In my final year of Creative Media and Game Technologies I decided to choose UX/UI as a specialty to graduate in. I sent an open application to Stichting GameLab Oost for an internship and luckily they were happy to have me!
Stichting GameLab Oost is a foundation in the east of the Netherlands, located in Enschede, that strives to stimulate the gaming market in this region. At Saxion university in Enschede there is a course for game development, but most of the available jobs in the industry can be found in the middle or the west of the country. This drives a lot of the graduates to move away from the region, leaving it behind.


Stichting GameLab Oost strives to connect interns to clients that request a serious game to get a solution to their problem. The initiative gives the interns the space to develop the prototype as a group of students and after the project is done to develop it further for the client and to settle down as a startup in Enschede.


However, the CMGT course hasn't delivered many UX/UI specialists, so there is a drastic shortage of them at Stichting GameLab Oost with every roulation of students. This causes this aspect of the development process to be overlooked partially and having to be finished by the people of the companies that together founded Stichting GameLab Oost. Naturally, this isn't time and/or cost efficient and needs to change.


After discussing the research topic both with my superior at the foundation and with my guidance tutor we decided that I would develop a design model for Stichting GameLab Oost. It had to be made in such a way that even people that aren't specialised in UX/UI can use it to follow a structured path towards creating a solid base in UX/UI. Like that important aspects of the process wouldn't be missed and at least discussed.


After conducting several interviews, surveys and tests a definitive product concept surfaced and got developed into a functional and usable prototype. This was the UX/UI Workflow kit.



The UX/UI workflow kit is a card deck that consists out of a range of steps, separated in different phases, to take that are the ideal workflow for Stichting GameLab Oost. Naturally, depending on the platform and the nature of the serious game (or other product) that they develop not all steps and their order are equally important, but at least all of it will be considered by the team because the "foundation" implies that it should be included.


If you would like to read more about my research process I would recommend reading my bachelor thesis! (Don't worry, the content is only 25 pages!) I am proud to say that I got an 8 out of 10 for it so now you can find it at hbo kennisbank.


If you have any questions or comments regarding my thesis you can also contact me through my contact page!