HEXplore It
Goal
To collaborate with developers to revamp the app’s design while integrating new features for the next update to create a more seamless experience. Designed wireframes, new UI components, and suitable icons, ensuring consistency with the existing style and artistic direction.
My Role
Wireframing, Paper Prototyping, User Interface Design, Design Library
Industry
Board Game
Client
HEXplore It
Type
Interface
Date
Jan 13-15, 2025
Overview
Context
Having three older brothers I am no stranger to games and especially the phenomenon of the niche table top game, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). Many people inspired by the creativity and adventures that they go on with their friends on a Saturday evening, strategizing and coming up with silly shenanigans. The surge of popularity of D&D inspired adventure-driven games like HEXplore It, has more people craving for immersive, story-rich experiences.
Users seek smoother and more engaging gameplay, board games are adding new features to their companion apps—such as encounter tracking, automated rules, and interactive storytelling—to keep players focused on the adventure. That's where I come in.
Problem
Users struggled with app navigation and lacked a way to track past encounters and power-ups during their campaign. This led to a disjointed gameplay experience, making it difficult to reference previous progress.
Solution
As the UI Designer, I enhanced usability by redesigning existing components and creating limited new elements to introduce new features for the next update. I created structured wireframes, new components, and icons to improve navigation and interaction, all within budget and time constraints, ensuring a seamless experience for both users and developers.
Research
Most Hexplore It and D&D-style board game players enjoy long, replayable sessions, making features like encounter tracking, smoother navigation, and automated rules especially valuable. Tools that reduce rule-checking help keep players immersed and focused on the adventure.
The rise and appreciation of digital tools to streamline gameplay can be showcased by apps like Golem Arcana and Dized. The application's ability to handle movement, attack accuracy, game set up, and rule management has offloaded the tedious parts of the game to allow players to focus on the strategy and fun.
Process
I initially proposed solutions that aligned with standard UI patterns and user expectations. However, the developers and client prioritized reusing existing components to save time, reduce costs, and stay on schedule. While these legacy components weren’t ideal from a UX perspective, I shifted focus toward creative compromises—offering alternative suggestions that balanced usability with project constraints.
These conversations took place early in the process, before high-fidelity wireframes or new components were built, allowing us to avoid wasted effort and stay aligned. It was a valuable lesson in flexibility, collaboration, and designing within real-world limitations.
I focused on making navigation smoother and organizing in-game info more efficiently. Players had trouble tracking encounters, managing power-ups, and sorting through campaign history, so I designed a bottom navigation for quick access, created a reusable components library for consistency, and built wireframes for detailed event views. Adding in lists, search, and filters made finding things easier. To keep everything intuitive, I based my designs on familiar patterns from everyday apps, so players could jump right in without a learning curve and stay focused on the game.
Key Takeaways
The most ideal solution isn’t always the most budget-friendly. Balancing user needs, client constraints, and best design practices became a valuable lesson in compromise and adaptability.
Distinguishing between “nice-to-haves” and truly essential features was key to solving the core problem effectively.
This project sharpened my ability to prioritize, focus on problem-solving through design, and make thoughtful decisions that support both the user experience and the project's real-world limits.
