Overview
Every Hue of You is a visual novel developed by Cactus Jam Games, and funded by Screen Australia and Vic Screen. You play as Twyla, a young woman running a jewellery store who discovers she has the ability to enchant her creations with the energy of her customers' emotions.
As the sole UI/UX Designer on the project, my role was to lead the art direction for the dialogue boxes and icons, as well as the user flows for gameplay and menus.
Dialogue box design
History
Glossary
Chapter Select
Options
Character Icons and Button Prompts
Enchanting Gameplay
Emotion Icons
Gameplay Text
Text Backgrounds
Case Study
Developing the game's UI system
Cactus Jam Games already had some UI in place before I joined the project. However, they wanted to redesign the look with something that was clean, sleek, and matching with their game’s gothic jewellery store setting. They were also looking for something that incorporated more magenta, the game’s core colour.
Previous Dialogue Box Designs
Research
Exploring gothic and fantasy visual influences
I first conducted a competitor analysis of 20 visual novel games to understand the most common design patterns and components found in the genre. I also looked outside of games for inspiration – I collected references of gothic and Victorian jewellery, art nouveau and art deco-inspired frames, and celestial imagery. From there I started sketching out ideas and exploring layouts using greyscale wireframes.
Sketches
Wireframes
Design
Refining concepts
After creating wireframes, I started to explore different UI styles based on the brief, ranging from a gradient style to a more gothic appearance. I made sure to get feedback from the creative and art directors, who liked the gradient look but wanted to add more ornamentation. This led to me overlaying details on top of the gradient to result in the final look.
Style Exploration
Iteration After Feedback
Outcome
A UI system that conveys the themes and motifs of the game
I followed a similar process of research, sketching, wireframing, UI exploration and final UI for the other screens in the game.
Final Design