Helping Game Developers Move Faster by Reducing Workflow Complexity

Hub for Creator Tools | VA Toolshelf | PlayStation Visual Arts

VA Toolshelf is a centralized creator tools platform used by artists and game developers across PlayStation Visual Arts to access, manage, and update production software. As adoption declined, rigid workflows, accessibility barriers, and system-driven update patterns created friction and eroded trust.

As the sole Senior UX Designer, I led the product strategy and experience design in close partnership with the Lead Software Engineer, transforming the platform from a system of control into a system of support and increasing adoption from 60% to 90%.

The high-fidelity prototype demonstrated a streamlined, adaptable Toolshelf that simplified tool discovery, supported flexible update workflows, and reduced interruptions to creative production.

The existing platform consisted of disconnected provider and patient
experiences with inconsistent navigation, limited mobile usability,
and fragmented commerce workflows.

My Role

Product Strategy
Experience Architecture
Interaction Design

Collaborators

Lead Software Engineer

Target Audience

PSVA Departments: Production, Mocap, Animation, Rigging, Sound, Art and Engineering

Platform

Native Desktop Tool / App for PC, MAC, and Linux

Stakeholders

PSVA Director of Engineering, PSVA Director of R&D, PSVA Director of Animation, Lead Software Engineer

PSVA Director of Engineering,
PSVA Director of R&D,
PSVA Director of Animation,
Lead Software Engineer

Duration

5 Months

Challenge

Despite being a mission-critical studio platform, VA Toolshelf was difficult to navigate and inefficient for launching software, leading users to bypass the system entirely. Declining adoption created downstream pipeline fragmentation, licensing compliance risks, and gaps in studio-wide visibility, disrupting creative flow and operational integrity.

Business Goals

Increase adoption of VA Toolshelf as the studio's trusted entry point for creator software, reducing reliance on fragmented access methods.

Strengthen operational visibility and licensing compliance through centralized software access and consistent usage tracking.

Impact Metrics below:
Based on comparative usability testing, platform analytics, stakeholder interviews, tool usage reporting, and user satisfaction surveys.

100%

Ease of Use

90%

Intuitive - Finding & launching Tools

30%

Increase in Overall Adoption Rate

The original platform relied on dense navigation, inconsistent patterns, and high cognitive load, making everyday tasks unnecessarily complex.

The existing platform consisted of disconnected provider and patient experiences with inconsistent navigation, limited mobile usability, and fragmented commerce workflows.

The Project

Discovery Insights:
The VA Toolshelf sat at the center of PlayStation Visual Arts' production pipeline, serving as the primary hub for launching software and managing studio tools. Despite its importance, adoption had fallen to 60% as creators bypassed the platform due to cluttered navigation, poor accessibility, and workflows that interrupted production.

Research revealed the core issue wasn't usability alone, it was trust. The platform prioritized system enforcement over creator workflows, turning routine updates into disruptive experiences that discouraged engagement.

Solution Strategy:
Rather than adding features, the redesign focused on supporting creative flow by simplifying discovery, improving accessibility, and giving users greater control over how they managed their tools.

The solution introduced:

Curated tool discovery through search, filters, and favorites.
Update scheduling that balanced user autonomy with production requirements.
A collapsible interface designed around real multi-monitor production workflows.

Strategic Insight:
The adoption problem arose from the lack of trust. A platform designed to enforce compliance had to become one that supported creative work.

Decision Principles

The Defining Moment

1. Protect Creative Flow Over System Enforcement:
Decisions prioritized minimizing interruptions to artists’ and developers’ workflows.

2. Simplify Discovery Before Expanding Features:
Before introducing new functionality, the focus was on reducing cognitive load and improving tool discoverability.

3. Design for Autonomy With Guardrails:
Where possible, control was shifted from the system to the user. Features such as user-controlled update scheduling were designed to provide autonomy while still supporting production safety, technical validation, and studio requirements.

4. Optimize for Production Reality, Not Idealized Workflows:
Design decisions were grounded in real studio behavior, multi-monitor setups, overlapping tools, and time-sensitive production deadlines, ensuring the platform could survive high-pressure environments without becoming a distraction.

5. Validate Continuously With Engineering and Users:
Design feasibility, usability, and viability were evaluated in parallel through constant collaboration with the lead engineer and iterative testing with users. This reduced risk, accelerated iteration, and ensured solutions were production-ready.

Challenging technical assumptions to improve developer productivity, production visibility, and platform adoption.

Through more than 30 user interviews and usability tests, I identified a deeper issue: the update system, notification system and standardized experience didn't adequately support the different needs of Technical Artists and everyday users.

When I advocated for redesigning the update system, the Technical Artists initially disagreed. Rather than accepting the existing approach, I presented research evidence demonstrating how the experience introduced unnecessary friction into production workflows.

Several collaborative working sessions followed. By examining user needs alongside technical requirements, we reached a more effective solution: Developer Mode and Regular Mode.

Developer Mode preserved the advanced functionality Technical Artists needed, while Regular Mode simplified access to essential tools for artists and other production users. This allowed us to support different workflows without forcing everyone into the same interaction model.

The redesign also supported a broader operational objective: helping artists and developers launch the software they needed more efficiently while giving Producers greater visibility into production progress.

Several collaborative working sessions followed. By examining user needs alongside technical requirements, we reached a more effective solution: Developer Mode and Regular Mode.

Decision Principles

The Defining Moment

Translating Adoption Into Value for the Business
at Large

Several collaborative working sessions followed. By examining user needs alongside technical requirements, we reached a more effective solution: Developer Mode and Regular Mode.

The result was an increase in platform adoption from 60% to 90%, this is a 50% relative increase in adoption.

In game development, even small reductions in repeated workflow friction can create meaningful economic value when multiplied across production teams.

For example, assuming 100 eligible production users, the adoption increase represents 30 additional users. If each newly adopting user saved 10 minutes per workday through faster software access and fewer workflow interruptions, that would free approximately 1,100 hours annually, equivalent to $132,000 in potential annual productivity capacity at a $120 fully loaded hourly labor cost.

I didn't simply advocate for a better interface. I challenged a system that wasn't serving all its users.

Translating Adoption Into Value for the Business at Large

Decision Tradeoffs

Translating Adoption Into Value for the Business at Large

I didn't simply advocate for a better interface. I challenged a system that wasn't serving all its users.

What Was Intentionally Simplified:

Standardized tool presentation patterns across departments to reduce cognitive load, even when it limited department-specific customization
Consolidated navigation and reduced visual noise to prioritize fast scanning and tool launch over dense information display
Streamlined notification and update messaging to focus on clarity and status rather than urgency or enforcement

What Was Postponed:

Highly granular permission and role-based customization that would increase maintenance and support complexity
Advanced personalization and recommendation logic that depended on broader data maturity and long-term analytics strategy
Automated, studio-wide enforcement mechanisms for updates that could disrupt active production work

What Was Not Built:

Feature-heavy dashboards that prioritized oversight over day-to-day usability
Aggressive, system-driven update enforcement patterns that would interrupt creative flow or penalize users visually
Custom workflows for every department that would fragment the experience and undermine platform cohesion

I didn't simply advocate for a better interface. I challenged a system that wasn't serving all its users.

Validation & Outcomes

Concepts were iteratively validated through prototyping, usability testing, and beta rollout using adoption, task completion, and workflow efficiency as success metrics.

Results:

Increased platform adoption from 60% to 90%.
Reduced onboarding time for new projects.
Restored user trust by creating a platform that supported creative work instead of interrupting it.

Concepts were iteratively validated through prototyping, usability testing, and beta rollout using adoption, task completion, and workflow efficiency as success metrics.

Results:

Increased platform adoption from 60% to 90%.
Reduced onboarding time for new projects.
Restored user trust by creating a platform that supported creative work instead of interrupting it.

Decision Tradeoffs

What Was Intentionally Simplified:

Standardized tool presentation patterns across departments to reduce cognitive load, even when it limited department-specific customization
Consolidated navigation and reduced visual noise to prioritize fast scanning and tool launch over dense information display
Streamlined notification and update messaging to focus on clarity and status rather than urgency or enforcement

What Was Postponed:

Highly granular permission and role-based customization that would increase maintenance and support complexity
Advanced personalization and recommendation logic that depended on broader data maturity and long-term analytics strategy
Automated, studio-wide enforcement mechanisms for updates that could disrupt active production work

Lessons Learned

Leadership Lesson | Trust Enables Adoption:
I didn't win the disagreement by insisting on my original solution. I helped the team arrive at a better one.

By bringing customer evidence into a technically complex discussion, I challenged the expected direction, facilitated alignment, and helped transform conflicting requirements into a more adaptable product experience.

“Merilly hit the ground running, making a huge impact almost immediately on our team by establishing UX processes and style guides which contributed to more cohesive, polished and successful products. She is a champion for users and her support has helped to dig deep on user desires and issues that have not come up in general meetings and conversations.”

Rebecca Abel

Senior Software Engineer | PlayStation