Introduction

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 - because yes, it is a real job. 

What Do I Know? 

As mentioned above, I have had very little experience with UI design. I mainly worked with it during the final year of my degree when I had to make a game. I created: 

health bar (player and enemy) 

collectable counter 

skill wheel 

main menu 

main menu (controls) 

pause menu 

game over 

I have previous experience with freelance graphic design which really helped this project. My background knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator was ideal for helping me to create UI and will definitely be a good base for future projects. 

What I Will Be Studying? 

I am hoping to learn the basics as well as challenging some existing ideas on UI.
I would like to: 

- research existing types of UI and how they vary depending on the genre of a game 

- research into design tools and software used in industry 

- explore how to develop my own workflow and method when making UI 

- understand how good design directly affects usability and accessibility  

- experiment with styles, themes and colours 

- challenge current issues in UI design and research improvements in these areas