Designing accessibility and seamless navigation for Call of Duty players
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD INTERNSHIP
ROLE
UI/UX Design Intern @CoD Warzone team
SKILLS
User Research
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Design Systems
Interactive Prototyping
Playtest - Usability testing
TIMELINE
12 weeks (June - September 2024)
TOOLS
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Internship overview
Grateful for my 1st AAA game credit! 🤩
Summer 2024, I joined the UI/UX team at Activision - Raven Software to work on Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale mode. My projects ranged from match setup and onboarding to in-game core screens.
Here are some brief videos if you’re interested in seeing the product I was working on, releasing October 2024:
CoD BlackOps6 Trailer and Gameplay
My projects are currently confidential. While I’m unable to share all the details of the data and design publicly, you can read the high-level details below or full details in this locked page.
MY EXPERIENCE
I started off as someone who has never played games...
To best prepare for the job, I immersed myself in our product—Games.
I delivered a total of 4 projects in an accelerated 12-week internship. Like any good quest, my journey came with its challenges, especially as I navigated a new field. These roadblocks turned into valuable learnings, pushing me to grow as a designer.
PROJECT 1 - "SPECTATING" SCREEN REDESIGN
Adapt UX methods under confidentiality 🔒
Working in a game company meant navigating strict confidentiality, which limited my ability to conduct direct user testing with a large group of end users. By learning from senior designers and adapting their methods, I developed a process that worked.
For scoping problems and validating concepts, I immersed myself in observation—play the game first-hand then closely listening in online gameplay to capture real player behavior. To dive deeper, I utilized qualitative research by facilitating user interviews during internal playtests, uncovering insights that shaped my designs.
PROJECT 2 - ONBOARDING INTO NEW MATCH WITH EASE
Streamline user flows while accounting for edge cases 🛠️
I streamlined the queuing workflow by reducing clicks, providing a seamless experience for players entering new matches. Using user stories and journey mapping, I addressed 6+ key scenarios and edge cases across game modes and team sizes, guiding the documentation for engineering implementation.
PROJECT 3 - PERKS DISCOVERY
Optimize designs for scalability and minimal overload 🧩
With 15+ perks currently available in the game—and new ones introduced with each new season—I developed a comprehensive system to help players fully understand their perks both before and during matches. This system showcases all perks outside the game where players can actively familiarize while highlighting only active perks in-game. Additionally, players can reference all perks in a separate tab during gameplay, ensuring scalability and adaptability for future features.
PROJECT 4 - ACCESSIBILITY FEATURE FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PLAYERS
Assess & prioritize feature’s impact 🎯
As a passion project, I chose to explore our accessibility settings. However, an entire overhaul of accessibility features felt too vague and ambitious for my remaining time here. Instead, I reached out to our accessibility consultants to gain a clearer understanding of the current state of our game accessibility. After discussion and brainstorming, I decided to focus on improving map navigation and weapon selection, as these enhancements would be most urgent and have the most significant impact on the gameplay experience for our visually impaired users. Collaborating with audio engineers and QA testers, I developed solutions using audio cues, narration, and controller haptics.
Due to NDA restrictions, I can't share detailed progress or final outcomes of these projects here. For more information, please feel free to email or reach out to me directly! ☻
MAIN TAKEAWAYS I LEARNED (AMONG HUNDREDS) ...
SENDING LOVE 💙💙
A big thank you to Alicia Schepis, Paul Hwang—my manager and mentor—Arjun Roy, Sara Inani, Chris Fried, Ben Lisle, Tom Papesca, William Hua, and the entire UI/UX team at Raven for your incredible support and guidance!
I was really nervous starting this internship, especially since I’m not a big gamer or have ever worked on such a large-scale project as CoD. But you all created a safe and welcoming environment where I could explore my curiosity and grow both as a UX designer and as a person.
I also want to thank everyone else at the company and my fellow interns 💖 for being soooo fun and for answering all my questions, no matter how small. My projects wouldn’t have been the same without you 🥺🫶
