Home Best Practices Components of UX Usability Game Design

For a specific example of UX design in the real world I will show how UX design might work in the real world. The example I will showcase here is game design.

From the perspective of game design, user interface is how the player interacts with the game. For example, in many shooting games the HUD (Heads up Display) shows things like health, ammo, maybe a map, among other things. The user's experience in the game is directly impacted from the user's experience with the HUD. Or perhaps the player interacts with the menu options in the game or on the title screen before even beginning the game. This, and more, is all part of the user interface.

Having a smooth user interface ensure a good user experience.

For a physical product an example of a design might be a gaming controller. The user experience concepts mentioned on this site come into play with how well designed the controller is. Are the buttons located intuitively, does the controller feel good being held in the hands, is it able to be used by both left and right-handed people, and how would people with disabilities be able to handle the controller? These are all questions that should be taken into consideration when designing a controller for the user.
Purple Game Controller

According to GameDesigning.org there are essential qualities or skills that every UX designer should bring to the table.

Collaboration

Collaboration, especially in this example of working in the gaming industry, is crucial for creating good designs that users will enjoy using.

Coding

Knowledge of a few coding languages like Python, HTML, CSS, etc., is good to know and makes the job of a UX designer easier.

Research

Knowing that the user wants will require research and also the collection of a lot of data to make good design decisions.

Speak Visually

Communicating with visuals is important because most people are visual learning. Using kerning, typefaces, and colors effectively will help to communicate with the user.

Put Yourself in the User's Shoes

Understanding the user's preferences is essential in making a good design. One way to do this is by getting feedback from a usability test. There is a page on this website that goes into usability tests in more detail.