Overview
Games Workshop's Warhammer is one of, if not the, most popular and widely known tabletop miniature games in the world. Founded in 1975 the hobby has grown to include everything from board games to video games, novels to tv shows, and major tournaments to painting competitions.
While their digital platforms offer a wide variety of content, there's significant room for growth and improvement. That's where this My Warhammer redesign fits in - a colossal combination of two previous projects seeking to improve the digital experience for all Warhammer hobbyists.
Project Status: Development
This is a fictional brief, further details at the end of this page
Games Workshop would like to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world, creating an online space for their customers to showcase and support their hobby journey through an improved My Warhammer website.
Project Goals
Streamline the existing My Warhammer website and improve the aesthetic design- Improve navigation between all Games Workshop websites by streamlining the main navigation menu
- Redesign the Citadel Colour 'my projects' user flow
- Adapt the Battle Honours project for use within the My Warhammer website redesign
- Include and expand upon the inventory and wishlist feature on the Citadel Colour mobile app
The Solution
The reimagined My Warhammer website creates an online space for hobbyists to create and share their projects, keep track of their Battle Honours activities, and add an extensive range of Games Workshop products to their inventory or wishlist.
All necessary features of the current My Warhammer website have been maintained and the inclusion of a simplified navigation menu to be used across all Games Workshop websites further improves the overall digital experience for users.
a quick look back
The Battle Honours programme is designed to introduce new hobbyists to Warhammer by encouraging them to complete activities to receive exclusive rewards. The programme launched in mid 2021, a time where many potential hobbyists were isolated due to the Covid 19 pandemic, but what if this programme was available online?
Games Workshop's very own paint range, Citadel Colour, offers hobbyists a wide variety of paints and tools to get their miniature projects looking spectacular. Currently the Citadel Colour website and mobile app offer different content, the website offering limited in comparison to the recently updated mobile app. The goal of this project was to bring the same mobile app offering of step-by-step tutorials and the inventory/wishlist to a reimagined web application, including a brand new "my projects" section to support the painting process of all Warhammer hobbyists.
Click through to explore the live website. Although unfinished, development of this website has been suspended in favour of developing the redesigned My Warhammer website.
user research
Through surveys, quizzes, and observations, I determined that the typical Warhammer hobbyist is middle to upper-middle class, caucasian, and aged from 16 through to 40. Hobbyists are also typically male, however this has begun to change in recent years with Games Workshop's shift toward inclusivity.
As this project encompasses features for both newcomers and experienced hobbyists multiple key personas and user journeys were identified.
User Goals
- Easy access to the full range of Games Workshop products with a straight forward way to keep track of purchases and wishlists
- Have a better experience navigating the various Games Workshop websites and easily adjust personal details and/or subscriptions
- Be able to seamlessly access the same content from multiple device
- An easy way to maintain colour schemes when painting Warhammer miniatures and the ability to share colour schemes with others
- A digital way to work through their Battle Honours programme
information architecture
With the complexity of this project the information architecture acted as a 'step in the right direction'. Adjustments are likely following prototyping and user testing to allow for a more seamless user flow.
prototype
Combining ideation, wireframing, and mockups from the original Battle Honours and Citadel Colour projects I created high-fidelity mockups, iterating several sections where necessary to achieve an ideal user flow.
Click through to the Figma Design or Figma Prototype to explore the full high-fidelity mockup.
further development
- Improve Battle Honours experience beyond written activities. Think: online group sessions, allow users to upload photos of doing/completing activity
- Further expansion of My Projects section allowing users to link directly to Citadel Colour tutorials within their projects
- Warhammer store profiles to allow stores to showcase and share customers/their own projects, create tournament/painting events, etc.
- The original article about adding user profiles on the My Warhammer website suggested the ability to save Warhammer Community articles to read later and create army lists that can be shared with others
- User testing throughout My Projects section to enhance and further streamline the experience, testing with a range of highly experienced and brand new hobbyists
This is a fictional brief. This project has been created as part of an assignment in an approved course of study for Curtin University and contains copyright material not created by the author. All copyright material used remains copyright of the respective owners and has been used here pursuant to Section 40 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth of Australia). No part of this work may be reproduced without consent of the original copyright owners.