Elevating Village Cinemas' to enhance digital experience

Village Cinemas is Greece's largest film entertainment group and part of the Antenna Group since 2022. Renowned for its innovative spirit, Village Cinemas introduced e-tickets, e-orders, and creative theater models like Gold Class, VKids, Sphera, and Dolby Atmos.

To keep the magic alive and enhance their digital presence, Village needed a website redesign. The aim was to boost brand awareness, and drive lead generation through a rehauled digital experience, integrated via API allowing affiliates to showcase and streamline content effortlessly.

Our mission was clear: transform Village's website, mobile app, and booking system into a user-friendly haven for cinema lovers.

Our journey began with a challenge to transform Village Cinemas' website, mobile app, and booking system into a seamless, user-friendly experience across all digital touchpoints. The process began with deep conversations with stakeholders to capture Village Cinemas' vision. By focusing on how users interact with the site rather than just who they are, the design would appeal to everyone.

After diving into 39 million user sessions, we discovered that only 28.8% are returning visitors, and we identified the need for mobile optimization. Additionally, we explored competitors' strategies, allowing us to incorporate features like multiple booking options and interactive elements. Armed with these insights, we redefined the information architecture, compartmentalizing content to make it easy for users to find exactly what they were looking for.

High-fidelity wireframes helped refine designs, ensuring everything was intuitive and engaging.

Key enhancements included:

• A clear content structure that guided users effortlessly.
• A film grid that was split into tabs for “Playing Now,” “Coming Soon,” and “Early Access.
• A showtimes calendar for film and theater pages made it simple to explore options.
• An eye-catching seat map design with visual cues for different types of seats made the selection process a breeze.
• A clear user-friendly layout for film pages.

Crafting the new UI for Village Cinemas, we aimed to immerse users in a captivating digital experience that echoes the magic of the theater experience. We achieved this by introducing a dark theme that transports users into the heart of cinema, making movie posters pop and enhancing visual appeal. In addition, subtle animations and short video clips invite users to step into the story. A clean, elegant typeface ensured readability while rich blues and greens lighting effects created a soothing visual backdrop, inspired beautifully by the dimmed atmosphere of a movie theater.

To further enhance the experience, the ticketing system resembles real tickets, easing the cognitive load, while a well-structured calendar ensures smooth navigation, making movie discovery effortless.

The project unfolded as a dual development effort, embracing both the website and the mobile app. Built with Umbraco, the website provides strong support and seamless integration through an API, managing everything from movie listings to bookings and member information all while connecting effortlessly with Antenna Group affiliates.

On the mobile side, we harnessed Microsoft's MAUI to deliver a smooth and enjoyable experience for users, making tasks like logging in, managing profiles, and registration a breeze. This approach ensures that users browsing on their phones or desktops can enjoy a cohesive and engaging cinema journey.

The impact of Village Cinemas' digital transformation has been remarkable. By embracing a strategic and innovative mindset, user experience was enhanced, engagement flourished, and the brand solidified its position as a leader in the industry. The revamped site may have launched quietly, but it quickly made waves.