Definitely not for the tl;dr crowd, but for everyone else willing, I'd really appreciate whatever feedback you guys can offer…
For those who may not remember, a couple years back, I had a site called The Projection List that featured ONLY movie release dates. One long page and that was it. I created it because there wasn’t - and still isn't - a go-to site dedicated to movie release dates. There are plenty of release date calendars out there, but they all either look like they were designed in the late-‘90s, require too much navigation, or don’t tell you exactly what you want to know. So what I tried to do was put the entire movie release schedule on one page, with no navigating, no nonsense. Just clean and simple and to-the-point.
The problem was, I didn't invest a dime, had no ads/revenue, and was using the extremely-limited iWeb to host/update. At it’s most popular, the site was getting around 500 hits a day, and a lot of industry-types and movie-bloggers were using it in meetings and for reference, but it wasn't anything near what I wanted it to be. It got to the point where I just couldn't justify the hour or two per day it took to keep it updated, especially doing so for free.
But ever since I took down the old version, I still get all kinds of requests to get the site going again, and the itch has definitely remained to properly resurrect it and do the ultimate, bells-and-whistles version I've always imagined. As many of you know, I'm somewhat obsessed with release dates, so I figure if I can utilize that obsession and hopefully make some money on the side, it’d worth the investment. As long as what I'm envisioning isn't technically impossible or too expensive. But, as of now, I've decided to go all-in on this thing.
It may be lofty, but my goal is to create the go-to site for movie release dates. Something not only the entire industry uses, but something the average Joe movie goer uses as well. While keeping it as utterly simple, clean, stylish, and user-friendly as possible. Something that separates itself from all the other popular, but horrible-looking movie sites out there.
Ultimately, the site would essentially act as a filter to other sites. You click on the film’s title, it takes you to its IMDB page. You click on “RT%” at the far right of the film’s listing, it takes you to its Rotten Tomato page. You click on “Trailer” next to that, and a YouTube window for the film’s trailer drops down in-site. So it’s not necessarily it’s own database, but more of an easily-organized, at-a-glance information filter. Then, if you want to dig deeper, you can via the links. What I'm doing is simply organizing & presenting all the info that’s out there in a way no one else is, and then guiding you further down the rabbit hole if you so choose. I just didn't want to build my own database of rabbit holes, so I'll let those respective experts keep doing their thing, and direct the user to them.
All that being said, I've still got a lot of kinks to iron out.
First of all, imagine the mock-ups below to be far more professionally-designed. A way cooler header design / title logo, slightly more intuitive main menu, drop down menus, better fonts, better color scheme, overall better look, etc. I was mainly just going for operational functionality with these mock-ups and then I'd work with actual professional designers here in LA to make it all truly pop, coordinate, and function correctly.
But before I get to that point, I need some basic look and functionality feedback. Specifically, as it pertains to the actual movies listings themselves…
I've shown these mock-ups to a few close friends and industry-types, and the majority really like them / think it all essentially works as-is. But a couple of people have said, upon first glance of the first page, that it’s almost an information overload. They feel that instead of seeing just the film’s title and release date, the other categories (specifically, Studio, Genre, Format, Rating, and Runtime) are all too much and unnecessary. They want that info to be there, just not upon first-glance. In other words, when you initially come to the page, they want the only categories to be Date, Movie Title, Trailer, and RT%. Then, if you want to see the other categories, you can click on them and they'll appear and you can sort by them. I agree to an extant, but my main issue with that is it would make entering in each listing infinitely more complicated on my part and would definitely disrupt the spacing/order, which I've already analyzed to death. I’ve done it the way it currently is for a hundred different reasons. But if a majority of you also feel that it’s too much, let me know. It’s people like you I'm essentially making this for (though, the industry-types who want to see all this info at once will be a big audience as well).
Other than that, I hope the rest of the mock-ups are self-explanatory. Instead of describing each one and every functionality, I'd rather you guys just see it as you would coming to the site for the first time and then let me know your general thoughts from there. Only other disclaimers I'll make are that, for the movies, I've used summer 2014 as a sample, and for TV, I've used spring 2014 as an even smaller sample. Just so there's no confusion. That, and for all pages, the header/menu would stay locked at the top of the page, while you could scroll up/down or jump to a specific year. Every listing would all be on one page.
What I ultimately want to know is if you'd use this site on a regular basis. But any other notes, wants, changes, questions, etc would be greatly appreciated. After I've gathered enough feedback, I'll hopefully start interviewing web design companies early in the new year and then go from there. If doable and if affordable, my goal would then be to have this thing fully functional and up and running in time for the summer movie season, first week of May.
In the meantime, I'll obviously be around to answer any questions...
Thanks!
*** EDIT ***
Settled on a "final" look to give to the designers, so I'm taking down all the old mock-ups. Would rather they not be floating around for the next couple months while the site is being built.
Again, just wanted to tell everyone who contributed & critiqued how much I appreciate it. Really, I had no idea how valuable this exercise would be, as the final product will be a direct result of many ideas in this thread.
Thanks!
[This message has been edited by TCTTS (edited 12/16/2013 12:56p).]
For those who may not remember, a couple years back, I had a site called The Projection List that featured ONLY movie release dates. One long page and that was it. I created it because there wasn’t - and still isn't - a go-to site dedicated to movie release dates. There are plenty of release date calendars out there, but they all either look like they were designed in the late-‘90s, require too much navigation, or don’t tell you exactly what you want to know. So what I tried to do was put the entire movie release schedule on one page, with no navigating, no nonsense. Just clean and simple and to-the-point.
The problem was, I didn't invest a dime, had no ads/revenue, and was using the extremely-limited iWeb to host/update. At it’s most popular, the site was getting around 500 hits a day, and a lot of industry-types and movie-bloggers were using it in meetings and for reference, but it wasn't anything near what I wanted it to be. It got to the point where I just couldn't justify the hour or two per day it took to keep it updated, especially doing so for free.
But ever since I took down the old version, I still get all kinds of requests to get the site going again, and the itch has definitely remained to properly resurrect it and do the ultimate, bells-and-whistles version I've always imagined. As many of you know, I'm somewhat obsessed with release dates, so I figure if I can utilize that obsession and hopefully make some money on the side, it’d worth the investment. As long as what I'm envisioning isn't technically impossible or too expensive. But, as of now, I've decided to go all-in on this thing.
It may be lofty, but my goal is to create the go-to site for movie release dates. Something not only the entire industry uses, but something the average Joe movie goer uses as well. While keeping it as utterly simple, clean, stylish, and user-friendly as possible. Something that separates itself from all the other popular, but horrible-looking movie sites out there.
Ultimately, the site would essentially act as a filter to other sites. You click on the film’s title, it takes you to its IMDB page. You click on “RT%” at the far right of the film’s listing, it takes you to its Rotten Tomato page. You click on “Trailer” next to that, and a YouTube window for the film’s trailer drops down in-site. So it’s not necessarily it’s own database, but more of an easily-organized, at-a-glance information filter. Then, if you want to dig deeper, you can via the links. What I'm doing is simply organizing & presenting all the info that’s out there in a way no one else is, and then guiding you further down the rabbit hole if you so choose. I just didn't want to build my own database of rabbit holes, so I'll let those respective experts keep doing their thing, and direct the user to them.
All that being said, I've still got a lot of kinks to iron out.
First of all, imagine the mock-ups below to be far more professionally-designed. A way cooler header design / title logo, slightly more intuitive main menu, drop down menus, better fonts, better color scheme, overall better look, etc. I was mainly just going for operational functionality with these mock-ups and then I'd work with actual professional designers here in LA to make it all truly pop, coordinate, and function correctly.
But before I get to that point, I need some basic look and functionality feedback. Specifically, as it pertains to the actual movies listings themselves…
I've shown these mock-ups to a few close friends and industry-types, and the majority really like them / think it all essentially works as-is. But a couple of people have said, upon first glance of the first page, that it’s almost an information overload. They feel that instead of seeing just the film’s title and release date, the other categories (specifically, Studio, Genre, Format, Rating, and Runtime) are all too much and unnecessary. They want that info to be there, just not upon first-glance. In other words, when you initially come to the page, they want the only categories to be Date, Movie Title, Trailer, and RT%. Then, if you want to see the other categories, you can click on them and they'll appear and you can sort by them. I agree to an extant, but my main issue with that is it would make entering in each listing infinitely more complicated on my part and would definitely disrupt the spacing/order, which I've already analyzed to death. I’ve done it the way it currently is for a hundred different reasons. But if a majority of you also feel that it’s too much, let me know. It’s people like you I'm essentially making this for (though, the industry-types who want to see all this info at once will be a big audience as well).
Other than that, I hope the rest of the mock-ups are self-explanatory. Instead of describing each one and every functionality, I'd rather you guys just see it as you would coming to the site for the first time and then let me know your general thoughts from there. Only other disclaimers I'll make are that, for the movies, I've used summer 2014 as a sample, and for TV, I've used spring 2014 as an even smaller sample. Just so there's no confusion. That, and for all pages, the header/menu would stay locked at the top of the page, while you could scroll up/down or jump to a specific year. Every listing would all be on one page.
What I ultimately want to know is if you'd use this site on a regular basis. But any other notes, wants, changes, questions, etc would be greatly appreciated. After I've gathered enough feedback, I'll hopefully start interviewing web design companies early in the new year and then go from there. If doable and if affordable, my goal would then be to have this thing fully functional and up and running in time for the summer movie season, first week of May.
In the meantime, I'll obviously be around to answer any questions...
Thanks!
*** EDIT ***
Settled on a "final" look to give to the designers, so I'm taking down all the old mock-ups. Would rather they not be floating around for the next couple months while the site is being built.
Again, just wanted to tell everyone who contributed & critiqued how much I appreciate it. Really, I had no idea how valuable this exercise would be, as the final product will be a direct result of many ideas in this thread.
Thanks!
[This message has been edited by TCTTS (edited 12/16/2013 12:56p).]
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