Navigation Revamp

Role

Interaction design, Usability testing, Interactive Prototype

About the Project

Blast’s map revamp started as artwork re-skin. The team took the opportunity to introduce a navigational feature in order to keep up with ever-growing content and features. The goals for map revamp were to increase average play session by updating artwork and to improve content discoverability.

I was responsible for the UX strategy, design validation, wireframe, prototyping, system flowchart and deliverable documentation.

opportunity

I started by getting familiar with Blast's player profiles. I realized the research findings might be outdated. I teamed up with the user research team in defining goals and preparing questionnaires for the player survey.

Designing intuitive navigation demands an in-depth understanding of player mental models. To better understand player expectations, I prepared a card sorting exercise of current game features. The exercise was sent to internal team members and Blast players. Card sorting results were analyzed and shared with the team.

exploration

Wireframes were used to explore layout options and to help prioritize content. I prepared an internal First-click testing to validate wireframe options based on click time and accuracy. With the best performing option determined, UI design began.

System Flow

To facilitate internal design feedbacks, I created a prototype using Proto.io to demonstrate various user flows.

PLAYTESTING

The new map system is altering current player’s navigational habits. How will the current player perceive the change? Are the new UI and interactions meeting player expectations? We took a development build in front of Blast players. The team observed play sessions and noted design issues to be addressed in the next build.

Map navigation prototype video

Interaction Deliverables

lesson learned

Both player profile survey and card sorting study provided insights critical to design decisions. Because of the time restrain, the findings were available in the later design stages. The team was able to iterate based on user validations. However, a better-planned research and development timeline would better streamline the process.