willing to give to help us design our prototype. It underscored just how overlooked so many of them felt by the technology and movie theater industries. By listening to these users, we were able to feel their frustrations and ideas which was truly incredible, but also disheartening. We felt that these people had been unheard for so long, and needed a voice in the technology industry that understood them. It made me feel like an important part of the tech world, to be a voice for the voiceless and provide better interfaces for all, not just the majority of users.