Case Studies
Alamo Drafthouse
High-Volume Ticketing Redesign
Overhauled the ticketing and checkout experience for the national cinema chain following strain from blockbuster releases (e.g., Star Wars).
Directed UX strategy, accessibility audits, and front-end refactor to streamline purchasing and maximize theater capacity.
Successfully handled record-breaking ticket sales without downtime, significantly improving customer experience and revenue.
A Force to Reckon With
After recovering from a massive onslaught of Star Wars ticket sales that strained the user experience of online sales, Alamo Drafthouse knew they’d need to bring in some hired guns for the following year’s release of the next chapter in galactic perils. While I may not be of Mandalorian descent and my MacBooks surely aren’t coated in Beskar, my battle-hardened experience in user interface design and development was up to the task of assisting the famed movie theater chain.
With just shy of a year to implement new tech strategies, Alamo Drafthouse and my team worked closely in a rapid development process to quickly release small improvements that could better user experiences and test new concepts. My primary battleground was the ticketing and checkout process, which involved enhancing and streamlining user flows, creating new sales opportunities, and developing a logic system and ruleset for booking advanced tickets while ensuring maximum theater capacity.
Flash-forward to just hours before Disney turned the key to release their newest Star Wars, both Chalk and Drafthouse teams patiently waited, double-checking code, reaffirming endless quality assurance checks, and nervously reassuring each other that hundreds of hours of painstaking work has built a front-line capable of withstanding the masses of earthlings barreling toward us in numbers our systems have never seen.
Success. It required a year of effort, but the return on investment paid off in one pivotal day in the history of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. The front-end refactor of Drafthouse.com withstood demand like a champ, ticket sales smoothly filed through, and Star Wars fandom was spared disappointment. The experience was rewarding from various perspectives: design, engineering, and watching a partner we loved working with succeed in an unprecedented way. While the battle had been victorious, improving the experience of Drafthouse.com had just begun. ◼️
To those I hope to build with next:
I’ve spent my career building, from designing as an individual contributor to leading startups through fundraising and product-market fit. Today, I’m seeking new opportunities to grow, collaborate, and learn from others while bringing my experience and commitment to creating impactful products. Let’s make something great together.
Respectfully,
Matt “Charpie” Charpentier