Project Overview: Unity 19.3 Redesign and Design System
Overview
In Unity 19.3, I led a comprehensive redesign of Unity’s editor UI and introduced a new design system that laid the foundation for consistent, scalable, and user-friendly experiences across our platform. This case study details the design rationale, project challenges, user research insights, and impact of the redesign on our community of developers and creators. For this project I acted as a Senior Product Designer in partnership with a design lead, project manager, researcher, and development team.
Links to Interviews & Highlights:
Goals and Objectives
The Unity 19.3 redesign aimed to modernize the editor interface, making it more accessible, visually cohesive, and efficient for both new and seasoned developers. This project was driven by three primary objectives:
Enhance Usability: Improve workflows by addressing common user pain points and ensuring a smoother navigation experience.
Establish Visual Consistency: Create a unified, cohesive visual language across all Unity tools and editor components.
Build a Scalable Design Foundation: Develop a comprehensive design system to guide future Unity product designs.
Research & Insights
To ensure this redesign addressed real user needs, I spearheaded extensive research, collecting insights from a diverse group of Unity users, including technical artists, game developers, and designers. Through surveys, interviews, and usability testing, we identified key areas that needed improvement:
Fragmented Visual Language: Users found that inconsistencies in the UI distracted from their work and impacted productivity.
Overwhelming Complexity: The dense layout and information overload were particularly challenging for new users to navigate.
Accessibility Needs: Users highlighted the need for more accessible design, which we prioritized in the updated color scheme and typography.
These insights directly informed the design choices in Unity 19.3 and shaped our design system foundation, ultimately leading to a UI that is streamlined, visually unified, and more accessible.
Design Process
The redesign process was divided into several stages, from conceptualization to iterative testing. My role involved overseeing each step, from defining the vision to guiding the design team through implementation.
1. Visual Refresh & Design Rationale
Modernized Aesthetic: We introduced a cleaner, minimalist interface, reducing visual clutter while maintaining the professional look Unity users expect. This update leveraged neutral colors and simplified icons to improve readability and focus.
Typography: We standardized typography to create a clear visual hierarchy, using distinct font sizes and weights to guide users through complex workflows without overwhelming them.
Color Palette: Our new color palette introduced higher contrast ratios to enhance accessibility. This change improved readability, particularly for users working with high-resolution displays or in low-light environments.
2. Creating the Unity Design System
Consistency & Scalability: I led the creation of a design system that included a robust library of reusable components, such as buttons, tooltips, input fields, and navigation elements. This approach promoted consistency across various Unity tools and minimized the risk of design discrepancies in future updates.
Efficiency & Error Reduction: By standardizing these elements, we reduced the likelihood of visual and functional inconsistencies, leading to fewer design errors across teams and faster turnaround for new features.
Documentation & Guidelines: Our team developed comprehensive documentation on typography, color schemes, component behavior, and layout guidelines. This allowed engineers and designers to implement and adhere to the design system confidently, accelerating cross-functional collaboration.
3. Iterative Testing & Cross-Functional Collaboration
Feedback Loops: Regular usability testing sessions with real users allowed us to validate each design choice and make adjustments as needed. By integrating feedback loops early and often, we addressed potential issues before final implementation.
Cross-Functional Communication: Collaboration with engineering and product teams was essential in ensuring the design system’s seamless integration into Unity’s development environment. I established bi-weekly syncs with engineering leads to ensure alignment on technical requirements, which proved instrumental in the successful rollout.
Key Challenges
Despite our well-defined objectives and research-backed approach, several challenges arose:
Balancing New with Familiar: The Unity editor is a tool relied on by thousands of developers daily. Striking a balance between innovating and preserving familiar elements was crucial. We managed this by gradually introducing new UI elements and soliciting user feedback.
Maintaining Performance: The Unity editor is a complex tool; adding new design elements without compromising performance required careful coordination with engineering teams to optimize the codebase and streamline UI components.
Results and Impact
The Unity 19.3 redesign and design system were highly regarded by the Unity community, receiving positive feedback across several metrics:
Improved User Satisfaction: User surveys indicated a 30% improvement in user satisfaction with the editor’s UI compared to previous versions. Users reported a more intuitive experience, particularly in navigation and workflow efficiency.
Adoption of the Design System: Internally, the design system became a widely adopted standard for Unity’s product teams, reducing design and implementation time by 20% on average for new features and updates.
Positive Community Reception: Following the release, we received substantial praise for the UI refresh on social media and in forums. Many developers shared that the changes made Unity feel “fresh” and “easier to use,” particularly highlighting the improved accessibility features.
Reflections and Takeaways
The Unity 19.3 redesign and the accompanying design system marked a significant step forward in Unity’s journey towards user-centered design. For me, this project reinforced the value of:
User-Centered Decision Making: Consistent user testing and feedback are critical to making meaningful, impactful design improvements.
Documentation and Design Standards: A robust design system not only ensures consistency but also empowers teams across an organization to contribute to and uphold a unified vision.
Collaboration: Working closely with engineering and product teams fostered alignment and minimized bottlenecks, creating a smoother development process and a stronger final product.
The Unity 19.3 redesign and design system now serve as the cornerstone for Unity’s future UI and UX efforts, setting the standard for consistency, accessibility, and user experience excellence in game development tools.
This project was a fulfilling opportunity to elevate Unity’s design quality and contribute to a tool that empowers creators around the world.
User Feedback Highlights
“The new UI is such a breath of fresh air—everything feels much cleaner and more intuitive. It’s a big improvement for daily workflows!” – @dev_jules on Twitter
“As someone who uses Unity for hours every day, the 19.3 redesign makes navigating tools much smoother and visually appealing. Love it!” – Feedback on Unity Forum
“The updated icons are so much easier to distinguish, and I love the color choices. It just feels more professional and less cluttered.” – Survey Response, Post-Release User Feedback
“Feels like a whole new experience. The design is finally catching up with Unity’s powerful capabilities!” – Review on Unity Asset Store
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