While you’ve chosen your path as a UX designer, planning your career isn’t limited to picking the job you want. As we note in our article about navigating career roadblocks, you also want to look at industries that sound interesting to you and align with your values and goals. For some people, that’s the gaming industry, where you’ll be a part of producing thrilling and interesting content players will engage with and enjoy.
Because it’s such an attractive industry, getting a job as a UX designer can be challenging. You’ll want to prepare yourself thoroughly to stand out from the competition. To help with this, read on for a guide on how to start your gaming industry career as a UX designer.
Build UX design skills for game development
You may already have the essential skills of a UX designer, such as the ability to prototype, conduct usability testing, and manipulate information architecture. The gaming industry, however, demands specialized competencies like utilizing visual scripting tools or enhancing game UI elements. For this reason, you may wish to upskill your capabilities with a training program that helps you learn and attain the most in-demand UX skills for the gaming industry.
This will give you access to expert-led immersives that can better pinpoint your research and design toward gamers and increase your flexibility to create rich gaming apps. The best programs can even connect you with global alumni networks, so you can get relevant and diverse advice to further your UX design career in gaming. Develop your skills to become a better UX design candidate for the gaming sector.
Attend gaming events
The more people in the gaming industry who know you as a stellar UX designer, the more opportunities for learning and employment you’ll have. That’s why it’s crucial to attend gaming events. Here, you’ll meet other designers and developers, get a head start on building professional relationships in the industry, and even encounter new, exciting ideas that can help your UX gaming designs in the long run. Try prioritizing game jams in particular, where participants aim to co-create games within a limited period. Attending them can offer great opportunities to show industry stakeholders how well you adapt, invent, and collaborate while manufacturing game designs under pressure.
Care for your body
UX designers spend long hours at their deals and in front of their screens, which can impact the eyes, hands, and overall well-being. As an aspiring UX designer, you can already take measures to care for your body to ensure you can work in your best condition. You’ll be spending a lot of time looking at a monitor, so a pair of blue light glasses can help reduce your exposure to your screen’s blue light. These glasses help block blue-violet light from natural sources such as sunlight and digital sources such as smartphones or computer screens. You can wear a pair of prescription or non-prescription blue light glasses while working on your computer or scrolling on your phone to prevent eye strain and alertness at night, which can reflect poorly on your work. Using frames from top brands like the Ray-ban Clubmaster Optics or the Oakley Holbrook can also add a touch of style to your look.
Aside from eye care, using the proper office equipment can help reduce aches and pains from sitting at your desk. You can experience hand, neck, shoulder, and back pain as a UX designer, so investing in ergonomic office equipment can reduce the strain on your hands and body. Using an ergonomic mouse can prevent soreness in your wrists as you design. Mice like the Protoarc EM11 RGB have a vertical build, which keeps your hand in a more natural handshake-like position, allowing your hand, arm, and wrist to relax even with long-term use. You can stay productive without sacrificing comfort and well-being.
Prepare your portfolio
Breaking into the gaming industry as a UX designer means being ready to showcase your pertinent skills and talents to potential employers. The best way to do that is via your portfolio—a collection of your best UX projects that can demonstrate your expertise. Since you’re aiming to enter the gaming sector, you’ll want to choose projects relevant to the field, such as animating video game characters or creating prototypes of gaming concepts. Additionally, you’ll want to provide insight into your thought processes through case studies. This will enable you to exhibit your storytelling and problem-solving skills as you outline the decisions leading to your final game designs.
Your portfolio could be as simple as a PDF document you send with your application. Most, however, take the form of a website potential employers can interact with more comprehensively. Consider using a sophisticated web creation platform like Wix, which can give you complete design control with an intuitive web canvas and powerful AI text and image tools. That way, you can put your best foot forward as you display your game design abilities.
Apply to video game companies
When you feel like you’re sufficiently equipped to tackle the gaming industry head-on, you should start applying to video game companies. You can create a profile through professional platforms like LinkedIn and respond to job postings from companies offering positions you’re interested in. You can also pitch yourself directly to gaming companies you want to work for. This underlines you as a proactive candidate and can make you stand out from other designers who want to work in gaming.
With passion, dedication, and skill, you’ll surely be able to find a career in the gaming industry as a UX designer. Leverage the above tips to get started and grant yourself an edge.
Kirsten Williams explores the full spectrum of the digital world, covering everything from essential technology guides and gaming industry trends to unique software and specialized hardware. You can find all her posts here.