Watch Club Mobile App
INFO
A 6 Week Sprint: Building the next viral social and watching platform where young woman and the LGBTQ+ community are brought together by their love of social-driven narrative experiences.
DISCIPLINE
Product Design
UI/UX Design
TIMELINE
6 Week Sprint - Ongoing
ROLE
Product Design Intern
Intro
Movies, shows, and discussions have always gone hand in hand. When a new show drops, the natural instinct is to watch, get excited, and find a conversation. Today, that experience is fragmented, forcing users to bounce between Reddit, Letterboxd, and TikTok just to find a community, then relying on delayed DMs to chat with friends.
This viewing experience is flawed. The modern "second screen" habit usually involves mindless scrolling on Instagram or shopping online rather than meaningful engagement. To find relevant discussion about specific moments, users are still hopping between platforms, resulting in sporadic, sparse conversations.
Watch Club aims to bridge this gap. However, the initial implementation prior to my arrival lacked the coherent design needed to connect users with content and each other truly. Though the app is still in development, the following are the three small but mighty solutions I shipped alongside the Founder, PM, and Engineers to strengthen mission.
Challenges and Constraints
As the sole designer in an early-stage startup, I functioned as the bridge between high-level vision and technical execution. Navigating a rapid development cycle required me to establish a more robust design thinking process.
In the absence of a formal workflow, I enforced a design-thinking framework focused on aggressive brainstorming and rigorous problem scoping.
To keep pace with daily shipping cycles, I utilized a mix of hand sketches and Figma AI (Make) to turn ideas into testable prototypes within hours for the Founder and PM.
SOLUTION 01
Waitlist Experience
Watch Club releases one piece of curated content every 24 hours. To capitalize on this "event-style" viewing,
we designed:
Interactive Waitlists: Users opt-in for daily "pre-drop" content like BTS and interviews.
Viral Loops: A referral system that grants early access in exchange for friend invites, turning active watchers into brand advocates.
Smart Triggers: We designed a contextual notification system within the Watch Tab to re-engage waitlisted users. Depending on their journey, they are prompted to refer others or consume "pre-drop" content.
Strategic Visual Motifs: The Watch Club brand gradient was intentionally applied as a "CTA motif." By reserving this specific color profile for key interactions, we created a subconscious mental model for users to identify and act on primary goals.
To supplement our dynamic notifications, we established a permanent home for the Waitlist Ticket Button. This secondary entry point allows users to:
Track Status: Instantly view their referral progress.
Invite Friends: Share access at any time without waiting for a prompt.
Drive Retention: Maintain a consistent visual reminder of the upcoming drop within the core Watch interface.
SOLUTION 02
Polls and Community
After watching a certain moment in the show, we designed a Polls feature to trigger after high-impact clips and capture user sentiment while it’s at its highest.
Social Validation: Utilized avatar stacks (profile pictures) to show real-time participation. This 'social proof' reduces the barrier to entry, transforming a solitary viewing experience into a shared community event. Social proof is especially important, as encouraging and maintaining engagement is vital to an early-stage startup.
A key inflection point in our design process was the user flow following a Poll. We debated the trade-offs between restricting content and allowing a "free roam" experience.
While restricting "Selfie Responses" until after a poll adds friction, we prioritized the quality of the ecosystem over ease of consumption. Our goal wasn't to encourage passive "lurking," but to cultivate a community of active watchers and participants. By requiring a vote first, we ensure every user contributes to the collective data before consuming others' opinions, resulting in a more balanced and fruitful conversation.
After voting, the poll can shrink into a streamlined "Pill" to reduce clutter, while a Record Button appears to capture spontaneous, "burning" video responses.
SOLUTION 03
Personalized Profile
Prior to my arrival, the User Profile was a skeleton: a blank avatar and a logout button. Recognizing that identity drives fandom, I began iterating on a robust profile system to foster deeper peer-to-peer connections.
Expressive Bios: Designed a tailored bio section for users to signal their niche interests to the target audience.
Gamified Status: Implemented a "Level Up" system where engagement unlocks "Super Fan" status and customizable profile banners, rewarding platform loyalty.
The "Hottest Takes" Hub: Created a dedicated space for users to showcase their theories and video responses. This serves as a social discovery tool, helping fans find and befriend like-minded "Super Fans."
Note on Process
Watch Club is currently in a phase of rapid ideation and testing. While we prioritize high-velocity shipping and continuous iteration, this also means the three following solutions remain subject to change and data-baked refinement :-).
Due to the proprietary nature of our current growth phase, some internal strategic documentation remains confidential.
Stay tuned for our next steps! Until then, thank you for reading!