Boston Globe Game Hub

Games and puzzles posted daily

Project Overview

The Boston Globe has developed a range of classic games, including Sudoku, Word Flowers, The Daily Crossword, Word Row, and the increasingly popular Puzzle Decathlon. The craze for these games has been evident on social media, with many people sharing their attempts.

As a result, The Boston Globe has made it a priority to revamp its popular TBG Games Hub page, which will be the most significant design update since the hub's launch in 2009.

As the UX UI Designer for this project, I was tasked with the challenge of identifying the key factors that contribute to the success of a game hub and using this insight to revamp the hub to meet its essential requirements.

Understanding The Goal & Defining The Problem

The Goal

Define The Problem

Research

Key Takeaways

Principles

Design

High Fidelity

PROJECT TYPE

Solo Design Sprint

ROLE

UI Designer

2 Weeks

DURATION

PRODUCT

Desktop | Mobile

TOOL

Sketch

Help users discover games, simplify the user’s navigation and track their progress more easily to better represent The Boston Globe growing family of games. The requirements were as followed:

  • New Game Card Design: Dive into redesigning a more visual stunning and distinct interface for each game display.

  • Showcase user progress to help solvers track their puzzle completion.

  • Allow cards to surface past puzzles and archives directly in the feed, offering our dedicated players up-to-date information and easy access to previous puzzles they haven’t yet completed.

  • Streamline the Navigation: Make the navigation simpler by adding all games, archives and packs in one place, simplifying a user’s journey to the games they love.

  • All Games and All Access subscribers should easily view and play from the current week and last week.

Before starting my competitive analysis, my first research method that I employed was conducting interviews to gain a better insight into our potential players pain points in navigating, selecting, and play a game.

Observation

My initial need-finding observation indicated that players often struggle with understanding information in heavy games. This was in part due to three things:

  • Unintuitive UI: Many UI within such games are either convoluted or misplaced due to poor information hierarchy.

  • Ambiguous Feedback: Many feedback mechanisms are overloaded and thus hard to apprehend.

  • Learning Curve: Players must take the time to figure out the game controls.

This issue stemmed from the learning curve associated with player onboarding in our game hub. Due to the abundance of our games, players often encounter information overload, ultimately resulting in difficulty comprehending their progress and what to do next.

The ideal gameplay experience we wanted to promote was like any other games:

Making games accessible, intuitive, and immersive.

While I completed the interviews, I conducted a competitive analysis of two gaming hubs.

This is what I found: The New York Times and The Washington Post are The Boston Globe's most significant competitors when it comes to games. Not only do they offer a list of free access to all games, but they have also been around longer than The Boston Globe. Consequently, they have become widely known and famous, such as the crossword in The New York Times.

The New York Times

Pros

  • Users can view statistics after completing a game.

  • They can see the last played game and the top result without needing to enter the individual game.

  • "Subscribe" cta is clearly displayed before for non-subscribers.

  • Use bold colors for each type of game.

  • Ensure a clear and accessible call-to-action (CTA) button for "Play" and "Archive" on each game card.

  • A clear last played dates on the individual game landing page.

  • The game play screen take up the majority of the screen.

  • Include a list form in the footer when the user is in game mode without needing to find the return button.

The Washington Post

Pros

  • Contains a top navigation for quick access without needing to scroll through the page

  • Contains a search bar

  • Contains login

  • Easy return link

  • Easy display of game difficulty level

  • Contains “Bookmark” call-to-action

Cons

  • Users are unable to easily discover the archive

  • Does not have a nav to quickly jump to a user’s desired games.

  • Does not have a leaderboard

  • Does not provide user to select difficulty level on game

Cons

  • No access to the archive

  • The current layout is cluttered, and users encounter information density.

After interviewing five gamers, the general user needs when it comes to a game hub of any kind would be

  • Comprehend which UI represented what.

  • Have an in-game tutorial rather than pausing the game or go through it to learn the gameplay

  • Users want to be able to see and access other games while already playing/accessing an individual match without having to click the return “back” button.

  • Have access to the game archive.

  • None of these (HUD, customization UI, menu, etc.) should get in the view of the player’s gaming.

  • Customization should avoid complicating the platform’s overall experience.

  • Avoid overloading the user with too much information regardless of which screen they are in.

  • Everything needs to be visually consistent.

As my deadline was approaching, I began to figure out how things would work and how I could revamp the Boston Globe’s game hub. I began to move into the high-fidelity phase. Below is the final design for The Boston Globe new game hub: