Seamless In-Theatre Dining
Locate Popcorn is a concept mobile app that lets moviegoers order food and drinks directly to their seats. It was developed as part of my Google UX Design certification, where I worked through the full process — from user research and UX design through to final UI and prototyping.
The Problem
VIP theatres promise a comfortable experience, but ordering food is still surprisingly disruptive. Guests in the middle of rows have to squeeze past people, navigate dim aisles carrying drinks, and choose between missing part of the movie or skipping snacks altogether. And before the show, concession lines are long enough that people often miss previews.
The core opportunity was straightforward: food delivery apps have made ordering food effortless in almost every other context. Theatres hadn't caught up.
Process
Research
I started by talking to friends and reading forum discussions about the theatre dining experience to understand common frustrations. From that research I built two personas representing typical moviegoers — a busy professional and a parent with young kids — to keep the design grounded in real use cases.
Wireframes and user testing
I mapped out the full user flow — from seat confirmation through menu browsing, cart management, and checkout — then built wireframes to test early. Five participants who regularly go to movies each worked through six prompts covering the core tasks: finding items, customizing orders, editing quantities, setting up delivery, selecting payment, and completing checkout.
The findings were specific and useful:
4/5 wanted an easier way to input their seat
4/5 wanted faster quantity editing
3/5 had trouble finding specific menu items
3/5 wanted an order confirmation step before submitting
3/5 wanted more payment options
[Insert: wireframes and testing flow]
Revised design
Based on the feedback, I made targeted changes: seat input options (QR code scan, ticket scan, or theatre app login), quantity editing directly from the cart, a streamlined menu with better visual hierarchy, additional payment methods including digital wallets and gift cards, and a confirmation step before orders were placed.
[Insert: before/after wireframe comparison]
Branding and UI
The app uses a dark theme throughout — practical for a low-light environment, and easier on the eyes of people around you. The color palette pairs deep navy with a warm gold accent, keeping the feel cinematic without being overdone. Typography is limited to five variations, with large bold headers for quick navigation and high-contrast body text for readability in the dark.
[Insert: UI screens — menu, cart, checkout, confirmation] [Insert: design system — color tokens, typography, components]
Outcome
Locate Popcorn is a concept project, so there are no live metrics to point to. The value here is in the process — taking a clear problem through structured research, iterative testing, and a considered UI — and arriving at a design that's grounded in actual user feedback rather than assumptions.
Reflection
The most interesting constraint in this project was the environment. Designing for a dark, quiet, shared space is different from designing a typical food delivery app. Every interaction needed to be quick and low-distraction — which pushed me to simplify flows and reduce visual noise more than I might have otherwise.