Microsoft / Rare

Xbox 'Sea of Thieves' marketing and
community websites

Sea of Thieves is an action-adventure game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. It allows players to take the role of a pirate sailing the seas of a fantastical world.

I was contracted by Rare as a UX/UI Designer to support the main Sea of Thieves website, which catered to approximately 1.1 million active users per month. My focus was on the design, features, and e-commerce aspects of these sites, as well as on componentisation to ensure swift deployment of new content to engage potential players. I also worked on the community site that enabled players to connect, share and resolve issues.

User journey, prototyping,
componentisation and UX/UI

A pirates life for me!

Designing content for Sea of Thieves

Collaborating closely with the Community Team, I designed a range of pirate-themed features, articles and content to fully immerse players in the Sea of Thieves universe. While we focused on informing and entertaining through elements like the "Pirate Times," a digital newspaper offering game updates and community highlights; we also created initiatives such as the 'Pirate Code' to promote positive interactions and combat toxic behaviour among players.

Through strategic brand storytelling, interactive features, and user-generated content, our goal was to establish a profound connection between players and the Sea of Thieves world, nurturing a strong sense of community and brand loyalty.

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Illustration of pirate looking over fold in the page layout

Sea of Thieves UI designs promoting gameplay

Sea of Thieves mobile UI designs: Page, article and shop. Mobile first approach.

Sea of Thieves UI designs promoting the world and lore.

Creating customisable components

Componentisation of a website involves breaking down the design and functionality of the site into smaller, reusable components. These components are modular and independent, each serving a specific purpose or function within the website's structure. By organising a website in this manner, developers can create a library of reusable elements for content creators that can be combined to build unique pages and features on the fly, quickly and efficiently without further developer input.

Collaborating with artists to generate assets, I designed a versatile set of customisable content components for the Sea of Thieves website. This approach not only streamlined the content creation process but also significantly enhanced the website's flexibility and scalability.

Image showing unique designs from the same UI component

Sea of Thieves UI components. Varying content to create unique instances of the same component.

Sea of Thieves UI designs. Varying component content to create unique pages on the fly.

Establishing navigation hierarchy

In addition to componentising the navigation for ease of management, I intentionally designed some components to be more visual than others. The more visual the component, the more a user will be drawn to it; creating a clear hierarchy within the content. This visual hierarchy was then used to structure the navigational content to ensure that intended focal points for users were prominently highlighted.

Image showing various navigational UI components

Navigational UI components arranged in various configurations with more visual components being used to highlight intended focal points.

Microsoft / Rare

Xbox 'Sea of Thieves' marketing and community websites

User journey, prototyping, componentisation and UX/UI