Last week, the Product team delivered its first Product Roundup, and this week it’s the UX team who are in the spotlight. I’ve cornered them and promised them cookies if they introduce themselves and share what they’re working on with you every fortnight.
As discussed in our Roadmap, there are so many cool features on the way in 2022. Here in the UX Roundups, you’ll get a sneak peek at what those features may look like by the time they reach you.
So strap in, and let’s meet the team…
Alex – Head of UX
Bio: Hi folks, I’m Alex, Head of UX. I’ve been with VHS since October. Since then, we’ve added more friendly faces to the Design team to help us deliver improved racing experiences, simplified onboarding flows to get you up and racing as quickly as possible, and more engagement with the breeding experience.
Current Focus: Looking at the 2022 Roadmap, you’ll start to hear more about lending racehorses. This feature will initially help onboard new stable owners faster by giving them the opportunity to try before they buy. Secondly, the team is working on the experience for retiring your racehorse. You might hear from our researcher Rebecca to chat about concepts and to validate a few ideas. Last but not least, the token economy discovery work is in full swing. The team had some fun last week knocking out some token design concepts. We can’t wait to share them with you.
Rebecca – UX Researcher
Bio: Hi, I’m Bec. I stumbled upon ZED RUN back in June, and in December I joined the VHS team as a User Experience Researcher. I’ve spent the last several years in design, working for the Australian government on complex, large-scale public services.
Current Focus: User testing on the racehorse retirement prototype and looking at ways to improve how we capture and analyse feedback. If you’re adding feedback to the Product Portal or filling out a survey, I’m reading it. Thank you for being such a generous and enthusiastic community!
Cam – Visual Designer
Bio: Hey! I’m Cam, a new member of the VHS Design Team. I joined the exciting world of Web 3.0 after 11 years in the gaming industry, working on EA Sports FIFA. I’m convinced that proof-of-ownership of digital assets and the underlying technology will change the world. This knowledge and belief led me to join VHS, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we are building!
Current Focus: With collaboration from the team, I’m designing the much anticipated ZED token. Working on the token design has been an exciting first initiative. Beyond that, I will continue tackling UI improvements and future UI concept work. My goal is to help the team elevate visual experiences across the board, bridging the gap between 3D and 2D within the UI space.
Ivy – Product Designer
Bio: Hey, I’m Ivy. I joined VHS with a background in venture capital and early-stage startups, and I believe blockchain technology will only get better from here. What I do best is simply explain how technology makes personal and business lives better. There’s a great potential and upside to making crypto and NFTs accessible to everyone and I’m here to help the team make that happen.
Current Focus: We aim to increase your success in getting set up so you can start racing as soon as possible. We’re looking at ways for new and existing stable owners who have never raced to have the opportunity to rent an unsold Genesis racehorse as part of their first-time user experience. Short-term goal? To help you better understand what to look for when you decide to buy your first racehorse. Long-term: peer-to-peer racehorse lending so you have more ways to play and earn with ZED RUN.
Kyle – Product Designer
Bio: Hi, I’m Kyle, a member of the UX design team here at ZED RUN since I joined in November. I’m bringing my experience in startups and gaming, most recently at DraftKings.
Current Focus: My current focus at ZED RUN is working with our Product and Engineering teams to design and build the racehorse retirement experience. I’m really excited to bring this feature and more improvements to the breeding ecosystem, to deliver a more rewarding experience. I’m excited for the future and through the community’s input, discover how I can help make ZED RUN a better game for all of you.
Lilia – UI/UX Designer
Bio: Hi, I’m Lilia. I have been working with the team since the spring of 2020 as a UI / UX designer. I’m glad to be part of a team of such energetic and talented people. The team inspires me and while we are all different and live in different parts of the world, we are united by ZED RUN and the desire to create and improve the product.
Current Focus: I’m creating an interface for viewing racehorse skins. ZED RUN helps you immerse yourself in the world of accessories and is visually beautiful. You will soon be able to see it for yourself and experience it. I am also currently working on updating the marketplace page. The main task is to help you easily choose your racehorse and immerse yourself in the world of ZED.
Vlad – UI/UX Designer
Bio: Aloha, I’m Vlad and I’ve been designing for more than 10 years, and just joined ZED this fall as a UI/UX designer. I love how quickly both the product and our team grow. I’m really excited about the idea of combining crypto technology and the gaming world.
Current Focus: Right now I’m working on a future UI for tournaments. In the new interface, we’re working on separating tournament events from regular ones and simplifying access to any of the tournaments and their races in a convenient and intuitive way. I’m involved in the UI design of track surfaces and weather conditions, adding a new and interesting gaming experience for racing fans, and diversifying the skill of each stable owner when selecting different racehorses for different types of tracks.
Borys – UI/UX Designer
Bio: Hi! I’m Borys, UI/UX Designer. I came into this profession nearly 10 years ago. Exploring new media editing tools and testing everything new was my hobby, so I joined a small outsource designing company and started my journey as a designer, digging deeper into UX patterns.
Current Focus: So, I’ve been part of the VHS team since the dawn of ZED. From the first racing prototypes to breeding, selling, and the current ZED RUN style, I helped bring it to life. Now, I’m excited to see our very strong team continue to bring this to the next level of quality. I am also excited to now be working on Human Park in its early stages, and help shape this new experience born from VHS and Spectre Studios.
UX Teasers
Time for some screenshots! Remember, these are concepts only and the final designs may change, but you can marvel at them all the same.
Racehorse Retirement
As mentioned in our Roadmap, racehorse retirement will allow you to permanently relinquish ownership of a non-Genesis racehorse in exchange for rewards.
A ‘Retire Horse’ button has been added to the racehorse profile page, as well as a ‘Retirement Value’ section. The retirement process will integrate seamlessly into the existing UI, as shown here. More designs are in development, including a few example reward previews.
Surface Preference Skill
Yes, that’s right – surface preference is coming to ZED RUN! We’ll have a lot more details coming about how it will work, but for now your minds can begin to race as you examine this screenshot, which shows ‘Surface Preference Skills’, an example surface name, and a mysterious number!
Questions? Feedback?
We’d love to hear from you! Connect with us in Discord or submit your feedback through our various UX surveys and user testing opportunities.
