MA Study into Customisable Game UI

What Makes User Interface Look Good?  To understand what makes UI look good, we must first look at what it is.  Dictionary.com defines user interface (UI) as:  'The interface features through which users interact with the hardware and software of computers and other electronic devices'.  ⁽¹⁾   Medium.com supports this by saying that 'the user interface is the space where interactions between [your] users and the machine occur' .  ⁽²⁾  Medium also states that the key aspect to visual UI design is  Graphical User Interface (GUI). Defined by Dictionary.com as: 'A software interface designed to standardise and simplify the use of computer programs'.   ⁽³⁾  Medium says that designing a GUI is based on the 'screen real estate' : 'What information should the player have on [their] screen? Where? And When?'  ⁽²⁾  There are two methods to answering this: - to keep carefully add information to the screen until it is cleanly occupied enough. - to put all of

Summary  This is a short experiment to test the feasibility of my area of interest and to identify initial areas and sources of research.  I will be finding a game with subjectively poorly designed UI. I will then carry out research as to whether other people find the same issues that I did and ways to improve the issues identified.  I have laid out a week-by-week plan below in order to structure this project properly.  Week 1 - UI Research  To start off this project I will be researching what makes good UI design:  - what works?  - how does it work?  - what doesn't work?  - why is good design important?  Once I have understood these concepts, I can begin to evaluate what makes  poor UI design.  Week 2 - Game Research  I will review games that I have previously played  from a more critical point of view - looking for issues that I found in UI during my time playing them.  I will then research games that wider groups of players have had issues with.  I will then check these against

Who Am I?  Hey, I'm Aiden. I'm 21 years old and I'm from the North West of England.  For as long as I can remember I've loved playing video games, but "that's not a real job", right? Well I thought so too until three years ago... I finished college with no idea what I wanted to do so I decided to look around some universities for inspiration. Three years later and  I've just graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a BA Honours degree in Game Design.  In the last three years I've learnt how to design and blueprint levels, create and texture 3D models, make visual effects and draw characters - all on a variety of software. For my final project I created an entire game myself. This project tested me and forced me out of my comfort zone by making me explore new methods and practices. One of these practices was user interface (UI) design.  I am now studying MA Game Design to learn more about UI so I can follow my dream to create games -