TV & Movie Tracker
The problem
My wife and I are “cord cutters” when it comes to how we watch TV and movies. We don’t use traditional cable or TV providers for a long list of channels. Using streaming and downloads, I noticed I wasn’t aware of what’s available to watch or new shows and movies coming out. How could I see what’s “on” in this new model of entertainment?
I mapped out the flow for a user when finding a TV show
The breakdown
I decided I could approximate something like a TV guide by using Python and run a small server locally on my home network that could pull data on TV schedules, releases, movies, and more. The real question was how to do this easily and make all that data consumable.
A rough cut didn’t have everything that was needed, but worked as a playground for ideas and seeing real interactions.
More ideas take shape with some sketching of ideas on layout and IA.
The Solution
I thought about what my mental model was for my ‘TV Guide’ and I asked my wife as well. I settled on displaying upcoming week of shows and a section for movie releases. One problem was still unaddressed: How do I easily add new shows, maybe ones I’ve never heard of? Luckily, The Movie Database had all the information in an easy to consume API. I found ways to use the available data to provide new premiers and popular shows sections.
The main application page houses your upcoming week, new movies, as well as new premiers and popular shows.
A show page contained individual episodes, air dates, and show-specific artwork.
New premiers displayed a box on click that showed artwork and show synopsis.
When a movie is hovered on the text transitions to be easier to read and displays a summary, actors, artwork, formats, and link to ratings and IMDB.
Results
The product ended up working quite well. I could see my whole week, drill down into any show or movie. Look at an entire series, and add trending, popular, or newly premiering shows. Visually, I adjust the color scheme to black and orange as we often used the program at night and the dark/high contrast scheme was suited in that use case.