Generate Questions for 2023-09-19: Sola Chang/Blizzard

[nguyen-jenn]

Overview

We need to create a list of questions for our guest speaker Sola Chang attending on 2023-09-19.

Action Items

• Send issue to UI/UX Slack channel and ask UI/UX people to write their questions in the comments.
• Collate the questions into a list of unique questions (non-duplicated questions).
• Send them to the guest speakers within 2 weeks of their talk.

Resources/Instructions

Slack Announcement (edit this)

📣 Mark your Calendars! Sola Chang will be visiting the UI/UX Community of Practice on 2023-09-19!

💻 Topic: Being a UI/UX Designer in Gaming

? Please post your questions in this GitHub issue ⬅️ ⬇️

👤About: Well Met! 👋 I’m Sola, a UI/UX designer at Blizzard who works out of Seattle. I graduated with an English degree, then taught computer science in Korea, while juggling freelance art gigs in between (I have a very colorful background 😂). I’ve been on Hearthstone for almost two years now and have worked on some amazing projects for a range of players across the world and have been loving every moment of it!

👋 LinkedIn

Thank you!
UI/UX CoP co-leads
@ Jennifer Nguyen @ Julia Gab @ Aparna Gopal

• UI/UX Slack Channel
• LinkedIn

Speaker Bio

Well Met! 👋 I’m Sola, a UI/UX designer at Blizzard who works out of Seattle. I graduated with an English degree, then taught computer science in Korea, while juggling freelance art gigs in between (I have a very colorful background 😂). I’ve been on Hearthstone for almost two years now and have worked on some amazing projects for a range of players across the world and have been loving every moment of it!

[Mssunnymuffins]

• Tell me about your career journey
• (If they did other UX) how did you get into UX for games?
• What's your day to day look like?
• What do you design? "Screens" like game menus, setup/"IA" like how the overall flow of the game will go for a player, or aspects of gameplay like how weapons should be swapped - or all? Or none?
• How closely do you work with everyone on the team? Are job titles strict or more fluid/intermingled?
• Do you do initial research? How so? What problem are you doing research on other than "users are bored? How can we solve this with a game?"?
• What programs/tools do you use?
• What are the big differences you've noticed?
• Do you think someone needs a UX portfolio tailored to games? Or is making the transition with web and mobile case studies easy to do?
• Building off that - do you think it'd be easier to start in traditional UX and get a job in gaming UX once you have experience? Or do you have to stay in games?
• How's the job security and frequency in games?
• You don't how to tell me your specific numbers, but generally how does the salary compare to traditional UX? Is there equity?
• Is your work generally company based (do any projects for EA) or project based (work on this game and when the games done find a new job)?
• (If they've done both) Which type of UX do you prefer? Why?
• Learning materials you'd recommend specifically for gaming UX and UI?
• Do you have any ideas for entry level projects? For example, traditional UX recommends hackathons or volunteering with civic tech orgs.

[Aparna1Gopal]

Questions

• We understand you are going to be Jennifer's (our UI/UX Co-Lead's) peer/colleague at her Graduate school program. How do you see this Graduate program further enhancing your skills & profile as a UX Designer? Since you are already in the field & practicing?
• What other recommendations would you have in terms of graduate programs, certificates, bootcamps for a Ux'er to upskill in Games UX Design?
• What tips & recommendations do you have for effectively & efficiently cross-collaborating with your team? What specialities/domains does your team comprise of? - How does a game design org & team differ from an org/team in a different tech domain? Are there substantial differences & what recommendations do you have for someone looking to make this switch?

[nguyen-jenn]

Career Journey

• Tell me about your career journey
• (If they did other UX) how did you get into UX for games?

Working as UX Designer in Gaming

• What's your day to day look like?
• What do you design? "Screens" like game menus, setup/"IA" like how the overall flow of the game will go for a player, or aspects of gameplay like how weapons should be swapped - or all? Or none?
• Do you do initial research? How so? What problem are you doing research on other than "users are bored? How can we solve this with a game?"?
• What programs/tools do you use?
• How closely do you work with everyone on the team? What tips & recommendations do you have for effectively & efficiently cross-collaborating with your team?
• Are job titles strict or more fluid/intermingled? What specialities/domains does your team comprise of?
• How does a game design org & team differ from an org/team in a different tech domain? Are there substantial differences & what recommendations do you have for someone looking to make this switch?

Tips to becoming a UX Designer in Gaming

• Do you think someone needs a UX portfolio tailored to games? Or is making the transition with web and mobile case studies easy to do?
• Building off that - do you think it'd be easier to start in traditional UX and get a job in gaming UX once you have experience? Or do you have to stay in games?
• Do you have any ideas for entry level projects? For example, traditional UX recommends hackathons or volunteering with civic tech orgs.
• What other recommendations would you have in terms of graduate programs, certificates, bootcamps for a Ux'er to upskill in Games UX Design?
• Learning materials you'd recommend specifically for gaming UX and UI?

Considering a Career in Gaming

• How's the job security and frequency in games?
• You don't how to tell me your specific numbers, but generally how does the salary compare to traditional UX? Is there equity?
• Is your work generally company based (do any projects for Blizzard) or project based (work on this game and when the games done find a new job)? (If they've done both) Which type of UX do you prefer? Why?

Misc

• We understand you are going to be Jennifer's (our UI/UX Co-Lead's) peer/colleague at her Graduate school program. How do you see this Graduate program further enhancing your skills & profile as a UX Designer? Since you are already in the field & practicing?

[stephaniehua]

Sola's educational background and diverse career experiences are very inspiring. As a finance person who is trying to pivot into UX/UI design, I find it daunting to make such a drastic change. What inspired Sola to go from getting an English major, to teaching comp sci, to ultimately pivoting into UX/UI design?

Is there any advice she could give in terms of pivoting into a completely new career?

How did she hone her design skills and gain the proficiency to land a UX/UI design role without having prior experience?

What does she think about the current landscape of UX/UI and where it's headed, especially considering the introduction of AI?

[Aparna1Gopal]

UI/UX Communities & Learning Resources shared by the Speaker

[Aparna1Gopal]

Guest Speaker 2023: Create Consent Docs for Sola C #513

[Aparna1Gopal]

Notes:

• Updated Wiki
• Issue complete & being closed