CreditCookies

Going to the movies has always been one of my favorite pastimes - especially when a post-credits scene adds an unexpected twist or teases a sequel.

But over the years, I noticed a recurring frustration shared by moviegoers:

To avoid this uncertainty, many people turn to the internet for answers, but even a quick search risks running into spoilers that can ruin the moment entirely. This revealed a clear design opportunity: what if there were a way to know whether to stay or leave - without spoiling the experience?

Design a fun, lightweight, and spoiler-sensitive mobile app that helps movie lovers make an informed decision: is there a mid- or post-credit scene, and is it worth staying for? The experience should be fast, community-driven and respectful of how people want to consume information, especially when trying to avoid spoilers.

To better understand user needs and behaviors, I conducted a mixed-method study with 13 participants between the ages of 19 and 28, all self-identified movie lovers currently enrolled in college.

The survey combined quantitative metrics and open-ended qualitative feedback to uncover frustrations, behaviors, and mental models around post-credit scene discovery.

Rather than making assumptions, I aimed to validate the core problem space and shape the product around real, lived experiences. These insights directly informed the user persona, feature prioritization and content strategy moving forward.

Key Insights

• 100% of participants actively searched online to check if a movie included a post-credits scene.
• 80% enjoyed reading more about the end-credits scene to deepen their connection with the movie's universe.
• 80% expressed feeling frustrated or disappointed when the scene wasn’t worth waiting for.
‍• 70% encountered accidental spoilers while searching online, highlighting a trust and experience gap in current solutions.

Feature Prioritization & Value Mapping

Participants were asked to rank proposed features.
Here's how they voted:

I structured Jake’s user journey visually and narratively to highlight not only the sequential steps he takes in a typical movie-going experience, but also to surface his emotional highs and lows. By mapping out his actions, thoughts, and frustrations alongside insights, I created a clear picture of where UX intervention is needed most.

This format helps stakeholders and team members empathize with Jake by showing:
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‍• Real-world behaviors like checking movie listings and browsing reviews
‍• Emotional friction points such as anxiety about spoilers or decision paralysis due to too many choices
• UX opportunities like designing spoiler-free alerts or vote-based recommendations for post-credit content

To kickstart the design process, I began with low-fidelity sketches. This allowed me to brain-dump raw ideas, evaluate user flows, and embrace early mistakes as creative opportunities.

This phase was essential to think through the core product architecture, helping visualize potential features and how users might navigate them. Rather than locking in design decisions too early, lo-fi sketches gave me room to iterate freely, map intuitive paths, and focus on hierarchy and usability.

After exploring ideas on paper, I transitioned into structured low-fidelity wireframes to bring clarity and cohesion to the app’s layout. This step was crucial for defining the user journey, mapping core features like the voting system and spoiler filters, and testing early layout logic.

Working digitally allowed for faster iterations, clearer interaction flows, and laid a tangible foundation for early usability feedback. This phase set the tone for future refinements, ensuring the product direction was aligned before moving into higher fidelity design.

After converting sketches into low-fidelity wireframes, I conducted early usability testing with six potential users to validate key flows and interface elements. The goal was to identify any immediate usability issues and gather early impressions before moving into mid-fidelity design.

To ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience, I developed a clear information architecture that outlines how content and features are organized within the app.

The goal was to reduce cognitive load and help users find what they need with minimal effort. I mapped out the primary flows including onboarding, search, reporting, voting, and account management. This process helped prioritize content hierarchy, streamline navigation, and ensure scalability as more features are added in the future. Every screen was structured to support quick access, clear decisions, and spoiler-safe exploration.

After reviewing usability feedback, I began reconfiguring key design issues to improve clarity, comfort, and overall engagement. To validate these changes, I conducted a follow-up survey with the original six users and four new participants.

To ensure consistency, clarity, and efficiency across the app, I created a unified design system tailored to CreditCookies’ unique tone and functionality. This system includes typography hierarchy, a flexible color palette, reusable components, and scalable patterns that support both light and dark modes.

The design foundation focuses on minimalism and high usability, allowing users to quickly browse, vote, and engage without friction.

Every element from button states to card layouts was crafted to feel familiar yet distinctive, keeping the interface light, clean, and responsive across devices.

By implementing a robust design library, I reduced design-developer handoff time and increased alignment across the team. The system also laid a scalable groundwork for future features like media expansion and personalization without compromising visual harmony.

I designed the onboarding flow to quickly show new users what CreditCookies is all about, a fast and simple way to check if a movie, show, or game has a post-credits scene worth staying for. My goal was to make the value clear in just a few swipes, while keeping the experience sleek and easy to follow.

In the Login & Home Screens section, I focused on designing an intuitive, secure, and visually appealing user experience. The Login Screen provides multiple login options, such as username/password, social logins, and a recovery option, ensuring smooth access. I used a clean, cinematic background to enhance brand continuity.

For the Home Screens, I divided content into TV Shows, Movies, and Games, making it easy to explore. Each category features dynamic content sections, such as featured titles, new releases, and trending content, with clear navigation. I prioritized consistency, intuitive gestures, and accessible design to align with mobile UX expectations, ensuring minimal friction for users across all categories.

The search experience is built for speed and simplicity. A prominent search bar lets users quickly look up any title, while a curated Top Searches section highlights trending content. Each result includes post-credit scene indicators and updates in real time as users type. The clean, focused layout keeps the experience fast and intuitive, helping users find what they’re looking for with minimal effort.

I designed the account and customization flow to give users full control over their experience - from managing their profile to contributing new content. Everything is done possible within the account tab, I organized everything into clear sections: editable user info, contribution tools, history, preferences, and support. I made sure the layout was modular and intuitive so it feels like a true control center without being overwhelming.

• In My History, I let users see and manage what they’ve searched or added. The swipe-to-delete action keeps cleanup easy, and everything is visually organized with clear indicators for credit scenes.

• The Settings screen offers theme options, accessibility controls, and technical tools like cache clearing. I used native-feeling toggles and scalable text to keep things accessible and mobile-friendly.

• I also designed a Light Mode preview to show users how the app looks in both themes, ensuring everything stays visually consistent.

• For the "Add a Movie" flow, I designed a way for users to submit a movie, show, or game themselves. This encourages more community engagement and helps keep the app content fresh through user contributions. Users simply select their desired media type, confirm the submission, and are then directed to a status screen showing the pending status of their entry.

To maintain trust and data accuracy, I designed a flow that lets users report incorrect spoiler summaries or credit scene info in just a few steps. It’s built to feel lightweight, transparent, and easy to complete on mobile without feeling like a chore.
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‍Step 1: View the movie details
User taps into a film’s detail page and sees the spoiler or credit scene breakdown.
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‍Step 2: Start the report
They tap “This summary isn’t right” to begin flagging the issue.
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‍Step 3: Select what’s wrong
They choose from predefined issues like an inaccurate summary or broken link.
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‍Step 4: Add a comment
Optional text box to explain the issue or suggest edits.
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‍Step 5: Submit and confirm
They get a success message confirming the report was sent for review.

To support a broader set of user behaviors and edge cases, I designed a series of screens that enhance both personalization and contribution, while ensuring consistent UX patterns across different types of media. These flows help reinforce accessibility and engagement for all users registered or not.

• My History Lockout
Unregistered users trying to view history see a gentle message with a sad face icon and prompts to log in. It’s friendly focused and nudges sign-ups without being pushy.

• Game Detail View
I tailored the layout for games, keeping the structure familiar but adding features like game-specific ratings, “Buy Game” CTA, and after-credit data, all styled like our movie and TV content.

‍• TV Show Detail
Shows like Moon Knight include episode-level post-credit indicators. This aligns with binge habits while maintaining UI consistency, using percentage bars for visual clarity.

• Add Content Form
Contributors see a structured but flexible form with pre-filled fields. They can toggle credit scene presence, add comments, mark spoilers, and choose whether their profile is shown — making contribution easy and personal.

• Preview + Submission Tracking
Before submitting, users review a clean modal preview. Post-submission, a tracking screen shows status by media type. This builds trust, encourages continued contributions, and makes moderation transparent.

To support multi-device usage, I designed a simplified smartwatch interface by narrowing the app’s core functions to only what’s essential for wrist-based interaction. I focused on intuitive swiping, bold UI elements, and fast-glance content so users can check mid/post-credit scenes or switch content categories instantly without pulling out their phone.

I integrated interactions through Principle to simulate gestures and transitions, making the design feel immersive and dynamic. Interaction design was key during this stage; testing these interactions helped ensure fluid navigation and usability.

Through user feedback, I was able to fine-tune the app's gestures and transitions to create an intuitive and responsive experience. This process highlighted how crucial it is to prototype realistic interactions, as it revealed pain points that weren’t obvious in static designs, giving me the ability to make informed adjustments before finalizing the product.

In the Search Flow, I carefully crafted an experience that streamlines movie, show, and games discovery. This flow is designed for rapid content discovery with minimal effort, saving time and enhancing usability with little to no friction in the way.

After finalizing my high-fidelity designs, I conducted usability testing with a group of participants. The response was overwhelmingly positive. To my surprise, the experience not only met expectations but it exceeded them. Participants consistently described the app as smooth and intuitive, with minimal friction during task completion.

I realized that great design isn’t about getting everything right the first time. It’s about staying open, listening closely to feedback, and not being afraid to pivot when something isn’t working. I learned that progress comes through iteration, not perfection. Letting go of ego and focusing on solving real problems for real users made all the difference in building something meaningful.

The most difficult part was maintaining consistency and clarity through every iteration. With each feedback cycle, I had to adapt quickly while balancing my personal goals, shifting priorities, and new ideas without compromising usability. What made this especially complex was ensuring changes still met the original user goals. I had to navigate ambiguity, reframe problems midstream, and guide decision-making when answers weren’t always obvious.

I expected my first draft to solve most issues, but this project reminded me that iteration isn’t failure. Learning to reframe feedback as opportunity rather than critique helped me grow more resilient and curious as a designer.

This experience taught me that real design thinking is about repetition, resilience and a willingness to start over. Even in the final stages, I realized there was always more room for improvement. That mindset shift was powerful.

The most fulfilling part of the project was diving into user feedback and learning to see it as fuel rather than friction. I became more strategic about problem-solving and more thoughtful about why certain changes mattered. It wasn’t just about what worked technically, but what actually made sense for the people using it.I also noticed how much impact small inclusivity efforts had. Expanding content to include TV shows and games opened up the app experience in unexpected ways. That lesson stuck with me. Inclusion isn’t just a checklist but a design strength.

This project helped me grow as a listener, a collaborator and a leader in the design process. It reminded me that good design comes from clear intention, a strong feedback loop, and the humility to always keep learning.