movieQ is a social and movie streaming platform that connects LGBTQ+ community members through film.
Through movieQ, users can watch movies together, communicate with like-minded individuals, and forge new friendships. Our goal is to foster an inclusive online community where LGBTQ+ individuals can feel empowered and connected, regardless of their location in the world.
Collaborated with Zeyao Li.
Watch together, connect together.
Design a third-party desktop website or desktop app (not Netflix-branded) where the community can celebrate shared stories together through communal and authentic experiences.
As gays, when we grew up as queer, we could only watch LGBT films secretly in bed after our parents left. We often felt isolated in society, but those movies gave us the strength to live our lives. Thus, in pride month, we decided to launch a platform where queers can connect with each other through LGBT films and potentially find their date on it. We use movies as icebreakers and let queer find their people to talk to even during the quarantine. However, global pandemic limits the interaction between people.
So we want to explore:
For this project, we decided to focus on the LGBTQ community and think about how to bond the community through video streaming services. Since there are no data sources provided by the host, we turned to database websites to prove our strategies.
A 2017 Gallup poll concluded that 4.5% of adult Americans identified as LGBT, with 5.1% of women identifying as LGBT, compared with 3.9% of men. A different survey in 2016 from the Williams Institute estimated that 0.6% of U.S. adults identify as transgender. According to a 2019 research by Community Marketing & Insights, about 84% of LGBTQ people in the U.S. read or watch LGBTQ media content regularly.
After consumer research, we found out that this product’s target audience would be LGBTQ+ members who subscribe to streaming platforms and regularly watch LGBTQ-related media. Our target audience likes to meet people and share opinions about movies with communities. LGBTQ people often suffer from isolation and disconnection from the LGBTQ community since they don’t feel comfortable talking about it with others openly or can’t find access to it.
From my perspective, I learned about LGBTQ and discover my sexuality mostly through movies and TV when growing up; however, it’s hard to discuss it with others since no one I know was watching the same thing, leading to depression and a sense of isolation.
movieQ puts our members first, so when we delivered our user flow, we decided to let the flow go to user profiles from most of the pages. When signed in, there will be profiles displayed on the front page based on the recommendations. Users can also explore other profiles from the movie details and community page. The flow is designed to let users find other people through the website with movies as icebreakers and a communal bond.
Here are the features:
As a social and streaming platform, movieQ helps users find other LGBT-movie lovers within a few touches. After adding others as friends, users can invite them to enjoy a movie together and discuss the latest acclaimed film they both love.
Finding people with similar tastes can never be easy, but movieQ provides multiple communities that allow users to chat with other members. We want people to find a sense of community through joining discussions.
movieQ helps our users organize watching events with friends. When watching movies together, people can discuss the plot and turn on video chat simultaneously. Simply we create a friendly and cozy environment for you to enjoy your time with the other half.
Use data and social websites to help your design grow.
When being in a two-day competition, it's a bit hard to do the full user test as usual. I find it extremely helpful to review the complaints on movie forums to find the user needs. I started out this concept because I saw people posting about hard to find others to discuss about gay movies, which turned out to be a great commercial idea.
