Paige Drummond
UX/UI Designer
WMF_Tile.jpg

TCM Presents: Women Make Film

Women Make Film

 
 
 
 

Overview

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) celebrated female filmmakers with a 3-month-long programming schedule featuring 100 industry women from around the world.

The digital team built an interactive website housing 100 unique biographies for each director, monthly scheduling information, resources for current filmmakers, and a featured events page for partners. 

Role & Duration

UX Design Lead,
4 months

Programs

 
 
 
 

Problem

TCM's largest initiatives are typically in-person events for fans to meet with the brand's on-air talent, which have been halted indefinitely due to the pandemic. Global health concerns will limit all projects to digital-exclusive experiences for the 2020 Fiscal Year.

 
 
 
 

Goals



Project

  • Promote Women Make Film’s 3-month long programming schedule.

  • Deliver engaging content that encourages users to learn more about the female filmmakers being showcased.

Personal

  • Build an inclusive site that focuses on highlighting communities routinely overlooked, such as women of color and queer directors who established groundbreaking milestones in their field and the lasting impact it left on the industry.

  • Create a resource library for young filmmakers to connect with opportunities and funding.

 
 
 

page features

Going beyond building a site to create an experience.

When I was approached by leadership to lead the art direction for Women Make Film, the request included:

  1. Landing

  2. Schedule

  3. Videos

Given that the project was the first time TCM was undertaking both female-focused and diverse films as a Tier 1 marketing effort, I thought it was a missed opportunity to not match the weight of its significance in the website’s design. Since this was TCM’s first initiative during the pandemic, it was important to make the site as roust as possible in the absence of TCM’s in-person events.

I countered with a request for additional pages, so that it had the potential to become an actual resource for filmmakers beyond advertising TCM programming.

The proposed add-on pages/features included:

  • Filmmaker search

  • Interactive filmmaker timeline

  • Individual filmmaker biographies

  • Funding and scholarship page

  • Masterclasses

With the ongoing pandemic, it was agreed that expanding content is acceptable, but could potentially be limited because of global restrictions.

 
 
 
 

site map

Bringing more to the table

I began drafting the site map and soon realized how expansive the website had become from the original, simple ask. The additional content I requested adds clear value to TCM’s core cinephile fan base. But, the stakeholder will need more justification from a business perspective.

To better establish page types, I determined each page’s user goal. Then, I identified the stakeholder’s goal. Now, I can designate which one is primary versus secondary, depending on where they are in the customer journey. While designing components for digital low-fids, this helps prioritize which features will need a greater emphasis and when.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Landing

User Tasks
1. Initial Visit: User need to quickly find scheduling information.
2. Follow-Up: User needs to get by-the-week info on themes/filmmakers.

Features
- Schedule Carousel
- Tagline
- Sub Nav
- Weekly Profile Highlight
- TCM Cross Promotions

Schedule

User Tasks
1. Initial Visit: User needs to access schedule for movies they’re interested in
2. Follow-Up: User needs to view what’s coming up and updates on changes.

Features
- Programming Schedule Time, Film, Director
- Link through to Filmmaker Biographies
- Printable Schedule PDF
- Add to Calendar

 
 
 

Profiles

User Tasks
1. Initial Visit: User need to search for favorite directors and films.
2. Follow-Up: User needs to explore other categories adjacent to user’s interests.

Features
- Bio Profile Photo
- Schedule Link
- Biography
- Filmography
- Photo Gallery

Get Involved

User Tasks
1. Initial Visit: User needs to see what events are coming up to mark in calendar.
2. Follow-Up: User needs to see what events are coming up, so they can take note and mark in calendar.

Features
- Resources
- Upcoming Events
- Speaker Series
- Education Series
- Masterclasses

 
 
 

low fidelity

Diving into the screens

After receiving approval from stakeholders, they encouraged me to jump right into a low fidelity wireframes.

Stakeholder Requirements:
- Programming line must be clear and always in first position carousels
- Programming tagline must be prominent

I sketched out a few versions of the landing page to confirm visual hierarchy aligned across all teams. After selecting a direction with the ideal framework, I designed more of the content-heavy screens including Schedule, Profiles/Biographies, and Video page. By doing so, I was able to highlight how the pages complemented each other and encouraged user exploration.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

low-fidelity

Intertwining education and experience

For microsites especially, it’s important to avoid redundancy. Both substantive material and page count are limited, meaning users could potentially see repetitive information back-to-back.

For Women Make Film, the amount of page types were low. But, with 100+ biographies, the content itself was very dense.

I knew there was a way to weave programming information in a relevant way without it being overbearing.

 
 
 
 

Content design & hi-fidelity

Creating a content roadmap

After I felt confident about the page type and their contents, I worked with our project manager to create a schedule for the carousels and other content we felt would need refreshing.

Given that the programming initiative was 3-months long and users could potentially be returning multiple times, we strategized a weekly rotation of content that aligned with programming schedule and themes. By doing so, the site was always pushing the most relevant content to the front.

 
 

To the Front

As the lead designer, one of my priorities was highlighting communities routinely overlooked, such as women of color and queer directors, who established groundbreaking milestones in their field and the lasting impact it left on the industry.

Especially with a fanbase like TCM, that’s older and white-dominated. It was critical to acknowledge these works that were created in the same timeline as more mainstream cinema.

 

Extra Goodies

Promotional Trailer