CineCircle
Designing a community space for South Asian cinema fans
Role
Product Designer
Team
Project Manager
Design & Tech Leads
4 Designers
Timeline
Sept 2025 — Dec 2025
Skills
Figma
FigmaMake
Adobe AfterEffects
PROBLEM
It's hard to sustain meaningful movie discussions on social platforms
Fans found themselves stuck between fragmented group chats and noisy comment threads, where thoughtful takes got buried and real conversation about the films they loved never had a place to live.
RESEARCH
Understanding South Asian film fans
Talking to South Asian film enthusiasts, I identified the main themes to bridge their shared pain points and guide our designs:
Private Expression
Preferred group chats over online platforms, keeping the best takes out of public view.
Low Psychological Safety
Fear of backlash and harsh discourse made fans hesitant to post an unpopular opinion.
Repetitive Exposure
The same films circulated on repeat, limiting discovery beyond the usual canon.
Not Intuitive
Dense information and unintuitive interactions buried the conversation worth having.
Competitive Analysis
Fans already split their film talk across half a dozen apps — none of which were built for it. I mapped where each one earns its keep, and where the conversation falls through.
CineCircleIDEATING
Clarifying what a “post” needed to communicate
In early ideation sessions, I clarified what a “post” fundamentally needed to communicate because users express differently.
DESIGN
Long form posts
For users ready to articulate more thoughtful perspectives, structured inputs (movie selection, rating, tagging, formatting tools) enable depth without overwhelming those who prefer brevity.
Short form posts
Most users respond instinctively to films. By designing a lightweight post format (280 characters, media-only, no formatting tools), fans can quickly express initial reactions without cognitive pressure.
OUTCOME
So, what did all this work accomplish?
I designed CineCircle's full posting experience from 0-1 — separating short and long-form flows and replacing likes with expressive reactions. Early testers spent more time writing thoughtful takes and reported feeling safer sharing unpopular opinions, turning passive scrolling into real film discussion.
REFLECTIONS
Mistakes, Metrics, and Moving Forward…
Designing for passionate, opinionated film fans taught me lessons no design course ever could.
✎ᝰ Designing for casual film fans
Casual fans move fast between apps. I learned to test with real film fans, not just designers, and prioritize simplicity over feature completeness.
𝄞⨾𓍢ִ໋ Too many options overwhelm users
Too many customization options created decision paralysis. Finding the right defaults was harder than designing the features themselves.
𝄞⨾𓍢ִ໋ With more time…
I'd explore richer reaction analytics, watch-party features, and smarter recommendations that keep momentum in the conversation.
The CineCircle team says hello!
…and off the clock
SELFSERVE, 2026
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