Epic Games Launcher
Desktop App Re-Design
A redesign of the current information structure of the Epic Games Launcher.
The Challenge
Epic Games is a company that boasts the creation of Fortnite, and also provides a platform that allows users to purchase/play a great number of games. Hundreds of thousands of people use this platform on a daily basis, so information hierarchy and user options are extremely important in the designs. Allowing users to access what they need, in the most efficient way, is essential and can easily elevate the user's experience. For this case study, I examined the current Epic Games Launcher to see if I could make improvements in user flow, information hierarchy, and general user experience.
Role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Tools
Adobe XD
Timeframe
7 Days
Hearing From The Users
The first step I took when starting this project was to analyze the task flows in the existing system, and it seemed as if users could navigate through the task fairly easily. There are options given to the user that don’t necessarily require them to jump through many hoops to accomplish their goal. While this is the case, I wanted to see if the actions and pages needed to complete the task were accessible and intuitive for users. In order to do this, I Interviewed 5 people that actively used the Epic Games Launcher on a regular basis.
What I discovered from these interviews was that users:
Want to launch the games that they want to play, as soon as possible
Need a more obvious way to sort through different categories of available games in the shop (Most popular, genre, price, etc)
Want more clarity of detail (what games their friends are playing, if they're almost done with a game, etc) and more options out of their friends list (join party, invite to party, and spectate
The User
I found that while all of my users expressed that their primary goal is to start their games right away, there were some users that liked to explore the shop more often than others. These users liked to browse through new games they could buy, while the others were more focused on playing 1-2 games intensely and only occasionally looked for new games. Due to this minor difference, I decided to create two personas to represent the users I interviewed.
Discovering The Flow
In order to see which areas of the launcher might benefit from an improvement of flow, I created a task flow chart. The task was to simply open the Epic Games Launcher and choose a game to play. Although the task was simple, it was also the most important to dissect, and a flow chart would allow me to consider every possible step users would take to accomplish it. This would ultimately help me to pin-point any areas that could be improved.
Improving The Flow
Now that I knew what my users needed, I re-visited the user/task flow I had mapped out to pick specific areas I could improve. I knew that the overall flow was good, but that certain screens and actions needed to be made easier. Shown below are the areas I focused on changing to create smoother usability
Library As The Home Screen
Turned the home page into the library page in order to give users a faster and clearer way to start their games
The most played game is provided upon launch, and the list of all their games are provided on the right hand side of the screen
Adjusted Information Hierarchy (Store)
Added promotions (sales and free games) to the top of the screen for users to notice quickly
Users can sort through game categories with filter option next to the search bar:
Reviews
Prices
Game genres
Friend's List
Users given more details on friend’s activity (what game they're playing and what their current progress is)
Users can now join their friend's party (if they also own the game) and spectate the game their friend is in (if they also own the game)
Next Steps
Testing the new designs was successful in terms of usability, and the most noticeable positive feedback was with the added features to the friend's list. Many users expressed that they enjoyed the added details and capabilities.
One user took a few seconds to recognize the library was the home page, which may be due to how only one game is fully shown at a time. It may be beneficial to incorporate more of a list view like the original design, but because only one person had slight issues, I would test with more users before making changes.
Continue to conduct usability tests for library as home page recognition
Test and conduct research for benefits/detriments of having the library as the home page (in terms of business)
Continue research and testing to determine which categories of games in the shop, and friends list features, are most desired
Through this case study I was able to recognize the true weight of information hierarchy, and clarity of features. While it's important to include options and great capabilities for users, the way it's presented and how humans interact with screens is incredibly important. Presenting information a bit differently and moving elements around can make a big impact, and simple solutions can yield great results.