SIMS 4 FAN UI REDESIGN

Thumnail of Sims 4 Fan UI redesign solo project

Customer UX & UI

Solo Project / 2023 (2 Weeks)

I tasked myself with finding creative ways to create and design new features for the Sims 4 in-game store flow over the course of a couple of weeks.

responsibilities

Wireframing / Hi-Fidelity UI Wires / User Flows / Information Architecture

RETHINKING THE PLAYER'S FLOW

Context

Designing For The Sims 4 Players

While playing The Sims 4, players can explore all the ‘pack’ options the game has to offer. Players can view these content packs to see and purchase all the content they offer.

I tasked myself with finding creative ways to implement new features for The Sims 4 in-game store flow over the course of a couple of weeks. It'd be good practice to work within a game I love and try to imagine some new features while redesigning the UI's layout.

Innovating on Existing Designs

Finding Core Loop and Supporting Design Pillars

I identified that the current designs did not emphasize an aspect of these ‘packs’ that players in the community enjoy: multi-pack storytelling. With this in mind, I redefined the core design goal to cater to that and have every aspect of the design support this idea.

Example of existing Sims 4 bundles provided by Maxis
Example of existing Sims 4 bundles provided by Maxis
Bundles Maxis uses already that mixes compatible gameplay ideas into a bundle
Core-Pillars-Features Mapping

I love beginning ideation with a concept map called a core-pillars-features map. It helps keep all new ideas aligned with the core user need/goal/action.

Core pillars features map to identify new features for the Sims 4 customer experience
Core pillars features map to identify new features for the Sims 4 customer experience
Customer Journey & Flow

From here, I could break out the experience flow into a sitemap. This would show how all the existing and new pages would sit next to each other, and the primary actions users could perform on them.

Information architecture of the proposed customer experience for Packs
Information architecture of the proposed customer experience for Packs
I wanted to focus exclusively on the ‘Packs’ flow for this project

REDESIGNING THE ‘PACKS’ HOME PAGE

Organizing The Content

Creating ‘Collections’

With this view, I wanted to create a new feature called 'Collections.' This group of 3-4 packs would inspire players to find creative ways to mix ‘packs’ to expand gameplay and storytelling possibilities.

Redesigned home page
Redesigned home page
My final design for the new home page
Redesigned home pageOriginal home page
Use the slider to compare my design with the original
Iterations of the home page
Iterations of the home page
My lo-fi and hi-fi iterations of the home page

REDESIGNING THE DETAIL PAGE

Organizing The Content

Adding More Content

I wanted to emphasize the added simulation aspects of each pack on this page. I brought in the existing content from places like the EA store and the EA website to showcase how owning this specific pack would enhance your gameplay experience.

I also wanted to leverage the fantastic Sims 4 community here and showcase a community element that primarily features items in the selected pack. This would help players get tangible ideas of what they could do with this pack on the same screen to complete their purchase.

Redesigned pack detail page
Redesigned pack detail page
My final design for the new Pack detail page
Redesigned pack detail pageOriginal Pack detail page
Use the slider to compare my design with the original
Iterations of the detail page
Iterations of the detail page
My lo-fi and hi-fi iterations of the pack detail page

CREATING THE BUNDLE & SAVE PAGE

Organizing The Content

Defining This page

I thought it would be nice to have the bundling feature built into the game experience. The main goal was to take notes from the EA app experience and translate them to my redesign system. This way, players would have a familiar framework to use when seeing this content in-game.

Redesigned bundle & save
Redesigned bundle & save
My final design for the new Pack detail page
Redesigned bundle & saveOriginal Bundle & Save
Use the slider to compare my design with the original

REFLECTING ON THIS PROJECT

Going Forward

Building On This Project

I would love to continue this project by further building the collection pages and finalizing the ‘packs’ flow. I’ve been designing them and only have some rough designs for now, but I’d love to share them anyway!

Taking this to the other areas I greyed out in the player flow could also be fun.

Progress of the collections view
Progress of the collections view
Some of the rough progress I have on the new collections view
Learnings

This project was great fun! Reaffirming my Hi-Fi UI design skills and flexing my UX knowledge when defining customer experiences was nice. Mixing this with the game design knowledge I have was very rewarding.