ROBLOX: BUILDING A NEW STANDARD
OVERVIEW
Roblox was started in 2006 and is a platform that enables both developers and users to create and enjoy millions of immersive 3d experiences. Today, Roblox has millions of daily active users from around the world with billions of hours engaged. In 2021, I was asked by stakeholders to develop a new user welcome mat focused on onboarding Roblox’s Windows desktop app users onto a major UI update.
While the initial goals were straightforward, the scope quickly expanded. Rather than focusing primarily on the Windows update, this project became a system-wide and holistic approach to Roblox’s onboarding experience. The work evolved into developing standards to support both current and future product onboarding.
Timeline
October - December 2021
3 months
Contribution
UX/UI
Facilitation
Prototyping
Challenges
Multi-department coordination
Undefined standards
Team
Multi-Team Project
Yale East (UX Feedback)
Derek Wong (UI Feedback)
Tyrell Robertson (Product Manager)
FINDING A DIRECTION
At the core of this project, was meaningfully educating users about the new icons and relocation of features. We wanted users to unlearn behavioral patterns they had built with the old interface and adopt the new one with minimal friction.
The NUX would have to contend with the user’s urge to quickly jump into their normal patterns. Stacking both a new UI to learn and a slow tutorial was a recipe for frustration so a lot of early design iterations went into feeling out how to minimize the forced on-rails process but maximize communications.
EMBRACING EXPLORATION
After prototyping and testing different versions with the team, we felt the NUX was too long and needed to be shortened to encourage users to not lose patience. It was also raised that the time-sensitive agendas of other Roblox teams may be negatively impacted. This evolved my designs in two ways:
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The NUX user journey was shorted to two steps and moved away from a "tour" style flow
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I leaned into less intrusive natural discovery methods of learning
Call-outs were reduced to one introductory message and tooltips were developed to help the users learn the updated icons and navigation. The hovering mechanic allowed for lightweight education without interrupting their experience.
EVOLVING DESIGN
The onboarding tooltip introduced a new problem because they come with the expectation of permanence. Tooltips already exist in the Roblox design system, but the rules needed to be expanded upon with the introduction of this variant. After presenting the project to design leadership, it became clear that in order for the tooltip to scale to support other efforts across the platform, standards needed to be put in place to prevent overuse.
Using the NUX project as a starting point, I drafted a guide to support future onboarding efforts establish a system to indicate when onboarding was appropriate. Coordinating with Roblox's UI team and engineers, I also updated Roblox's component library to include additional tooltip variations to preemptively address the needs of future onboarding.
REFLECTION & IMPACT
The evolution of this project started from a specific need and grew in scope due to a lot of moving parts and cross-functional initiatives. Along with facilitation between different groups, this project also involved careful and considerate system thinking and vision.
Doing this right helps establish a stronger foundation for a product to grow with fewer issues down the line. I believe this project opened conversations on what the product could be and how Roblox can support its community in new ways.