Saved 8–12 hours per short film production by designing a streamlined scheduling tool for indie film producers.
Team
2 UX Designer (Me)
3 Developers
Skills
User Research
UX/UI Design
Design System
Web App Design
Tools
Figma
Timeline
Jan 2025 - Jun 2025
HIGHLIGHT
ABOUT SLATE
Slate is a sponsored senior capstone project developed through the Informatics program, created in collaboration with a real client and a team of developers. Designed specifically for indie filmmakers, Slate streamlines the chaotic process of film production scheduling. By combining script parsing, availability tracking, and automated schedule generation, Slate reduces time-consuming logistics into a seamless workflow. Tailored for small-scale productions, it offers an affordable, intuitive alternative to complex industry tools—empowering filmmakers to spend less time coordinating and more time creating.
IMPACT SUMMARY
⏳
8-12 hours
saved per short film on pre-production scheduling tasks.
🙆♂️
92%
of test users reported it was easier to align crew availability using Slate than with tools like When2Meet or Google Sheets.
😌
4.7/5
average satisfaction across categories: usability, scheduling, script parsing, and visual design.
CONTEXT
The more people involved, the harder it gets...
You often have to fill out availability forms for each group separately. A centralized system would be great.
Trying to find a time where everyone can make it! I work with a bare bones crew, so if one person drops, I can't have a shoot.
Sending out links for availability every time is annoying. If someone could fill it out once and have it synced across projects, that would be ideal.
-22 Years Old Film Producer
I often need to manually cross-reference schedules to prioritize essential personnel, which is time-consuming.
-Indie Filmmaker with 3 Years Experience
Everything goes through multiple tools—Sheets, Discord, When2Meet—it’s hard to keep everything aligned.
-Student Film Maker
THE SCHEDULING HASSLE
Did you know that scheduling usually takes around 15-25% of the entire film process? Currently, film production is mostly scheduled manually and causes many delays in production. This shows a significant inefficiency that directly translates to increased costs and loss of productivity. Our goal is to fix this problem.
TARGET AUDIENCE
👤 Demographic
Indie film producers with 0 - 5 years of experience
🍿 Motivations
Seek to save time on the overall film production
(Time is money)
⚠️ Pain Points
Struggles with coordinating shifting availabilities, managing schedules manually, and dealing with fragmented tools that make communication and planning inefficient.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
📝 Survey
Gathered insights from over 30 filmmakers and student directors to identify common scheduling pain points, tool preferences, and workflow inefficiencies.
🎙️ Interviews
Spoke with 2 Lux (A UW filmmakers Club) filmmakers and 3 industry professionals to uncover qualitative insights into their coordination habits and real-world production challenges.
📊 Competitive Analysis
Reviewed platforms like Celtx and StudioBinder to evaluate their usability and relevance for low-budget or student film teams.
Break down script manually
Gather availability (e.g. When2Meet, Google Sheet)
Manually cross-check availability
Schedule only one scene
Adjust schedule based on conflicts or last-minute changes
Draft initial shooting schedule
CONVENTIONAL SCHEDULING FLOW
Through interviews and surveys, we mapped out the conventional scheduling flow and found it to be slow, repetitive, and easily disrupted—requiring constant coordination across disconnected tools and frequent restarts with every change.
MAIN INSIGHTS
1
Manual Scheduling Challenges
Frequent rescheduling due to availability conflicts, weather, and other issues made manual scheduling frustrating and time-consuming.
2
Unrefined Scheduling Systems
Reliance on multiple platforms (Slack,When2meet,, google calendar) causes fragmentation and unreliable system.
3
Overcomplicated Tools
Existing tools like Yamdu and StudioBinder are built for large-scale productions, making them costly and inefficient for small filmmakers.
Principle
🚫 Should Not
Replicate traditional tools with unnecessary complexity.
🤌 Should
Focus on clarity, low effort input, and smart defaults
First MVP Design
Manual Scheduling = Effort & Time
🤖 Automatic Scheduling
Need Production Info
👥 On Boarding
Need Script Info
📑 Script Parser
Need Schedule View
🗓️ Calendar View
DESIGN WITH INTENTION
To reduce the effort and time of manual scheduling, we designed an automated system powered by script parsing, pre-production onboarding, and a dynamic calendar view. We visualized this core scheduling flow through early wireframes—allowing us to validate the concept, gather feedback on usability, and refine priorities before moving into high-fidelity prototyping.
Testings & Insights
Trying to figure out what to click was the hardest part
Why can’t I change anything after onboarding? The crew always changes.
This would save me so much time compared to how I normally schedule.
Way easier than juggling a bunch of Google Sheets and When2Meet links.
I had to start over just to fix one typo or one error in the script.
If I make a mistake, I have to start over... that’s frustrating.
REVISE THROUGH FEEDBACKS
This is a wall of quotes from user testing on my first MVP.
Participants shared feedback highlighting issues with navigation, visual clarity, and limited flexibility in the onboarding process.
There was positive feedback on the core scheduling flow (especially the script parser and calendar), but users emphasized the need for a more intuitive interface and greater control throughout setup.
Before
After
UNINTUITIVE STYLE & COLOR
Before
→ Users reported the day/night color scheme was confusing.
→ The black, white, and gray palette made it difficult to distinguish key UI elements.
After
→ Introduced accent colors to highlight primary actions and interactive components.
→ Adopted industry-standard color coding for day/night scenes to improve clarity and familiarity.
Before
After
Missing Crew Management Features
Before
→ Users struggled to manage crews beyond the initial setup.
→ There was an expectation for persistent access to update roles, availability, and contact information.
After
→ Introduced a dedicated Crew Management Page with editable fields and always-accessible crew details.
Before
After
Rigid Onboarding Experience
Before
→ Users expressed a need for a more flexible onboarding process.
→ The inability to make mid-flow edits broke the workflow and caused frustration.
After
→Redesigned onboarding to allow live edits, autosaving, and modular input, enabling users to adjust without starting over.
Developing
Sponsor’s Vision
Our Vision
WORKING WITH CLIENT
Our client had an ambitious vision with many features in mind, but we had to communicate that our focus should be on the scheduling capabilities that our developers could realistically achieve within the limited timeframe. Instead of having many different features that would be too much to handle, we carefully considered each step of the process to ensure our main features were executed effectively.
WORKING WITH DEVELOPERS
I created a shared style and component library in Figma to maintain visual consistency and speed up development. Alongside this, I provided interactive prototypes with clear specs—covering spacing, states, and behaviors—to reduce back-and-forth and ensure smooth handoff between design and engineering.
Final Product
USER ONBOARDING
Start your production by uploading your script, naming the production, and selecting date ranges. Then, add cast and crew members with assigned roles and contact information to build your project foundation.
SCRIPT PARSING / BREAKDOWN
The script breakdown feature automatically summarizes key elements—such as scenes, characters, and locations—enabling users to extract critical information at a glance without needing to manually review the entire script.
ACTOR AVAILABILITY
We developed a centralized availability input system for actors to share scheduling preferences and constraints. This data integrates directly with the scheduler, reducing manual coordination and ensuring efficient, conflict-free planning.
AUTOMATED SCHEDULING
Our scheduling system streamlines production logistics by offering a clear, calendar-based interface. Users can track cast and crew availability, make updates in real time, and view daily, weekly, or monthly schedules. The system also includes weather forecasts to help anticipate and mitigate delays.
DEMO VIDEO
Take Aways
WHAT I LEARNED
I learned how to communicate effectively with a product client — clearly presenting design decisions, incorporating feedback, and aligning user needs with business goals.
Working closely with developers, I gained practical experience delivering clear specs, anticipating technical needs, and adapting designs based on real-world constraints.
Through this project, I developed the confidence and collaboration skills needed to thrive in a cross-functional team. I’m now fully prepared to contribute as a designer in a professional setting.