Jordan Pitts
I have been managing teams and designing experiences since 2004. In those 19 years, I have directed numerous projects that have combined sales of over 25 million units & over 6 million installs. I excel at building and streamlining the end-to-end design process from concept through to execution. My specialty is taking under-performing interface teams and bringing structure & predictability while simultaneously elevating the user experience across the product. I am extremely proud to have mentored and developed many individuals into senior roles at other studios across the USA. I thrive on tight deadlines and solving big problems, and I have a knack for seeing issues that could arise in the future. I love interaction design and finding delight in the little things that will make a user smile.
Playstation
Senior Manager, UI/UX Design
San Diego Studio
Since January, 2020
Manage, mentor, and direct a fully remote team of 14 Game, UI, UX, and Technical UI Designers, fostering collaboration and high performance.
Lead creation and recruitment of entire team: crafting job descriptions, initiating headcount approvals, and overseeing the hiring process
Developed a comprehensive job matrix with 10 core competency zones across 5 business levels, plus 7 unique competencies for UX and Technical Designers.
Set organizational goals and core values to foster a positive, growth-oriented team culture to generate cohesive and purposeful work.
Developed and continuously integrate a studio Design Process chart, establishing step-by-step clarity and accountability for the entire user experience design process.
Drive the direction and execution of a compelling user experience vision at San Diego Studio, prioritizing the delivery of exceptional results.
Actively contribute to the creation of wireframes, flows, and mock-ups for screens, demonstrating a hands-on approach to design when time permits
Founded and expanded a cross-studio UI group for all SIE studios, growing membership from 5 to 24 members across the US and Europe. Conduct regular meetings to discuss process, best practices, accessibility, etc.
XBox Game Studios
UI/UX Lead
Turn 10
August 2018 - December 2019
Cultivated high-performing UI team, providing mentorship and management and focusing on production and execution.
Served as point of contact for studio-wide interface needs.
Defined roles and responsibilities for studio interface organization.
Presented work to studio and XBox senior leadership teams, showcasing best practices across XBox Game Studios.
Owned UX compendium and Motorsport Design System, ensuring consistent experiences across multiple teams.
Directed new UI authoring framework aimed at enhancing artists workflows, enforcing best practices and assigning tasks to team members.
Implemented Screen Importance Ratings to prioritize critical areas of the game.
Topps
UI/UX Lead
September 2015 - January 2018
Art and UX leader for all eight Topps trading card mobile applications.
Managed and mentored the interface team at the Orlando studio.
Oversaw the alignment of interface workflows, wire frames, and designs within style guides of multiple IPs.
Implemented screens using Unity3D and C# programming across all apps.
Directed the UI framework architecture, ensuring adherence to code patterns, while also leading the implementation of a rapid app development framework.
Electronic Arts
Senior Interface Designer & Team Lead
Tiburon
August 2004 - December 2015
UI/UX RESPONSIBILITIES:
Oversaw creation and execution of 10 style guides, resulting in over 3,000 screens that I art directed, wire-framed, mocked, sliced, animated, coded, reviewed, debugged, approved, and shipped
Spearheaded multiple technology initiatives that drastically improved the quality of the interface, including:
Integrated full motion videos into interface design, resulting in much more dynamic, high-energy screens throughout
Pioneered 3DUI development and designed tech briefs to consolidate all 3D tech into one interface, including:
Multiple display areas in front end
Dynamic 3D wipes used in the front end as screen transitions
UI input controlling camera movements (up/down/left/right main menu navigation)—a collection of things never done before or since in an EA Sports interface
Initiated programs to drive alignment and reduce down time for interface team, including:
Created "Off Cycle Task List" process where we tracked everything that slowed us down during production. At the end of the dev cycle, I sorted the list into two categories: Priority and Difficulty. By comparing the two categories, we could identify and fix low-hanging fruit. This resulted in numerous performance and process improvements.
Collaborated with engineers to create a UI test branch in Perforce, which allowed us to begin reskinning a fully functional UI while the previous game was still finishing Alpha. This allowed my team to get a two month head start on the skinning of the next game by the time alpha was finished.
Led UI sharing initiative between Madden and NCAA. Helped develop a sharing process where we could create a screen only once and skin it twice.
Began naming our style guides in order to ease communication and alignment across the team and studio when discussing work for each cycle
Conducted font-legibility playtest—the only team in EA Sports to do so. This test resulted in minimum font-size standards across the division.
Led an outsourced team of as many as seven developers and artists spread across North America
CODING RESPONSIBILITIES:
Established and enforced coding standards
Led team during UI framework transition from "Ric" to "Cafe2" and later from "Cafe2" to "Widget"
Developed best practice guidelines for interface team
Scripted thousands of screens and animations using ActionScript
MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES:
Product manager for UI production deliverables
Interviewed, hired, mentored, and managed over 20 temporary and permanent employees and interns
Conducted one-on-ones and provided feedback to junior team members
Provided task estimations and created roadmaps for development cycles
Participated in end-of-year stat rankings for UI employees
Attended management meetings and build reviews to gather feedback from other decision makers
Synced scheduling across multiple scrum pods to keep project managers informed of when their designs would be seen in game, to ensure proper quality, etc.
Reviews & Recognition
When an experience is done well people take notice. The following are some specific mentions of my interfaces in game and app reviews.
“For MLB The Show 21, one of the more appreciable changes comes in the way of the menu system. It’s much less convoluted and easy to use on top of being much more visually appealing. ”
“MLB The Show 21 can also lay claim to the cleanest main menu screen in the series’ recent memory. Where previous years’ modes were unintuitively jumbled together, this time I could easily figure out exactly where I wanted to go for the experience I wanted to have, and all of the most feature-rich modes are right at the top. It really ties everything together.”
“The app is gorgeous. There is something to be said for good design. It shows that somebody cares about their product.”
“Static presentation is amazing, perhaps the best element of the graphics, with all sorts of splash screens and menus for each of the colleges and a chalkboard font. I actually saw several IU students playing the game, and when the IU menu screens appeared, they got all excited because they actually recognized two of the cheerleaders and somebody in the crowd. Now that is bringing the game home.”
“The menu systems, long the bane of this series, have been reorganized in a superior way.”
“The first thing that you may notice about Madden NFL 16 is the slick interface that makes navigating the system a relatively flawless experience.”
“This same look carries through the torn-beach-towel interface, which changes its imagery to showcase your favorite team. The team logos might be our favorite extra touch, though—they’re fuzzy, like letterman patches.”
“When you first start the game the menus have been updated with a lot more ESPN graphics. So it looks great. The biggest change for me is this game just looks and feels more like the college football experience. It’s more fun.”
“Before even hopping into the game, you will quickly notice a huge improvement in Madden NFL 16’s UI. For years, one of the biggest, most frustrating complaints is that EA’s sports games has been the atrocious menu design. It would make simply moving from quick play to dynasty an absolutely unapproachable chore. Thankfully, that has been fixed with a new design that has almost no new issues.”
“At last, EA Sports has managed to elevate the presentation and graphics to match the broadcast quality commentary and sound.”
Credits
NCAA Football 14 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 13 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 12 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 11 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 10 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 09 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 08 (Xbox360/PS3)
NCAA Football 07 (Xbox360/PS3)
Madden NFL 07 (PSP)
NCAA Football 06 (PS3)
MLB The Show 23 (PS5, XBox One, Switch)
MLB The Show 22 (PS5, XBox One, Switch)
MLB The Show 21 (PS5, XBox One)
Topps BUNT (iOS/Android)
Topps Star Wars Card Trader (iOS/Android)
Topps SLAM (iOS/Android)
Topps SKATE (iOS/Android)
Topps KICK (iOS/Android)
Topps The Walking Dead Card Trader (iOS/Android)
Madden NFL 16 (XBoxOne/PS4)
Madden NFL 15 (XboxOne/PS4)