The Outpost
Mixing things up creates new connections.
SOCIAL
Social gaming reimagined.
The Outpost is an ambitious project that explores what adding a big social element into gaming can do to both. After being tasked by a friend to design what that could look like, I got to work.
WELCOMING
Friendly and engaging.
First things first was to create a login screen that exemplified what I wanted from such a project. A dark theme focuses the user to the content and a rounded feel is friendlier that a sharp and squared one. The choice of purple seemed like a novel colour that has the passion and vibrance of gaming while not being mainstream like blues or greens.
PERSONAL
A truly personal profile.
The Outpost dedicates a page to you and what you love, from games to descriptions, topics you follow and more such as media you may have uploaded. Rather than a stale screen that simply says your name and a message button, I wanted to enhance the social aspect over the gaming one. Follow buttons and exploring topics are two such examples.
SIMPLE
Simple, yet incredibly useful.
Design is meant to be simple on the face of it but fully featured behind the scenes, The Outpost is no different with a easy to use design, making it clear what the user can do and how they achieve this. Instead of being overloaded with information like on other platforms, The Outpost is meant to get out of your way so you can focus on the content that matters most to you.
CONNECT
Stay in touch, within a touch.
The Outpost has an easy to use and universal panel on the left of the screen that changes based on your current view. In this screenshot for example we have group messages, with easy to read colours and a design that allows the content to breathe.
CHAT
Your chat is the focus.
What matters most is your conversation, by having a simple but clear design, communicating with your friends and fellow gamers has never been so easy. Get information about games people are playing as well as searching your conversation history, all from this one view.
FAVOURITE
Your favourites are right where you need them.
Having your most recent, most played and top rated games right from one panel makes finding the games you love something you actually want to do rather than it being a chore. Finding new games that friends are playing also expands your knowledge and library, enhancing your experience.
IMMERSIVE
Immerse yourself in the games you love.
A simple games page with links to download the game and join the gaming community on The Outpost will immerse you in the world of that game. Videos, images, community posts, reviews and much more are right here for you to see. This is your only stop to expanding the horizons of the games you love to play.
DISCUSS
Discuss the things that matter most.
Again, the simple panel on the left makes it super convenient to find the topics people are talking about the most, whether that be games, genres or platforms. Rather than having to sieve through countless groups, a simple icon lets you know directly what matters most to you. Xbox? Steam? Role Playing games? Far Cry? It's all there for you.
FUN
Clear cut fun.
By having a rounded and more friendly interface, you can play around with a lot of shadowing and iconography more. An example of this is the comments to the post on the right hand side rather than below which is the usual way of doing things. Rounded buttons that take on the colours of the interface whilst remaining subtle also brings the topics tab to life.
SEARCH
Universal search for universal use.
A large, bold and easy to use search bar allows users to find whatever they want across the site if they find themselves lost in the content. Invoking a search is easy and making sure you find what you want is simple too. If there was a screenshot that captures the essence of the site, it would be this one.
POWERFUL
So easy to understand, yet so powerful.
Search results are filtered first by a smart algorithm that detects what matches your search the most but once you use the site more and more, it understands your habits and offers more logical and personal search choices for you without you needing to worry.