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Filmwell

Analog colour science, in your pocket.

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Overall UXE Score

7.30

14 jurors · −0.9 vs season average

Filmwell photo editing screens with a sunset landscape and film presets
Recognition
Featured
Recognized
29 Jan 2026
Season
Quarter 1, 2026
Studio
Kodo Studio, Seoul
Categories
Mobile Experience · Consumer · Interaction Design
Platforms
iOS

01/Overview

A photo editor built around film stocks instead of sliders first, with a histogram that stays out of the way.

Filmwell starts with a choice of film stock — Portra, Ektar, Tri-X — and only then offers sliders. Each stock is profiled from real scanned negatives.

Photos are organised into “rolls” of 36 frames, which gently encourages people to shoot and edit with intention.

Client
In-house product
Audience
Hobbyist photographers who love the look of film
Industry
Creative Tools
Platforms
iOS
Status
Live since November 2025
Markets
Worldwide
Languages
3 — English, Korean, Japanese

02/Honors

Recognized by the editors.

Recognition

Featured

Meets the UXE standard. Earns a public profile, a badge and a place in the quarterly awards.

Conferred by the editors on 29 Jan 2026 · minimum UXE 7.0

Awards · Quarter 1, 2026

Season results

Results announced 15 Apr 2026 by the category juries.

03/Jury verdict

In the jury’s words.

“Filmwell gives beginners a point of view before it gives them tools. The film-first model is a genuinely fresh idea.”

Tomasz Wójcik

Motion Design Lead, Kadr Studio · Poland

On behalf of 14 jurors

04/Score breakdown

How the jury scored it.

Overall UXE Score−0.9 vs Q1 2026 average
7.30
Strongest criterionUI & Consistency
8.2
Jury agreementaverage spread ±0.40
Moderate
Jurorsof Q1 2026’s panel
14
UsabilityIAUIInteractionPerformanceA11yLearnability
UXE Fingerprint · scale 5–10 from center
CriterionScorevs avg

  1. Usability

    Can people complete what they came to do — efficiently, confidently and without error?

    7.4−0.9

  2. Information Architecture

    Is content organized, labeled and navigable in the way people actually think?

    7.1−1.0

  3. UI & Consistency

    Is the visual language coherent and purposeful across every screen and state?

    Jury noteA beautiful, coherent darkroom aesthetic.

    8.2−0.6

  4. Interaction & Feedback

    Does every action respond clearly, promptly and meaningfully?

    7.6−0.9

  5. Performance

    Does it feel fast — perceived and measured — on real devices and networks?

    Jury noteExports and cold starts lag on older phones.

    7.0−0.8

  6. Accessibility

    Can everyone use it, including people relying on assistive technology?

    Jury noteThe editor is largely unusable with larger text sizes and the histogram is silent.

    6.6−1.2

  7. Learnability

    How quickly does a first-time user become a confident one?

    7.2−1.0

Scores are the mean of 14 jurors. Ticks mark the Q1 2026 average across 4 recognized projects.

05/The jury

14 ballots

Every vote, on the record.

Each juror scored Filmwell independently, from 1 to 10 on every criterion. Nothing is weighted by seniority and no score is discarded — the published result is simply their mean.

Score distributionJury agreement moderate · highest single score 8.9 (UI & Consistency)

One juror Jury mean

Individual jury votes for Filmwell, highest overall first
JurorUsabIAUIInterPerfA11yLearnOverall
Yusuf DemirProduct Design Manager, Kuzey Labs · TR7.47.68.67.77.37.67.77.70
Camille RouxCreative Director, Atelier Nuit · FR7.67.58.28.07.57.07.97.67
Jonas LindDesign Engineer, Fjordline Systems · SE7.97.48.38.67.46.87.27.66
Min-jun ChoDesign Lead, Seoul Form · KR7.17.58.97.87.67.37.37.64
Mateo ÁlvarezInteraction Designer, Lumbre · MX7.67.98.57.97.16.27.37.50
Ana CostaInclusive Design Researcher, Maré Digital · PT7.37.38.27.97.36.87.17.41
Priya RamanHead of Product Design, Tessera Cloud · IN7.56.68.47.47.26.77.27.29
Ravi MenonWeb Performance Engineer, Quickline · SG7.46.47.97.86.47.07.67.21
Freya HolmPrincipal Researcher, Salt Research · DK7.36.97.97.86.86.47.37.20
Zara HassanHead of UX, Sahel Pay · AE7.26.98.57.06.76.57.17.13
Lea FischerDesign Systems Lead, Kanton Group · CH7.67.08.27.36.76.06.67.06
Hana NovákováStaff Product Designer, Brno Works · CZ7.47.08.27.16.55.87.27.03
Tomasz WójcikVerdictMotion Design Lead, Kadr Studio · PL6.86.77.27.27.16.36.76.86
Lukas BrennerPrincipal Product Designer, Feldwerk · DE7.56.77.86.96.46.06.66.84
Jury mean7.47.18.27.67.06.67.27.30
Spread (σ)±0.25±0.42±0.40±0.45±0.40±0.50±0.37±0.29

marks each juror’s area of expertise. Deeper tint, higher score.

  1. 01

    Submitted

    5 Jan

    Entry received, free of charge

  2. 02

    Jury scoring

    10 Jan – 27 Jan

    14 independent ballots

  3. 03

    Recognized

    29 Jan 2026

    Featured

  4. 04

    Awards

    15 Apr 2026

    Nominee · Mobile Experience

06/Screens

2 screens

The product, screen by screen.

Editor with a landscape photo and exposure, contrast, warmth and grain sliders
01Editor
Roll view showing a grid of edited frames
02Rolls

07/Case study

From problem to proof.

The challenge

Mobile editors overwhelm beginners with 30 sliders and flatten photos into the same filtered look.

The approach

Kodo Studio put the film stock first and sliders second, so every edit starts from a coherent look.

Research

  • Photographer interviews

    26 hobbyists and 6 film lab technicians

  • Colour profiling

    1,400 scanned negatives across 9 stocks

Key insights

  1. 01

    Beginners want a starting point, not a toolbox.

  2. 02

    A roll of 36 makes people more deliberate.

Outcomes

  • 71%

    Edits started from a stock

    vs. from sliders

  • 4.5

    App Store rating

    900 reviews

Outcomes are reported by the submitting team and reviewed by the jury.

08/Accessibility & performance

Built for everyone, on any device.

Accessibility

Partial WCAG 2.1 AA

Audited by In-house audit, October 2025

6.6

Jury

  • Sliders support VoiceOver adjustable actions
  • Film stocks are named, not only previewed

Known gaps

  • Histogram is not exposed to assistive technology
  • Dark UI with low-contrast secondary labels
  • No Dynamic Type support in the editor

Performance

2 of 4 within budget

iPhone 12, median of 30 runs

7.0

Jury

Performance metrics against budget
MetricMeasuredBudget
Cold start1.6 s (over budget)≤ 1.0 s
Preview render90 ms (within budget)≤ 100 ms
Full-res export (24 MP)2.6 s (over budget)≤ 2.0 s
Install size96 MB (within budget)≤ 100 MB

Within budget Over budget

09/Design system

Emulsion, the system behind Filmwell.

System
Emulsion
Components
30
Design tokens
76

Color

  • #141414

    Darkroom

  • #F2C94C

    Gold

  • #F29E7A

    Peach

  • #4C2F43

    Plum

  • #F1EFE9

    Paper

Typography

  • Space Grotesk

    Interface

    Google Fonts

UX patterns

  • Presets
  • Sliders
  • Before/after
  • Collections
  • Dark mode

10/Credits

The people who made it.

Studio

Kodo Studio

Seoul, South Korea

Photographers and engineers building creative tools with an analogue soul.

Founded
2020
Team
1–10
Recognized
1
kodo.example

Team

  • Park Ji-wooFounder & Designer
  • Lee Seo-yeonColour Scientist
  • Kim Do-hyuniOS Engineer
Client
In-house product
Industry
—

Built with

  • Swift
  • Metal
  • Core Image
  • Figma

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