Steam

July 2020 - August 2020

PERSONAL PROJECT

Steam was launched in 2003 by Valve as a video game digital distribution service. Although it initially only provided automatic updates for its in-house games, it expanded to include games from other publishers. Today, it is now home to nearly 30,000 games and offers additional perks like exclusive deals. With a community of over 100 million users, Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games.

The platform gives users the opportunity to engage with their community further, and interact with others who enjoy similar experiences. Users can post walkthrough guides, trade, write reviews and more. Develops can also manage their games and share patch note updates — newsletter posts that give players information on potential changes and quality of life updates to games.

Visit Steam at: https://store.steampowered.com/

Overview

The Problem

As someone who uses the Steam desktop client on a near daily basis, the mobile app is a less rewarding experience. The current app is difficult to navigate and not streamlined for mobile. Additionally, while users can select a preferred starting screen, there is no designated ‘Home’. SteamGuard is also one of the main benefits of using the mobile app. It is a form of Two-Factor Authentication and requires users to input a code in order to sign in elsewhere. However, it is currently hidden in the side menu and not immediately accessible.

The Solution

Streamline the player’s experience to make it easier and more rewarding to use. Steam contains a dense library of games that can be challenging to navigate on mobile, so simplifying the process may incentive players to explore and browse through the library.

Design

This redesign focused on three main aspects:

• How to update the current application so it looks cleaner and more modern?

• How to make the app more user and mobile friendly

• How to increase user interaction and encourage users to browse?

In comparison to game companion apps for Blizzard’s Battle.net and Bungie’s Destiny 2, the Steam app is out of date and heavy. The app has received minor bug fixes in the past year, but no major UI update since 4-6 years ago where there was an initial ‘New look and feel’ (v 1.3) and new features (v 2.0.0) added to the app. Gamers greatly value looks and experience when in game, so the game client experience shouldn’t be any different.

Currently, I prefer to purchase games on Steam through my desktop due to the amount of content. The desktop homepage features countless games, with almost infinite scrolling for signed in users. Streamlining and curating the mobile shopping experience will make browsing Steam’s massive library more enjoyable. It also provides and opportunity to encourage users to buy more games by focusing on what’s relevant, new and exciting,

Below is the current Steam web and mobile UI (as of Aug 2020).

Visual Design

For the redesign, I chose to switch the app from Dark Mode to Light Mode for a brighter experience. I felt that because the app relies heavily on imagery — especially in the Store — it would be beneficial for them to stand out as much as possible.

Next Steps

Conduct interviews to align the current concept with target users. The current design is based on a number of assumptions and competitive/comparative analysis, and on the experience of one user (me). As a result, there are biases that additional information from other users may alleviate.