Connecting Over Film with LettuceWatch
PRODUCT DESIGN
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2025
PERSONAL PROJECT
THE PROBLEM
The average American spends 7.4 minutes choosing what to watch. That’s 45 hours per year.
The idea for LettuceWatch came from a personal, yet universally frustrating, problem: spending way too much time searching for what to watch. The abundance of streaming platforms combined with clever algorithms only continue to fuel this paralyzing feeling. Overwhelmed by the plethora of options, it's easy to get lost in scrolling for content rather than actually enjoying it.
LettuceWatch facilitates connection and fights decision paralysis, giving people back their time to enjoy movies together.
Source: Vox; Marcy Franklin, 2019
THE SOLUTION
A whimsical, collaborative film discovery experience!
LettuceWatch allows users to input their Letterboxd usernames and swipe through films that appear on both watchlists. Users engage in a dating-app style swipe interface to quickly vote on films. They can also tap to reveal the film synopsis to further inform their decision. Once there is a match, the user can stop there or choose to keep searching. After swiping through a set discovery round, the final screen presents a list of mutual matches.
As Netflix would ask, "Are you still watching?" Scroll to continue.
Project Overview
This was a fun personal project I did over the summer! I designed and prototyped the app in Figma, including hand-drawn illustrations. Then, I worked with a software engineer friend to code the platform and bring it to life.
Here is the Github link if you'd like to try it out for yourself!
UNDERSTANDING THE NEED
How might we transform the lengthy shared decision-making process into a playful moment of connection?
We aimed to design an effortless experience that users look forward to engaging in. By leveraging existing watchlists through Letterboxd, we can simplify the selection process and minimize searching time without additional work on the user's end.
Not only do we combat the endless sea of options, but we also bring people together, reflecting user behavior and meeting emotional needs.
DESIGN DEEP DIVE
Creating a movie matchmaking platform
Access Letterboxd Watchlists
The core functionality of LettuceWatch is achieved by web scraping for publicly accessible Letterboxd data. The user simply inputs their username, as no login or password is required, eliminating sign-up or authorization barriers. With this method, we are able to display only films that are both users' watchlists.
Tap through films to generate matches
Users can engage in a familiar dating-app inspired interface and tap to either dismiss or accept certain films. Upon "hearting" a film, the user is alerted that it's a match. If they're happy with the selection, they can stop there or choose to resume searching. This reduces significant cognitive load and simplifies the selection process.
Tap to reveal film synopsis
Tapping on the movie poster reveals the film synopsis for informed decision making. This ensures the user can easily access helpful information for their deliberation.
View final matches
At the end of the set discovery round, which is ten films, the user receives a comprehensive list of all the films they matched with. This significantly narrows down the list of movies to choose from and presents them in a digestible manner.
SUCCESS METRICS
Successfully shortening selection time
I shared the platform with some friends and family and interviewed them about their experiences.
All 30 of them shared that they did not spend more than 5 minutes deliberating potential films before coming to a decision that everyone was happy with.
REFLECTION
Combining my favorite things (design & movies)!
This was really fun to make! I thoroughly enjoyed the process, from drawing the illustrations, to wireframing and prototyping, to working with a friend (thanks Colin!), to carry out my vision. I'm super happy to build something that not only I get to use regularly, but also something that I can share with my community. I will be on the hunt for more ways to be curious and incorporate little joys into everyday life :)
