The Opportunity

Craft the brand identity and UI/UX direction for a groundbreaking Disney MMO, designed to captivate and engage a new generation of kids.

The Solution

Our brand and product design direction centers on delivering a seamless experience where game content takes center stage. The UI is crafted to visually support the core gameplay, ensuring it enhances rather than competes with the player's focus. Prioritizing simplicity, the design transforms complex systems into approachable, intuitive interactions, with optimized assets that maintain the game’s performance. The aesthetic combines magic and science, blending elements of fantasy and technology to create a dynamic, imaginative world that resonates with a new generation of players while reflecting Disney’s signature blend of wonder and innovation.

Role

Design team manager and lead designer

Discovery

Product Overview

The Wildlands are waiting

Wildlands is an ambitious MMO blending world-building, collection mechanics, and creative exploration, designed to captivate players with its magical and scientific themes. In this game, players embark on a journey to restore the Wilds—charismatic and unique creatures reminiscent of collectible classics like Pokémon—who have mysteriously vanished from the world.

Players create and customize ideal homes to attract and nurture the Wilds, discovering rare plants, unique items, and crafting dynamic environments. The game emphasizes creative interaction, allowing players to populate their worlds with hundreds of Wilds, each with vibrant personalities and unexpected surprises. At the Research Center, players can fuse molecules to combine Wilds, unlocking entirely new species and expanding their collections.

Built with social and cooperative play in mind, Wildlands invites players to collaborate with friends in designing and exploring shared spaces known as the Wildlands. The game combines a sense of discovery with player-driven creativity, delivering a rich, engaging experience that balances personal expression and community interaction.

BrAND DESIGN

Research & Inspiration

Wild themes via graphic patterns

Contemporary Nature Graphic Design

Character rich immersive photography with atmosphere

Logo

Concepts

some Explorations

Drawing inspiration from gameplay art and assets, the designs incorporate elements like characters, travel iconography, textures, and more.

Concepts options

CHosen direction

Emlem design exploration

Logo variants

Logo reskins for events

UI/UX visual design

Communication Goals

Research & Mood Boards

Game reference

Tone

Mood board – Light ZEN

Mood board – Dark MYSTERIOUS

Mood board - textures

Mood board - Hud UI

Design Exploration

Trading Wilds

Visiting Worlds

Building Your World

Adding Items

V1.0 UX hud exploration

• explore dark UI vs. light

• try textured corners on UI to mimic textures on terrain

• hexes (explore similar art style in UI so that it matches

  the world)

V1.1 Rendered icons for UI buttons

• try "chunky" and rendered iconography on buttons to

• add to the fantasy/magical feel

• move build toolbar down with terrain UI

• separate missions and Mascot notifications UI treatment

V1.2 Side bar + graphic icons

• showcase the game world and minimize UI to only relevant moments

• combining terrain tools with terrain build ui

• combining resources counter with items build ui

• use graphic iconography

• address feedback of "boxed in feeling with a ceiling and floor of UI"

• try bg patterns

• explore color tone (too much purple?)

• try rounded corners and angled corners (to mimic hexagon shape)

Crates - unlockables

missions

Research and Inspiration

Missions UI

Goal

Missions in Wildlands drive the story, spark exploration, and help players uncover the mystery of the missing Wilds. Complete challenges to earn rewards, unlock abilities, and discover hidden areas, all while building a thriving world and expanding your Wilds collection.

One mission available + mission complete

NPC component

Missions feature a dynamic NPC component that enhances player engagement. When a mission is available or completed, the NPC animates onto the screen from the right, delivering messages through autoplaying, animated text. Players can choose to let the dialogue play out or click to skip directly to the final message, ensuring a smooth and flexible interaction experience.

Misson Tasks COmponent

The Mission Tasks component animates in from the right, automatically starting the mission upon display. After the task has been visible for 3 seconds, the NPC component smoothly animates out to the right, ensuring a fluid transition into gameplay.

Progression UI

The Progression UI features animated checkmarks that fill in over circles as tasks are completed. Additionally, an avatar progress bar animates and fills up when a mission is completed and XP is earned, providing clear, dynamic feedback on the player's progress.

The XP bar on the HUD fills up once XP is earned, providing instant visual feedback on progress.

NPC Component

The NPC Component begins with an intro animation from the right of the screen, followed by text that autoplays and animates through the messages. Players can click to skip or auto-fill to the last message. After a 3-second delay following the final message, the NPC animates out with an outro. The component also includes two different NPC images and color tints, adding variety and visual interest to the interaction.

Mission Tasks — collapsed and expanded

The Mission Tasks component has both collapsed and expanded states, with the expanded state being open by default. Players can click the header banner to collapse the task list, and if a task is completed while in the collapsed state, it automatically expands to reveal the checkmark animation. The close button only appears when more than one mission is available; if there is only one mission, the button is hidden, and players cannot exit the mission. Once all missions are complete, the component is removed from the interface.

Prompts

Mission List

Level up

A prompt overlay animates in when the player reaches a new level.

Collection

Goals

The Collection screen is designed to be both aspirational and informative, inspiring players at a glance to pursue wilds and complete sets while providing clear and concise information. Its layout ensures quick access to essential details, making it easy for players to track their progress and stay motivated to achieve their collection goals.

unowned wild is selected

owned Wild is selected

Duplicate (own more than one)

Promo Banner Carousel

The Promo Banner Carousel features three rotating banner images, cycling automatically every 1.5 seconds, with pagination dots indicating the total number of banners and their order. Each banner includes smooth intro and outro animations, enhancing the visual appeal. Users can interact with the carousel by clicking and dragging to swipe through banners manually. For featured banners, a "View in Collection" button allows users to seamlessly navigate to the corresponding card in their collection, auto-scrolling to and selecting the card for a streamlined experience.

demo Trailer

Results

The game stood out as a beautiful and engaging experience with immense promise, showcasing a seamless blend of gameplay-focused UI, approachable design, and a unique aesthetic of magic and science. It captured the imagination of our team and embodied the vision of a groundbreaking Disney MMO for a new generation. While the project demonstrated significant potential and excitement within our studio, it was sadly never completed due to the closure of Disney Interactive Studios. Despite this, the work remains a testament to our dedication to creating innovative and captivating game experiences.

Content shown © Disney.