Designing Real Apps for Real Emotions

For Cites Barcelona — produced by Filmax with the participation of TV3 and Amazon Prime Video, and based on the original series created by Pau Freixas — we developed fully interactive screen graphics executed live on set. No overlays. No post-production simulations. Every swipe, match and notification was real.

This approach allows actors to perform with real digital feedback, not imagined interaction. When the screen responds in real time, so does the performance.

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Official Tinder Replication

For this production, Tinder granted official permission to replicate the app.

Working with a real-world brand required precision not only in design, but in behavior: authentic UI structure, exact transition animations, accurate swipe mechanics, and fully brand-consistent visual and interaction behavior.

When the audience sees a familiar app, it must feel indistinguishable from their daily experience. Anything less breaks credibility — and in romantic drama, credibility is everything.

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Opening a Season With a Swipe

The first episode of Cites Barcelona opens with a screen.

Alone at a New Year's Eve party in a hotel, the character portrayed by Clara Lago scrolls through Tinder — swipe after swipe — until she matches with the character played by Carlos Cuevas. No dialogue. Just a thumb gesture.

The season begins before two people have ever looked each other in the eyes.

Because every interaction was fully functional on set, actors could establish their own digital rhythm — without relying on post-production to reconstruct it. The tempo of the swipe defined the tempo of the scene.

Opening a season with a screen is both a privilege and a responsibility.

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Interactive Screens as Performance Tools

All interfaces were interactive and fully functional during shooting: Tinder profiles and match flows, messaging threads, calls, social media environments and a location tracking app.

Interactions were designed to sustain real dramatic beats — up to 30 seconds of continuous digital action — without forcing actors into unnatural pauses or artificial timing.

In romantic storytelling, digital timing equals emotional timing. Actors do not react to simulations. They react to real feedback.

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When Location Becomes Drama

Among the interfaces developed for the production was a custom "find my phone" location tracking app. The design had to communicate real-time positioning with the visual grammar of a genuine system — familiar enough to read instantly, yet specific enough to carry narrative weight.

Knowing where someone is — or where they claim to be — carries specific emotional weight in contemporary relationships. The interface had to earn that weight.

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A Clean, Cosmopolitan Aesthetic

With Cites Barcelona, the series moved toward a more international identity — less locally coded, more globally legible. Screen design was optimized for cross-market readability, ensuring interfaces felt immediately familiar to a global audience while maintaining narrative authenticity.

The screens were never meant to dominate the frame. They were meant to disappear into the narrative and support performance.

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Invisible but Essential

In thrillers or crime dramas, the screen commands attention. Here, the objective was the opposite: to design interfaces so credible they become invisible — never eclipsing the chemistry between characters, always serving it.

The audience must believe that these characters live in the same digital ecosystem they do. In contemporary romance, the first spark of a relationship is often a swipe.

Our role was to ensure that the digital world felt as authentic as the emotional one.