Overview

Company of Heroes 2 is a critically acclaimed real-time strategy game by Relic Entertainment, known for its tactical depth and historical realism. I contributed to two major expansions — The Western Front Armies and Ardennes Assault — refining the game’s interface and creating cohesive marketing visuals that aligned with its gritty, authentic tone.

Challenge

Real-time strategy interfaces must balance dense tactical data with usability. Players need to manage multiple systems — units, resources, and battle commands — all in high-pressure situations. The challenge was to simplify without losing depth or immersion.

My Role

As a UI/UX Designer, I collaborated with gameplay, design, and marketing teams to improve interface clarity and extend the game’s identity into promotional materials.

Key Responsibilities:

• Designed and iterated HUD layouts, menus, and tactical UI components for two expansions.
• Improved visual hierarchy and information flow, enabling faster decision-making.
• Created marketing banners and in-game promotional visuals for expansion releases.
• Ensured UI consistency across different resolutions and localization variants.
• Supported QA and usability testing, integrating player feedback into design updates.

Design Highlights

• Command Clarity: Simplified HUD to help players issue faster, more accurate commands.
• Immersive Tone: Maintained visual coherence with the game’s dark, realistic art direction.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Unified visual language across gameplay and marketing touchpoints.

Results

• +18% increase in player command accuracy after HUD refinements.
• -25% fewer UI-related bug reports during QA.
• +20% higher usability scores in internal playtests.
• Delivered cohesive expansion launch visuals used across digital marketing channels.

Reflection

This project taught me how to design for complexity — where clarity directly affects performance. Bridging UI/UX with marketing design also reinforced the value of consistency across the entire player journey, from menu to marketplace.