UX Designer (Contract)

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

Santa Monica Studio is seeking a talented UX Designer to help us build a new unannounced title!

In this role, you will collaborate with engineers, artists, and designers to prototype, develop, and implement the User Experience via 2D UI. You will take direction from the Lead UI/UX Designer as well as both Game and Design Directors and you will validate the player experience through learnings from playtests and feedback from the team in pursuit of creating the most engaging player experience possible.

The ideal candidate has proven design sense, attention to detail, and a general level of technical expertise, along with a strong understanding of accessibility as a core fundamental of the player experience. You take direction well while also offering feedback in a structured and considerate manner, are eager to learn, and are passionately motivated to push the boundaries of the player experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and prototype elegant, accessible, and intuitive UI/UX structure and flow, utilizing grey-boxing, wire-framing and other prototyping techniques
• Support and supplement the creative vision of the Lead UI/UX Designer as well as the Design, Art, and Game Directors to achieve clarity and visual quality within technical constraints
• Ensure information is conveyed to the player clearly and accessibly, and in keeping with the visual style and context of the game - in addition to a front-end shell and pause menus, this might also include (but is not limited to) health/damage information, player waypoints, objective indications, weapon information, pickups, items, skills, upgrades, and player progression features
• Demonstrate extensive expertise by applying principles, theories & concepts in User Experience and Accessibility design and a general knowledge of related disciplines
• Communicate the high-level vision and creative goals for the User Experience always with Accessibility in mind
• Create and/or integrate assets and test functionality of UI components
• Validate designs through playtests and team feedback and use gathered data to drive iteration
• Test and troubleshoot the functionality of UI components
• Play and analyze many games, and understand a wide variety of approaches to UI and UX
• Partner with the production team to help track incoming assets and deliveries

Requirements

• 2+ years in game development, with at least 1 years in a UX design role
• Fluency with Figma or similar software such as Adobe XD
• Passionate and knowledgeable about accessible UI and UX design and able to generate and convey the vision for the User Experience
• Knowledge of industry trends, emerging technologies, advancements in User Experience and Accessibility Design, and the ability to apply them creatively in game
• Constantly seek to validate UX design and improve the experience through iteration
• Good communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills
• Possess strong time management and prioritization skills

Preferred Experience

• Experience with Photoshop and Illustrator is a plus
• Prior experience designing Accessible User Experience features for video games is preferred
• Recent console title shipped in UI or UX Design role is preferred
• 2D illustration or graphic design skills are a big plus
• Experience with a visual or text-based scripting language and the ability to implement UI a plus

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Last updated on Aug 28, 2024