Industry

Film and Entertainment

Client

CareerFoundry

Service

UI Redesign

Date

May 2025

I designed a nuanced, context-driven rating
interface that empowers film lovers to articulate “how” they enjoyed a movie, not just “how
much.”

short on time?

short on time?

SCROLL

why stars fall short

problem

Letterboxd’s 5-star system forces all films—blockbusters, arthouse, documentary—into the same numeric mold, flattening rich viewer experiences into one number.

opportunity

Users craved nuance: the ability to share when, where, and why a film resonated. The Maximum Enjoyment Criteria project was born to solve that.

who we are
designing for

Meet Chloe, a 24-year-old content creator who watches films solo late at night then again with friends. She needs to convey mood, setting, and mindset of her film viewing experiences.

design goals

design goals

user flows

“As a casual viewer, I want to choose from clear, relatable viewing conditions.”

“As a casual viewer, I want to choose from clear, relatable viewing conditions.”

“As a film enthusiast, I want to share how I set myself up to enjoy a film,


so others can understand and replicate what contributed to my positive experience.”

“As a film enthusiast, I want to share how I set myself up to enjoy a film, so others can understand and replicate what contributed to my positive experience.”

“As a reviewer, I want the option to translate my MEC-based review into a traditional star rating, so my review stays compatible with the existing Letterboxd system.”

I mapped user flows for setting enjoyment criteria, then sketched low-fidelity wireframes to validate spacing, labels, and icon anchors.

“As a reviewer, I want the option to translate my MEC-based review into a traditional star rating, so my review stays compatible with the existing Letterboxd system.”

I mapped user flows for setting enjoyment criteria, then sketched low-fidelity wireframes to validate spacing, labels, and icon anchors.

wireframes

Exploration of ideas

Exploration of ideas

Low-fidelity

Low-fidelity

mid-fidelity

mid-fidelity

I chose the ‘Midnight Reflection’ palette to evoke clarity, introspection, and carefully guided user focus

visual direction

style guide

walkthrough

walkthrough

walkthrough

MEC sliders now let users pick anywhere on a continuum. Icons anchor each end— from mobile to theater for ‘Viewing Environment’

original

redesign

The summary all four criteria in one glance. Review card gives detailed
feedback, maintaining the continuous scale ethos

The summary all four criteria in one glance. Review card gives detailed
feedback, maintaining the continuous scale ethos

original

redesign

Built mobile-first, every component scales
beautifully from phones to desktops

Built mobile-first, every component scales
beautifully from phones to desktops

seamless across devices

reflections

I discovered that continuous slider scales deliver more nuance but can be hard to calibrate without user benchmarks. Next time, I’ll run a card‑sorting exercise to validate category endpoints before moving into high‑fidelity.

I learned the value of red‑lining screen specs in Figma and hosting a quick design-dev sync meeting to catch misalignments before sprint planning.

I was surprised how quickly users adapted to the MEC concept, however I would integrate interactive coach marks more broadly in future experiments to boost feature discoverability.