SWITCHING TO A GAME UI DESIGN CAREER AFTER A MASS LAYOFF

User Interface Game Design Course. An easy 5 minute read.

Tags: Product Design, Career Switching, Mass Layoffs

INTRO

I was doom-scrolling on LinkedIn when I found a post by a woman who described the weeks after her layoff as “a grieving process”. I’ll freely admit that a callous part of me wanted to argue that’s not at all what that word means – but I caught myself. She was right, a mass layoff is a kind of little death. A death we are all expected to make a full recovery from. 

PART 1. RECOGNIZING THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE EVERYTHING.

Layoffs are deceptively hard to deal with. I like to think of it as the moment a straight-A student suddenly receives their first F. It’s a blow to your identity as much as it is to your bank statement.

But a layoff; no matter how financially or spiritually crippling, can also be cathartic. It is a slate-cleaning time to reevaluate what you want and what you will never suffer ever again in your career. Calling this a new beginning implies a restart, and that simply does not have to be the case. A layoff can signal the start of a better beginning. A… New Game+ for you turbo dorks out there.

And in the spirit of not committing to a total career do-over, the optimal strategy is clear: pivot off your current skillset. That’s why it’s no surprise so many of my Mentees are former Product Designers, UX Designers and UX Researchers (though truth be told, my students come from a kaleidoscopic array of backgrounds). Still we should talk frankly: after a mass layoff, some professions will have a much easier time transitioning into Game Design than others.

ROLES THAT TRANSITION EASILY INTO GAME UI DESIGN.

In my Game UI Design Mentorship, people come from literally all walks of life wanting to make games. While there are K-12 teachers, bakers or even the odd welder (all real student professions, by the way) most come from Design or Creative backgrounds. Here are just a few of the roles that may have a dramatically easier time breaking into the Game Industry.

• Product Designer
• UX Designer
• Web designer
• Graphic Designer
• Concept Artist
• UX Researcher
• Art Producer
• Motion Designer
• Front-End Developer
• Animator
• Effects Artist
• Traditional Illustrator
• Marketing Designer
• User Researcher
• UX Writer
• Package Designer
• Technical Artist
• Digital Artist
• Brand Designer

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WANT YOUR OWN 1-ON-1 MENTORSHIP IN GAME UI DESIGN?

TRUSTED LEADERSHIP . REAL EDUCATION . PERSONALIZED CLASSES . CERTIFICATION . EMPATHY

Don’t let lament or layoffs define you. Forge your own path with your real passion. 

Join my exclusive one-on-one Mentorship program in Game UI Design for only $3997 (payments as low as $200/mo). 

Seating is extremely limited to only 5 at a time.

Discover your future and register for free

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PART 2. WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR THE CAREER SWITCH

Do what the Lemmings don’t: look before you leap. Obviously, big career jumps need plenty of resources and preparation – hence porting your existing skillsets. But beyond that you’ll need 2 extra things: the tangible means to secure a Game UI Design interview and the skillsets to, you know… actually get the job.

So what do you need to get a Game UI Design interview lined up? Mercifully, the list is short: a Game UI Resume, an online Game UI Portfolio, and 6-10 Projects to proudly showcase in that Portfolio. Three simple keys that open up an entire Kingdom (and a textbook example of easier said than done).

Secondly, you’ll need a host of specific Game UI Design skills, and I mean very specific. You’re probably thinking about obvious disciplines like color theory, information design and typography. Those are great to have, but Game UI Design is hyper focused on concepts you might not have ever thought of: how to carve up a screen for a HUD, satisfying the design needs of the game and a committee, how to walk a Creative Director through your no-Art Game Wireframes….

SOME OF THE SKILLS YOU’LL NEED AS A GAME UI ARTIST

Your instincts about what you might need for this role are likely spot on. But how could you know what you just don’t know? Here is a list of just some of the shockingly laser-focused skills you will need as a Game UI Artist:

• HUD Design
• Inventory screen development
• System menu design
• Shell Menu Design
• Gestalt Principles for Screens
• Art Explanations to non-Artists
• Perceptual Psychology of the eye
• Prioritizing UX with light and darkness
• PC/Console versus Mobile considerations
• Mobile Screen Space consolidation
• Abstraction to Concrete Design and back
• Working with Design Teams
• Researching Game Design Documentation
• Working Directly with a Creative Director
• Negotiating Aesthetics versus Design with an Art Director
• Compromising Design Choices with Designers
• Streamlining complex UX with Engineers
• Salary and Contract Negotiation

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PART 3. HOW TO MAKE THE CAREER SWITCH HAPPEN.

So you’ve got the motivation, you’re working on the tangibles and you’re building the skills… but how does this all come together? That’s a nuanced question, but I can easily tell you what doesn’t work: solitude. Bridging the gap inherent in a career change requires real human guidance. A gamejam, a class, a mentorship, anything is superior to floundering by yourself with no framework or formal criteria for success.

The best way to break into the Game Industry as a UI Artist is through a 1-on-1 Mentorship. In my opinion, having taught for nearly a decade, creativity can not be taught through blogs, a cohort or a bootcamp. Your ingenuity and instincts need to be honed in a creative relationship with a real professional guiding you every step of the way. Any other solution is suboptimal – and when you’re in a competitive field like Game Development – you must not go unnoticed.

Whether you take a Game UI Design Mentorship or not  – don’t just learn – build. Game Studios are hungry for the practical application of concepts, wireframes and art passes. Practical work is also a requirement for your Game UI portfolio; with deep dives into the construction and context of your work. So for the love of God, stop with the Epic Saga-length case studies – the Studio not hiring you for your writing and if they were, they’d hire the writer that knows brevity be the soul of wit.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN IN A GAME UI MENTORSHIP

The next evolution of a Bootcamp or Cohort, a Mentorship’s whole world revolves around you. Nothing is static and the entire curriculum is based on your ambitions and anxieties. Here are just a few of the benefits of a Game UI Mentorship.

• Common Game Team Compositions
• The Day to Day of being a UI Artist
• Remote versus In House Game Industry corporate culture
• AAA Studio versus Indie corporate culture
• Game Design Documentation Research
• UI Concepting Basics
• UI Wireframing for Game Teams
• UI Art passes
• Photoshop versus Ai Gen in UI Artwork
• Game UI Portfolio basics
• Advanced Game UI Portfolio techniques 
• Game Industry Interview basics
• Advanced Game Industry Interview techniques and secrets
• Game UI Artist Resume best practices
• Contract versus Fulltime job search tips
• Contract negotiations & Salary Expectations

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LET’S SUM UP.

Being part of a layoff, big or small, is absolutely deserving of the “grieving process”. But don’t despair, the path to a career you love is simply a few skillsets and tools away. By leveraging your existing skillsets, enlisting a trusted Game UI Design Mentor and pairing it all with practical case studies – there’s no reason why your new career can’t be the career.

• Layoffs hurt and are creatively crippling. Be patient with yourself – you can’t race to the end.
• If you come from a professional Design background, your skillsets are already parallel with what Game Industry UI Design is looking for
• A 1-on-1 Mentorship (not a bootcamp) is hands-down the most effective way to increase your chances at breaking into the Game Industry as a UI Artist, especially when paired with your own practical UI-related projects.

Related Links and Further Reading

• What REALLY Happens in a UI UX Designer interview for Games: https://thewingless.com/index.php/2020/11/24/what-really-happens-in-a-ui-ux-design-interview-for-video-games/
• 10 Questions an Art Director asks before hiring you (from an Art Director): https://thewingless.com/index.php/2021/02/07/the-10-questions-a-ui-ux-design-art-director-asks-before-hiring-you-from-an-art-director/
• Common Mistakes to Avoid in a Junior Game UI Artist Portfolio: https://thewingless.com/index.php/2023/11/23/free-game-ui-design-course-common-mistakes-to-avoid-in-a-junior-game-ui-artist-portfolio/

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GAME UI DESIGN LONGTAIL SEO SEARCH TERMS 

This may seem tangentially related, but many of my Game UI Design Mentees are also web designers and have a passing knowledge of SEO. As one of the very few Gamedevs with his own long running site, search engine optimization for terms is at the heart of my business. Many of you won’t care, but some of you always ask (and it’s very obscure knowledge only a few of us know) so freely given: here are the SEO longtail search terms used to find this free Game UI Design Course.

• career change to game UI after layoff
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