Optimizing the crediting process for Blizzard game credits

A comprehensive project dashboard displaying real-time updates within a credits creation, reducing creation time by ~87.7%.

Context & Problem

Blizzard's end crediting tool recognizes 10,000+ game creators, but was outdated and error-prone.
‍
We redesigned it to save time, enhance accuracy, and reduce cognitive load.

Time & Scope

Scope: Ideation to final product‍
Time: Approx 1 month (2-3 sprint cycles)

Tools

Planning: Miro, Jira‍
Design: Figma‍
Testing: Maze, Dovetail
Collaboration: Zoom, Slack

My Role

Lead designer

  1. Collaboration with project owner, product manager, developers, programmers, and stakeholders
  2. End-to-end design, roadmap planning

What I Did

  1. Double Diamond framework
  2. User research + user interviews
  3. Competitive analysis
  4. Usability testing and data analysis
  5. AA Accessibility standards

Results & Impact

I minimized cognitive load by designing a dashboard with live metrics, enabling admins to easily track report progress.

Jump to Solution  arrow_downward

Time

↓ ~ 87.7%

Reduced completion time from 3 to 1.6 months per report.

Clicks

↓ ~ 50%

Reduced site navigation from 4 clicks to 2 from homepage to destination.

Response

thumb_up

Positive! New features made the tool more intuitive and well-received.

Table of Contents

Click each button to navigate to the respective section.

Context

To start, what exactly are "credits"?

Example of Blizzard's Game Credits

"Diablo 4 Credits 4K" from GamersPray on Youtube

At the end of every movie, there's end credits to recognize everyone who helped make it.

We're designing a tool to create that same list — but for Blizzard's games.‍

Game credits are important for acknowledging Blizzard employees' hard work.

Crediting everyone upholds Blizzard's core value, "Every Voice Matters."

Missing credits can be disheartening for employees and may limit contributors from showcasing their work to employers or collaborators.‍

The Problem

But admins voiced the legacy credits tool was frustrating made the creation process tedious.

Blizzard's early-2000s crediting tool wasn't built for managing multiple games or expansions. Its cumbersome UI forced admins to rely on Excel.
‍
Credit creation for 1–2 games takes over three months, delaying releases.

The crediting tool should be simple to use and not frustrating for admins.

As the designer, how can I reduce frustration and streamline this manually intensive process?

Defining the Problem Space

Getting to the root: Understanding admin workflows and areas of frustration

I aimed to understand how administrators interacted with the platform, collaborated with each other, and where their frustrations originated.

Methodology

videocam

What?

6+ individual 30-minute Zoom interviews

quiz

How?

Research questions:

  1. "Please help me better understand your process and workflow when working on a credits report."
  2. "How often are you working solo compared to collaborating with others?"
  3. "What drives you away from using this site?"
group

Who?

Different levels of admins:

  1. Head Quality Assurance admins
  2. Overall game team admins
  3. Individual department admins

Research Insights

Credits creation has many moving parts, making it hard to manage and error-prone.

Collaboration Patterns

  1. 2 head admin working with a large admin team.
  2. Many approvals and communication happen throughout.
  3. Lots of Slack messages, emails and Zoom meetings throughout.
  4. Most of the work happens on Excel.

Admins ideally want:

  1. Clear understanding of all moving parts.
  2. Better transparency on moving parts.
  3. A centralized process.
  4. A faster process. It takes about 3 months to produce the credit list for 1 game.

A user journey map helped me understand points of frustration and see where opportunities lie.

Map of user emotions. It drops when admins start assigning people to credits and when having to check for errors.
The journey of the head credits administrator has lots of ups and downs.

Where can we make the biggest impact?

As the designer, I identified 3 main areas of frustration:

fmd_bad
Important information was scattered, making it hard to find.
group_off
Lots of confusion due to individualized work patterns among admins.
timer
Increased waiting time due to emails and Slacks for approvals.

Turning frustrations into design goals  star

schema
Improve site organization. Make it easier and faster to find information.
psychology
Reduce the manual cognitive load of finding important information.
alarm_add
Help admins save time by reducing the need for direct communication.

Reframing the Problem

With many moving parts and no clear system to track them, admins faced confusion and increased workload.

How can I improve status tracking to give admins clarity and boost efficiency?

There was an opportunity for improvement with the lack of a clear monitoring system. I focused on improving the experience of understanding the project status.

Design Ideation

Market research and learning from other teams!

Research shows widget dashboards effectively display diverse data and track changes over time.
‍
Speaking to a PM from SupportDesk, Blizzard's support request tool, I learned how they use tables, progress indicators, and charts for specific needs.

A project details dashboard per project will increase overall transparency of process and track important metrics at-a-glance.

Wireframing

I created early wireframes to gather team and stakeholder feedback, enabling quick design iterations throughout the project.

Early designs of the dashboard that were edited based on feedback on UI and details.

After proposing dashboard concept to stakeholders...

  1. Stakeholders praised the dashboard for its improved organization and information display.
  2. Feedback: 
    Administrators work in sections, so adding detail to the widget would better reflect their workflow.
  3. There was a short brainstorming section where a creditee counter and timeline were needed additions.

Dashboard Widget Iterations

Widget #1

Assignment Progress Widget

Purpose 
Track the completion level of sections, showing necessary data without cluttering the page.
Why is it needed?
Admins work in sections (e.g., Design, Leadership). Tracking tens of thousands quickly becomes overwhelming.

Before

After

User feedback showed: 
  1. Admin work patterns valued depth in detail.
  2. Progress bars, rather than circles, best visualized completion over time while maintaining a minimal look.

Widget #2

Creditee Counter Widget

Purpose 
Display a headcount of credited individuals to track completion. Compare and contrast at-a-glance.
Why is it needed?
With so many employees, it's challenging to track if anyone is missing or misplaced.

Before

After

User feedback showed: 
  1. Admins know the exact number coming from each team. Specific numbers can serve as double-checking.
  2. Many colors did more harm than good. Admins voiced feeling overwhelmed.

A sprinkle of UX writing!  ᵔᴗᵔ

Lost Souls  vs. Unassigned
Originally named Lost Souls (inspired by World of Warcraft), I changed it to Unassigned  for clarity. Not all admins know game terms, so I used clear labels: Assigned and Unassigned.

Delivering the Solution

Credits: Out with the old, in with the new!

To recap, the previous site was frustrating because:

fmd_bad
Important information was scattered, making it hard to find.
group_off
Lots of confusion due to individualized work patterns among admins.
timer
Increased waiting time due to emails and Slacks for approvals.

Final

Adding a project details dashboard:

  1. Increases transparency and puts important, relevant information at the front.
  2. Decreases confusion from siloed workstyle by providing live metric updates.
  3. Emails and Slack messages about status are no longer needed with these live metrics.
Click image to enlarge

Impact

Impact

This project was launched after my time at Blizzard, but updates from my peers show the response from administrators was positive.

Time

↓ ~ 87.7%

Reduced completion time from 3 to 1.6 months per report.

Clicks

↓ ~ 50%

Reduced site navigation from 4 clicks to 2 from homepage to destination.

Response

thumb_up

Positive! New features made the tool more intuitive.

Streamlined Credits

Simplifying the site reduced effort, allowing admins to create credits faster and manage multiple at once. Previously, they could handle only one or two over months.

Better Communication

Better site organization reduces lost clicks, boosts clarity, and speeds up approvals and edits by improving admin communication.

My Final Remarks

I joined this project mid-discovery phase, led by another designer, and catching up on such a complex platform was challenging. However, it made becoming a domain leader even more rewarding!

Regular stakeholder meetings and positive feedback reassured me that we were making a meaningful impact on a tool they rely on daily.

THANKS FOR VISITING!
LET'S CONNECT.

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Last updated February 2025 by Chloe Chow
Made with lots of coffee, tea, Chipotle burritos, poke bowls and love
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