The Challenge
Every summer in New York City, there are close to 200 free, outdoor movie screenings. Some are put on by the parks department, some by non-profits, and others by independent venues. Some screenings might make their way into the pages of Time Out, but there was no single source for discovering a screening near you, and certainly not anything well designed or mobile-based.
Every summer, New Yorkers search for free outdoor movies—but the data lives across broken municipal websites, nonprofit calendars, and outdated PDFs. I knew the city—New Yorkers!—deserved better.
My Process
1. Problem Identification
As an early independent project for Field Studios, the creative agency I ran with Saman Maydani for 5 years, we got to work building City Ciné to solve this civic pain point.
2. Content Modeling
I created a simple content model that mirrored how users plan: by location, by date, or by movie. This intuitive structure made it easy for users to find what they were looking for.
3. End-to-End Development
Data was collected manually from the Parks Department and indie presenters, then structured into a custom WordPress backend. I designed and developed the experience end-to-end, using field-tested UX patterns and a branded identity inspired by French arthouse cinema.
Key Outcomes
- Hundreds of users in the first season, shared by local orgs and blogs
- Reduced frustration in a previously painful info-seeking experience
- Product validated needs without paid ads or SEO
Lessons Learned
City Ciné was built fast, tested live, and designed to solve a real civic pain point. It wasn't hypothetical UX—it was shipping a useful thing and watching people use it.
The project demonstrated the power of identifying real user needs and building solutions that address them directly. By focusing on a specific, underserved audience and creating a mobile-first experience, we were able to validate the concept quickly and gain organic adoption.