An immersive UX for an immersive cinematic experience

The RAM Film Society, an initiative dedicated to transforming traditional cinema experiences through live events, needed a website to effectively showcase its diverse programming. While a landing page was initially prioritized for a single event release, the brand's long-term vision required a more dynamic and scalable web presence.

In addition to creating an extraordinarily fluid and engaging interactive experience, the most profound challenge was the strategic architectural evolution necessitated by a clear, albeit unfolding, understanding of the RAM Film Society's expanding needs from day one. While the initial demand was for a landing page due to the nature of the first event, there was an early acknowledgment and continuous discussion about the brand's trajectory toward a more dynamic and extensive web content system for upcoming events. This was evident in requests to conceptualize future sections like "Partners" and "The Future" during the first iteration's design, and later, direct inquiries about the potential volume of upcoming events to inform a "2.0 iteration" UI. The shift in requirements, therefore, was an anticipated evolution that prompted proactive strategies. For instance, the complex requirement for the dynamic, responsive calendar was a direct outcome of this planned transition from a static display to one capable of showcasing multiple, varied events across weeks. This understanding led to a strategic decision to re-architect the site into a multi-page structure with dedicated event pages and automated content management, specifically aiming to "make it easy to add events in the future," demonstrating a deliberate approach to build scalability from the outset.

To address the growing need for dynamic event display and overall site scalability, a strategic decision was made to evolve the RAM Film Society website from a single landing page to a comprehensive multi-page site. This architectural shift included the development and implementation of a custom solution for the navigation bar's "Calendar" to automatically update with relevant dates and events. The calendar solution involved developing custom code to pull event data, including dates and associated logos, directly from an "Events" collection. This ensured that events were visually highlighted on their respective days within the calendar, and the calendar functionality was designed to work consistently across all pages of the site. For responsiveness, the implementation dictated that while desktop users would see all events scheduled within a week, tablet and mobile users would be presented with a more streamlined view showing only the month and date of the immediately upcoming event, or the current month and day if no events were scheduled for that week. This calendar enhancement was part of a broader strategy to restructure the website, making it simpler to add future events by transitioning to dedicated individual event pages and featuring an "Upcoming Events" section on the homepage, thereby reducing the homepage's overall content.

Our thoughtful approach to UI design and website architecture not only resolved immediate challenges in presenting event information but also strategically positioned the RAM Film Society for future growth. It allowed for a more organized, engaging, and comprehensive presentation of its expanding cinematic events, fostering deeper community engagement.