Movies for the moment you're in

[1]

What if picking a movie was actually fun? (◕‿◕)

A gamified movie picker

Role

UX Designer + builder

Skills

Vibe Coding, Design System, AI-assisted workflow

Timeline

One day lol

Tools

Claude Code, Google Stitch, Github, VS Code, Gemini - Nano Banana 2

The Problem

[2]

You know the drill. Friday night, time to watch a movie, zero agreement. You've been scrolling Netflix and Letterboxd for 20 minutes and your movie meal has gotten cold.

ReelFeel flips the model. Instead of browse stalling, you answer a quick set of questions and get a match.

Planning + lo-fi

[3]

Lo-fi via Claude

Before any visuals, I listed out what I was looking for such as core user needs, key flows, and constraints. A lightweight PRD to get aligned with myself first.

Then I asked Claude to generate a lo-fi based on that spec.

Before any visuals, I mapped out what the app actually needed; core user need, key flows, constraints. A lightweight PRD to get aligned with myself first.

Then I asked Claude to generate a lo-fi based on that spec.

But the visual direction wasn't quite there yet. I played around with some design decisions… different type treatments, layout ideas, color approaches but I still wasn't happy with where it was landing.

The flow made sense. The visual direction? Not there yet. Played around with different type treatments, layouts, color approaches but still wasn't landing.

The pivot — gamified

[4]

What if your vibe can't be put into words?

It's a feeling living in your head. A visual. A mood. Not something you type into a search bar.

The original direction was too generic — it asked too much of the user. So I reframed it. Instead of describing a mood, the app reads it. A gamified flow of quick, visual questions that narrows down to one confident recommendation. Each question has purpose. The payoff feels earned.

It's a feeling living in your head. A visual. A mood. Not something you type into a search bar.

The original direction was too generic, so I reframed it.

A gamified flow of quick, visual questions that narrows down to one confident recommendation.

Finding the aesthetic

[5]

Once the interaction model clicked, the visual direction followed.

The gamified mobile app format called for something tactile and lo-fi.

UI patterns via Mobbin

I landed on a retro sketchbook / tamagotchi aesthetic: hand-drawn energy, monospace type, a muted analog palette while using Mobbin to gather more inspo.

Logo via Gemini/ Nano Banana 2

Generated and refined the mark to fit the editorial-meets-cinema direction.

Building with Google Stitch + Claude

[6]

Claude Code + Google Stitch

Built in Claude Code with the Google Stitch API I added to generate and refine the UI.

The output aligned closely with the retro sketchbook direction with minimal back and forth, high fidelity to the design intent.

Final product

[7]

Deployed via GitHub

Designed and deployed in a day. A fun, gamified movie picker where the flow moves fast and you walk away with one solid recommendation. No scrolling, no overthinking, just pick your vibe and go.

https://zjaffrey.github.io/reelfeel/

Currently

[8]

Currently ✍️ 💭

[8]

Since this was built in a day, there's already a list of things I want to add.

Waiting on TMDB API access to pull in a real movie catalog (Letterboxd doesn't have a public API unfortunately).
Also planning to add a "seen it" toggle so users can mark films they've already watched and have that saved to their profile.
More to come.

Reflections

[9]

This was a fun, quick vibe code project that came together faster than expected. Calling the Google Stitch API within Claude Code made the whole build feel fluid, generating and refining UI all in one place just makes sense.

Currently expanding it so I can use this with my friends!

Footer

[10]

zehra.jaffrey@yahoo.com

V4.2.0

Made with whatever my mom cooks and greek yogurt.

Status

Finishing off my hoard of books

zehra.jaffrey@yahoo.com

V4.2.0

Made with whatever my mom cooks and greek yogurt.