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About the client: RISE AND SHINE CINEMA is a German film distributor specializing in award-winning documentaries, releasing an average of four films per year. Founded in 2015, the company is the German distribution arm of RISE AND SHINE WORLD SALES, an international film sales agency established in 2008.

Goal

RISE AND SHINE CINEMA distributes acclaimed documentaries reaching German audiences – but their website, the first point of contact for press, cinema programmers, and curious viewers – failed to represent the quality of their products adequately. Incoherent UI and aesthetic, in combination with a lack of system integrity lead to an unsatisfying, sometimes even frustrating user experience, that undermined the company’s credibility massively.

This project was a full rebuild: new information architecture, new design system, and several custom-coded solutions provide a seamless user experience now, aligned with RISE AND SHINE CINEMA’s brand and business needs.

Problem Analysis & Key UX Insights

The discovery phase was grounded in a hands-on website audit with a member of the internal team, who regularly works with the existing website. Together, we went through the site systematically, documenting pain points as we encountered them across each section: homepage, film pages, navigation, and so on. This produced a raw inventory of issues tied to specific locations on the site, which was then reorganized thematically – revealing three recurring problem clusters: information architecture, visual design, and system integrity. These insights formed the foundation for the redesign strategy.

Aspect	Key Issues	Impact
Information Architecture	Inconsistently duplicated content, fragmented structure, non-intuitive menu	Difficult content discovery, high cognitive load, maintenance overhead
Visual Design	Inconsistent UI patterns, weak hierarchy, outdated aesthetics, scroll-heavy pages, dysfunctional media elements	Reduced trust, poor scannability, interrupted content consumption weak brand perception
System Integrity	Dead links, broken video playback	Breaks user flows, reduces perceived reliability

Design Approach

Given the scale of structural issues identified during the analysis, an incremental redesign was not considered viable. Instead, I rebuilt the website from the ground up in a staging environment.

The project was developed iteratively with the client’s internal contact, who reviewed structural and design decisions throughout the process rather than only at handover. This running feedback loop surfaced concerns early and confirmed before launch that the new structure matched how the team actually thought about and used the site.

Redesign

Information Architecture & Navigation

The previous website contained inconsistent duplicate pages, which meant that many films were represented by two separate pages with different content and designs. This was because the categories (KINO and VOD/DVD) were treated as different datasets rather than filters.

This not only confused visitors navigating between sections, but created a significant maintenance burden for internal staff, who had to update each duplicate separately.

Consolidating everything into a single dedicated page per film resolved both problems: a cleaner experience for visitors, and a more efficient maintenance system for the team.

I reduced navigation to 3 items (KINO, STREAM, and ABOUT) because the audit revealed users had to click through 6 options with no clear mental model separating them.

The two categories: KINO and STREAM, allow the films to be presented within a clear, filterable overview. I moved recurring actions and information (newsletter subscription, contact details, privacy policy, imprint and social media links) into a persistent footer available throughout the site, since they need to be easily accesible but shouldn’t take up to much attention in the UI.

-> Redesign: newsletter subscription, contact details, privacy policy, imprint and social media links moved to footer

Visual Design

Homepage

The modernized homepages first impression is set by a hero section presenting high-resolution film stills within a dynamic slideshow to create an emotional connection to the sites content.

Dedicated preview sections (KOMMENDE FILME, FILME ZUM STREAMEN) guide visitors toward the two core categories (KINO and STREAM), inviting users into the catalogue.

The featured section (DERZEIT IM KINO) highlights the film currently in cinemas, reinforcing the company’s offline presence – an important signal given that cinema releases remain central to their business model alongside streaming.

Category Overviews

Less is more

The old website contained 3 category overviews to filter content pages: Kino – containing all films, VOD (video on demand / stream) and DVD (for films availiable on DVD).

I removed the DVD section completely because the audit revealed that the company was not generating meaningful direct revenue from DVD sales through the site, making the section an outdated remnant that added structural complexity without business value. Its removal simplifies both the navigation structure and the overall content architecture.

Film stills vs. posters as preview cards

An early debate during the project concerned the visual treatment of film preview cards.

My initial proposal was to use film stills rather than posters – a choice grounded in competitor research across the film distribution landscape with similar target groups. A review of comparable international companies (Modern Films, MUBI, Constantin, Pandora, A24 and Arthaus) revealed a consistent pattern: distribution and production companies use film stills to preview their titles editorially to sell screening rights to cinemas and streaming platforms, while cinemas – whose role is ticket sales – lean on posters. That is why, in my opinion, film stills feel more in line with the aesthetic language of an arthouse audience. The management team disagreed, arguing that consistent poster display would strengthen the individual branding of each film.

The compromise I proposed resolved both positions: film posters are used on the KINO category overview (targeting cinema programmers), while film stills appear in the STREAM section (targeting end consumers). Beyond settling the aesthetic debate, this distinction also serves a wayfinding function – giving users a clear visual signal about which section they’re browsing.

To implement this in WordPress, I wrote a PHP script that automatically pulls the poster from each film page and uses it as the section-specific preview image, keeping the system low-maintenance while supporting two visually distinct category experiences.

Streaming links supporting sales

During one of the design iterations, my contact at the company and I landed on an idea: rather than having the STREAM overview mirror the KINO section with a different filter, its preview cards could link directly to the respective streaming platform instead of to the film’s internal page. This reduces the steps between discovery and viewing, and gives STREAM a distinct purpose – where KINO works as a catalogue, STREAM becomes a direct gateway to watching.

For this I inserted a custom field to the film page template: when a film is marked as streamable in the CMS, the field is added automatically to store the external link. A PHP script then reads it and assigns it as the destination for that film’s preview card in the STREAM overview, routing users straight to the platform rather than back into the site.

The client was particularly appreciative of these custom-coded solutions, which allowed the site to behave in ways the standard CMS setup wouldn’t have supported out of the box.

Film Pages

To create a predictable and user-friendly browsing experience, all film pages use a standardized and consistent layout structure with clear information hierarchy, and on page navigation.

Each film page opens with a film still that immediately communicates the title, visual identity and tone of the film. Key information is presented at the beginning of the page, followed by quick-access navigation links to important sections such as the trailer, screening dates, press kit, and reviews. These shortcuts reduce excessive scrolling and enable visitors to access relevant information more efficiently. To reduce scrolltime further, additional information for the film about world premiere, festivals + awards, cinema release dates and press reviews are summarized in an expandable detail-section after exceeding 3 list-entries (MEHR). Where available, direct links to streaming platforms are integrated into the quick-access navigation, making digital viewing options immediately visible and accessible.

Outcome

The new website, with its intuitive navigation, consistent design and modern aesthetic, invites users to explore the content and mission of RISE AND SHINE CINEMA in an efficient manner. Beyond solving the immediate issues, the new site is both aesthetically future-proof and structurally built to scale with future releases.

The client responded positively not just to the design, but to the process – the iterative collaboration and my effords to onboard the team on the new system. Structurally, the redesign eliminated 30 duplicate film pages, removing a recurring maintenance burden for internal staff. The custom-coded solutions gave the site capabilities beyond standard WordPress, which the client specifically valued.

Two items remain before official launch: the video playback fix, which depends on a change to the client’s video privacy settings, and final data population on the client’s end ahead of connecting the new site to the existing domain.

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