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Project
Point Blank Simulator
An immersive home-based tactical shooting simulator designed for comprehensive weapons training.
Role: Product Designer
Industry: Virtual Reality
Duration: 6 mo.
The Challenge
The Point Blank Simulator is making a comeback with state-of-the-art technology, but its current design fails to showcase its full potential, risking client confusion and lost revenue.
The Solution
Point Blank Simulator needs a redesign that authentically reflects the brand, attracts new users, and simplifies complex options while integrating its laser-based input system.
Jump to…
Research
Ideation
Wireframing
Testing
Iterating
NOTE: All content related to the Point Blank Simulator is the sole property of Point Blank Simulator UK, protected by copyright. Any endeavor to disseminate these materials beyond alotted purposes is subject to legal consequences.
© Point Blank Simulator UK
Firing the first shot
Research
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How does the BETA layout function?
What opportunities for improvement are there in the existing design? Can these address gaps in the simulator market?
What do people typically value in a simulator? How can these features be incorporated/emphasized in Point Blank’s design?
Methods and Tools:
Site Mapping to create an idea of the existing simulator structure and identify any gaps or potential improvement areas.
Academic Field Research to understand what a user looks for in a shooting simulator and identify possible design points.
Competitor Analysis to establish industry standards, identify market gaps and provide design inspiration for Point Blank.
Empathy Maps to visualize how a user’s shooting goals would translate into simulator features.
User Persona to conceptualize our standard user and anticipate pain points either in the existing or future design.
Simulator Assessment
Initiating this project involved immersing myself in a partially developed simulator with a preexisting basic layout and design. This meant that there was already a structure to work with and a brand to pay homage to as it was improved upon.
Given the ongoing and collaborative nature of the project where design and development were progressing simultaneously, a constant interplay existed across three key phases:
Research – Continuously analyzing the evolving simulator and its audience.
Ideation – Developing strategies to integrate new sequences into a cohesive design.
Wireframing – Creating and refining sequences to build an expanding repository of screens for developers to pull from.
The immediate need at the onset was to swiftly grasp the simulator's essence and layout. To do this, I first mapped the existing structure using a site map, identifying points for improvement along the way.
Numeric Site Map
To accommodate the simulator’s unique laser-based navigation, I also designed a visual site map where colored lines track each “shot” to the next screen. Keeping content within the "3-click" standard ensures easy access, especially for users with less precise aim.
Visual Site Map
In this initial evaluation, I flagged 2 potential points of change to drive the redesign:
Primary Menu — too few options for all the desired future features and a generally outdated appearance.
Secondary Menus — did not properly signal changes in content type — position in menu flow unclear
Primary Menu
Main Menu
Secondary Menu
Drills
Field Research
Alongside the development of the site map, comprehensive online research was conducted to examine existing ideas and perceptions surrounding home-based and shooting simulators.
This research primarily drew from social media and online discussion forums where enthusiasts shared experiences and opinions. Key sources included:
Reddit
Youtube
FFGRID
The research findings can be summarized as follows:
Training Effectiveness: Skepticism about how closely simulators replicate real shooting experiences.
Safety Preparedness: Concerns that home simulators may not adequately teach firearm safety and procedures.
Cost and Accessibility: Discontent over high prices and lengthy setup times, particularly as greater accuracy drives up costs.
Skill Improvement: Many professionals view simulators as the future of training, noting their effectiveness during the COVID-19 quarantine when in-person ranges were unavailable.
After exploring social media, I aimed to understand how design styles influence product perception. Point Blank’s brand balances the seriousness of real-life skills training with the excitement of familiar first-person shooting games. My academic research sought to identify the design elements that would enhance these two key aspects of the brand.
“several studies showed the importance of emotional aspects as drivers of market success…”
“embedding emotional stimuli (e.g. such as…vibrant colors) into interfaces elicited positive emotions in learners and improved learning outcomes.”
Chirico et al. in Developing Emotional Design: Emotions as Cognitive Processes and their Role in the Design of Interactive Technologies
“emotions are considered the mechanisms that signal when events are favorable or harmful to one’s concerns”
Desmet et al. in Emotional Design; Application of a Research-Based Design Approach
What I found is that emotions signal to us when something is favorable, and positive emotions, in particular, enhance real-world comprehension.
As designers, we can evoke positive emotions in users to create a favorable impression of their experience. By fostering a positive association with the simulator through design that is reminiscent of familiar first-person shooting games, users will perceive the simulator as a favorable tool that helps develop their skills, and this recognition plays a key role in their real-life skill improvement.
Persona Building
With a clear understanding of Point Blank and its goals for attracting the target user, a user persona was created to provide a tangible reference throughout the ideation and design process of the simulator.
Competitor Analysis
The final step in shaping the simulator’s direction involved evaluating existing digital shooting simulators on the market.
While still a growing field, the market is split between simulators focused either on realistic training or sport-like entertainment.
Point Blank aims to bridge these worlds, offering both serious training (e.g., military qualifiers) and fun, sport-oriented programs (e.g., zombie shooters and sport hunting), occupying a unique, central niche.
VirTra Smokeless Range Gun Fighter Pro Marksman Marksman
Firing the second arrow
Ideation
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What color themes and styles will balance the simulator's serious tone with its occasional game-like feel?
What emotions do these styles evoke, and how will they enhance the simulator's atmosphere and skill-building experience?
How can these styles and color choices improve screen organization and navigation?
Methods and Tools:
Style Guides to construct the core feel and mood of the simulator.
Mind Map to organize the screens and establish style application patterns.
Style Creation
The style guide features a monochromatic color scheme, emphasizing the contrast between red, which evokes excitement and passion, and black, which enhances immersion. Buttons, typography, and iconography were designed with a video game-inspired aesthetic to reinforce the simulator's dynamic and engaging feel.
Collaboration Mode Menu
Supplementary Colors
With the core stylistic direction set, the next step was redesigning the layout. The goal was to improve the navigation while maintaining much of the original structure and was achieved through an annotated mind map. Created weeks after the initial exploration, this map incorporated any new features discussed during development and included options for upgraded versions.
Diamond Key
Dark — 1 “click”
Mid-tone — 2 “clicks”
Light — 3 “clicks”
The challenge in designing the mind map was accounting for the unique input method. While some users users may have purchased a stream deck for streamlined clicking, the base model relies on firing a laser at the screen for selection. To accommodate novice shooters with less accuracy, the design minimizes the number of selections needed to access training.
Shooting the third arrow
Wireframing
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How are the simulators screens appearing after combining the updates to style and structure?
Do they address user pain points and create the desired feel?
Methods and Tools:
High Fidelity Wireframes to see how our finalized designs and structure all come together.
High-Fidelity Designs
As screens were conceptualized and confirmed for the simulator they were placed into their mapped spot within the system structure and applied the style guide. The result was a more streamlined and captivating system that paid homage to the original simulator’s aesthetic but improved upon structure and design application.
Key implementations included:
A standardized dual-area layout. This design divided the interface into two primary interaction areas on all non-global nav screens in order to enhance consistency across the SIM while remaining adaptable to both the standard laser input and the optional stream deck that some users had.
A predominantly sharp-edged, rectangular design to reinforce the simulator's focus on training and seriousness.
Vibrant images and fonts reminiscent of typical shooting games to enhance user engagement and create a sense of familiarity with the interface.
Brighter and more alerting shades of red to call attention to more commonly-used CTAs on each screen, while darker and more muted shades were used to keep the overall feel of each screen immersive.
IMPROVED Main Menu
NEW Collaboration Mode (Multiplayer)
NEW Base Menu
NEW Virtual Squad Menu
NEW Scenario Training Menu
IMPROVED Drill Selection Menu
These 3 phases of the design process were a continuous cycle throughout Point blank’s development, conceptualizing and building out the simulator’s various flows and screens until user testing could be authorized and the next stages of design could begin.
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