Your Dream OUYA UI

**Murka** · 08-28-2013

Hey guys,

Seeing as many of us have complaints about the UI I thought:
There are surely many people here with good design and photoshop skills, and even more people with great ideas, why not create a thread where people can create mockups of their ideas, and maybe other people with more photoshop skills can make those ideas look great!

However, I didn't want to start a thread without contributing anything, so I made a pen-and-paper mockup, contacted my good friend Starfighter, who made those ugly paper scribblings look good! Unbelievable!

Thanks SF!

Warning: Large images.
http://s19.postimg.org/7aw30f30x/murkamockup2.jpg
http://s19.postimg.org/yziq7xq1d/murkamockupplay.jpg

Explenation for my UI idea:
First and foremost I wanted it to unmistakably look like OUYA, so I haven't gone wild with color or button changes.
The Main menu UI is still the same, however, MAKE is no longer Dev stuff, which is moved under Manage, but is understood as "Make Friends" = Social menu.
Two main menu playlists which are What's Hot and What's New, pretty much self-explanatory. To the right of the menu there's an empty area which is actually a "grid" (Think Android mobile/tablet frontend) where people can add all sorts of Widgets: online friend list, clock, recent achievements, specific game shortcuts, social ticker etc' etc' etc'.

Play menu is quite simple with again customizability in mind.
3 "permanent" tabs which are "Games", "Apps" and "Purchased", all other tabs are able to be renamed, recolored, games moved from here to there etc', tabs ideas "Couch MP", "Shooters", "MMO", "Retro" etc' etc' etc'
Tabs are changed using the triggers L1 and R1.
Corner snips (How do I call those?), U on the up-right corner shows that an upgrade is available, while a tick mark on the low left shows that user has paid for this game OR the game is fully free.

So...what do you think? Can we make something good? Can we make OUYA look and listen?

**Hydrus** · 08-28-2013

I like the look of it. lol Mr Crumpet xD

**DrunkPunk** · 08-28-2013

Originally Posted by Murka

Can we make something good? Can we make OUYA look and listen?

I can dig it! Making them listen though? They've changed a lot based on user feedback so anything is possible. Good work fellas.

**ahoihoi** · 08-28-2013

The kickstarter mockup was perfect.

**rosse119** · 08-28-2013

Looks brilliant Murka, i personally have no problem with the current look of the current UI but this would deffo be an improvement.

**Starfighter** · 08-28-2013

ahoihoi: I also like it, but it lacks colors. While I am a big fan of light gray it really feels like the orange from their logo should be implemented in the UI. Maybe use the Kickstarter mockup and then just add some simple color elements, nothing too heavy or busy.

Murka: I have been thinking about our mockup and I have realized a few flaws with it. First and foremost; there's no "OUYA" on the main menu. That's actually a pretty important detail. Secondly, another equally important detail is to always know who you are logged in as. The design lacks a space for the username and the "I backed OUYA"-badge. Thirdly: The pages differ too much from each other. They need to be more similar so that it looks like a well built design that doesn't have to change itself about too much. If you want we can think more about this and come up with more solutions.

**Murka** · 08-28-2013

Originally Posted by Starfighter

Murka: I have been thinking about our mockup and I have realized a few flaws with it. First and foremost; there's no "OUYA" on the main menu. That's actually a pretty important detail. Secondly, another equally important detail is to always know who you are logged in as. The design lacks a space for the username and the "I backed OUYA"-badge. Thirdly: The pages differ too much from each other. They need to be more similar so that it looks like a well built design that doesn't have to change itself about too much. If you want we can think more about this and come up with more solutions.

About the OUYA and Username badge, I agree.
About the difference between the pages...I understand where you are coming from but look at both the current UI and the old grey Kickstarter mockup, so much wasted space.
Simplicity is good, but sometimes simplicity is used just "in the name of" minimalism and that's not always right.
I really see no way of keeping the current design "theme" and convey more information without:
a) Making it look really cramped as you jam more stuff in.
b) Making it a mess of menu -> submenu -> subsubmenu ->subsubsubmenu type of nightmare.

You know what, I'll take a look at how other consoles did this, maybe I'll get more ideas.

**Moonlight** · 08-28-2013

Originally Posted by Murka

About the OUYA and Username badge, I agree.
About the difference between the pages...I understand where you are coming from but look at both the current UI and the old grey Kickstarter mockup, so much wasted space.
Simplicity is good, but sometimes simplicity is used just "in the name of" minimalism and that's not always right.
I really see no way of keeping the current design "theme" and convey more information without:
a) Making it look really cramped as you jam more stuff in.
b) Making it a mess of menu -> submenu -> subsubmenu ->subsubsubmenu type of nightmare.

You know what, I'll take a look at how other consoles did this, maybe I'll get more ideas.

Murka just won the whole damn internet. Well done sir.