Compendium of the Stars

November 2023

This personal project addressed the potential for a more robust experience in the existing Assistant App for No Man's Sky.

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The title "Compendium of the Stars" reflects the data libraries generated from crafting equipment, exploring galaxies and cataloguing planets and life; these are fundamental pursuits in the space-themed survival game. I critiqued the flaws of the existing app and attempted to reforge its resourceful tools, while focusing on establishing more fluent user journeys and a stronger user interface.

Role

Designer

Team

Individual

Duration

1 month

The problem

The existing app lacks fluent journeys, clear navigation and an impactful UI.

The existing app hosts many valuable tools and guidance systems, however navigating to these while hidden within a hamburger menu can be laborious. The crafting trees and guide articles can be information-heavy and the type hierarchy and layouts can be confusing. User experience aside, the interface also doesn't reflect or honour the stunning graphical quality of the game.

The solution

The effortless usability of the game should be prevalent in the app.

  • Bring the essence of the game into the app with graphical assets and add life to the crafting materials; a core objective in the game
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  • Make the multi-layered crafting trees more comprehendible
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  • Enhance the guide articles with an effective type hierarchy and clear step-by-step navigation
The solution

The effortless usability of the game should be prevalent in the app.

  • Bring the essence of the game into the app with graphical assets and add life to the crafting materials; a core objective in the game
    ‍
  • Make the multi-layered crafting trees more comprehendible
    ‍
  • Enhance the guide articles with an effective type hierarchy and clear step-by-step navigation
Highlights

Three major UX solutions.

I have brought into the spotlight, a few of the strongest remedies to the app's existing user experience issues. They directly address the usability flaws of difficult navigation and poor data assimilation.

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Highlights

Three major UX solutions.

I have brought into the spotlight, a few of the strongest remedies to the app's existing user experience issues. They directly address the usability flaws of difficult navigation and poor data assimilation.

No items found.
Introducing

Compendium of the Stars

Navigation

Instant access to the latest content

Vital features should not be hidden inside a hamburger menu. Now, the Home screen hosts a feed of Saved Items that are regularly used in-game, and the latest News and Guides to stay in-the-know.

The introduction of the nav tray further extends effortless navigation, as the most important tools are always visible - with the exception of viewing a user guide or catalogue item, so the user can focus on these data-heavy screens while playing.

iPhone frameAn iPhone screen depicting a key feature of the solution.
iPhone frameAn iPhone screen depicting a key feature of the solution.
User guides

Articles with structure

User guides must offer a seamless and engaging experience, which was lacking in the existing app due to inconsistent headings and virtually no navigation.

Now, the article flow is more natural and informative. Sectional summaries ensure the article is easy to digest, allowing users to pick up where they left off for those particularly lengthy endeavours.

Take a peek

I'm proud of my Figma files; I keep my layers, components and styles super tidy for designers and developers to get stuck in.

View project

Get hands-on

Explore the interactive prototype and navigate all of the important functions and user journeys outlined in this case study.

Open prototype

Explore my FigJam flows

Check out the user flow charts that form the journeys outlined in this project.

Open FigJam

Lessons

Experimented with a variety of content types

This project granted a diverse approach to the problem, as I could explore how to strategically balance a wide array of content; articles, products, data feeds and calculators.

Explored complex data handling

Item crafting was the most intricate feature, requiring a strong solution to demystify an item's key details, craft trees and connected items - an invaluable exercise that taught me a lot.

Reflections

Figma's powerful variables tool has so much more to offer

As much as I made good use of variables for colours, spacing and borders, incorporating string variables for font family, font size, grids etc would make it even stronger. It is important to me that my files are as efficient as they can be, and this is something I am learning to implement for the future.

Time restrictions denied the insight of real user feedback

As this was a personal project revolving around my full-time work, time to explore its full potential were limited. However, I would have enjoyed sharing a prototype with real users to relay valid pain points and improvements into the product.

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