Level Up Your Game: Exploring the Advantages of Collaborating with a UI/UX Studio
In a world where the competition for user attention is fiercer than ever, companies must strive to deliver experiences that stand out and captivate their audience. This is where UX and UI design come into play. User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design can make or break a game, from intuitive menus and easy-to-navigate interfaces to stunning visual effects and personalized experiences.
As a key pillar of the digital realm, UX (user experience) refers to a user's overall experience when interacting with a product or service, including how easy it is to use, how enjoyable it is, and how well it meets the user's needs. Conversely, UI (user interface) refers to a product or service's visual design and layout, including how the interface is organized, the placement of buttons and other elements, and the overall look and feel. It focuses on the aesthetics and presentation of the product or service.
Hence, the framework of a product, as opposed to its aesthetics, is what UX and UI designers focus on most in any gaming initiative. UX and UI professionals build the journey a user takes through the gaming environment, from the first look to completing the desired task. Hence, designers come up with or try out different ways to get players from point A to point B in a game in a way that is easy to understand and well-designed.
Considering the pivotal importance of UX and UI design for any game, we will explore the core benefits of partnering with a specialized UX/UI studio and outsourcing your tasks to experts in the field.
Increase Retention & DAU
Without a doubt, we are living in a hyper-competitive market, so user retention and daily active users (DAU) are critical metrics for measuring the success of any game. Achieving optimal results regarding user engagement requires expertise, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of the target audience.
In this pursuit, outsourcing the interface experience and design to a specialized agency can help companies increase user engagement and retention. This is because a specialized UX/UI agency understands the importance of iteration and user feedback in creating a successful game. They are adept at testing and iterating on their designs based on user feedback, ensuring that the game is constantly evolving and improving to meet the needs of its users. Moreover, they are constantly researching and experimenting with new design patterns and techniques to create cutting-edge games that keep users engaged and returning for more.
By providing players with a seamless and engaging experience, good UX can get them hooked to the game and return for more – which is the ultimate objective of any successful game. Outsourcing UX design is an investment in the game’s long-term success and can pay off significantly. It is estimated by Forrester that each $1 invested in UX can result in a return of $100, which is an outstanding ROI of 9,900%.
Deploying Expertise & Innovation
Specialized game UX design agencies offer an exceptional advantage to game developers, as they have a team of experienced designers who stay up-to-date on the latest trends, technologies and best practices in UX design. With a diverse range of clients, they have versatile teams that work on multiple projects across different genres, platforms and markets. Hence, they continually refine their skills, stay on top of emerging technologies and adapt to ever-changing user preferences. This collective know-how and experience enable game UX design agencies to provide clients with top-notch services. In this vein, the UXPA Game UX Summit survey found that 58% of game developers outsource UX design because they lack internal expertise.
There is no denying that well-designed UI animations and iconography may provide a more satisfying and immersive gaming experience for players. However, these aspects require specialized knowledge and abilities that not all individual designers have. Conversely, expert game UX/UI design agencies use a pool of designers with a wide range of experience and expertise to be able to craft these game dimensions.
When creating exceptional user experiences, having a designer or artist with a diverse range of experiences can make a significant difference in the quality of the final product. In specialized UX/UI studios, designers and artists often have a wealth of knowledge and an extensive portfolio of work, allowing them to draw upon various design patterns and techniques to create innovative and effective games.
As a core pillar for excellence, experience also helps them to better understand user needs and pain points, which leads to more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces. With a specialized UX/UI team, businesses can be assured that they are getting top-quality design work from experienced professionals with a proven success track record.
Improving User Experience
Great UX/UI design can improve user satisfaction, engagement, and conversion rates. Outsourcing user experience design to a specialized agency can ensure the user experience is optimized and tailored to meet the target audience's need since they employ user testing and feedback to create products tailored to their target audience's specific needs. Based on these insights, they can help companies understand their users' pain points, preferences, and behaviors and design user interfaces that are intuitive and easy to navigate.
Furthermore, these agencies typically have a tried and tested approach to designing and developing games, which can help to reduce the time it takes to bring it to market. Why does that happen? Well, they have already identified common issues and bottlenecks that can slow down the design process and have implemented solutions to overcome these challenges.
By deploying established processes and workflows, specialized agencies can ensure that each stage of the design process is optimized for efficiency and effectiveness, reducing the risk of delays or unexpected issues arising. Besides, UX/UI agencies typically have access to a range of specialized tools and software that can improve the quality of the design work and speed up the development process.
Deploying Lower Business Risks
Since most professional UX design teams have established procedures, tools, and pipelines to guarantee that projects are completed on time and under budget, outsourcing UX/UI design may helps businesses reduce the risks associated with managing the design process. Most of the time, in-house developers that work on a project for a lengthy period of time may encounter several challenges, such as creativity block and circular thinking. Incorporating ideas and insights from outside sources into a project becomes possible when you bring a new external team with experience in the field!
Hence, outsourcing UX design to a specialized agency can lower the risk of project failure by ensuring the design work is completed on time and within budget. According to a report by the IGDA, 46% of game developers outsource UX design to reduce the risk of project failure.
Integrating Flexibility & Scalability
Outsourcing UX design allows companies to be more flexible and scalable by providing access to a team of designers that can be scaled up or down depending on the project's needs. This can be particularly beneficial for enterprises that experience spikes in demand or require specialized design skills that they may not have in-house. When responding to a global survey conducted by Deloitte in 2022, 57% of businesses cited "the need to cut costs" as the main reason for outsourcing, and 49% also mentioned “access to new capabilities”.
Gaming studios know there will be several shifts in what is expected of UX designers throughout the project. In most cases, needs and priorities rapidly change and shift into new directions, leading to additional needs for novel team members and roles.
If at some time in the future, you need support when you experience a greater workload, a UX/UI outsourcing business may assist you with this and offer you an extra specialist.
Saving Time
According to a report by Adobe, 64% of marketers outsource design work to save time by leveraging the expertise and resources of a specialized agency. Finding a genuinely skilled designer is difficult due to the field's breadth and diversity of specializations. Interaction design, graphic design, user research, prototyping, and typography are all jobs that firms may confront while recruiting UX specialists. Moreover, UX design involves a high degree of technical understanding and software-related abilities, as well as know-how of the gaming industry.
No matter how big or small your company is, you should focus your time and energy on growing and improving it. Working with a specialized team can help reduce the risk of not completing your project on time. After all, the primary goal of UX/UI design is to provide maximum player satisfaction.
Building a team with the required skills and procedures might take years, but outsourcing to an experienced UX team that can offer rapid solutions is often a quicker and more efficient alternative.
Conclusion
To create a truly immersive gaming experience, businesses must not only focus on developing cutting-edge gameplay but also on delivering a seamless user experience. By collaborating with a UI/UX studio, companies can deliver experiences that not only meet but exceed their players’ expectations, setting themselves apart from the competition and securing their place in the market. So why not level up your game and take the leap alongside a team of UX and UI experts?