Introduction
Destiny 2 is an online first-person shooter game developed by Bungie. A proposed UX/UI system that enhances player expression through modular shader customization. This feature empowers players to fine-tune their Guardian's appearance using intuitive controls, curated palettes, and a scalable system design that integrates directly into the game's existing architecture
Challenge
Create a scalable, intuitive shader customization system for Destiny 2; One that feels powerful for players and practical for developers.
Details
ROLE
UX/UI Design | Feature Proposal | Gaming Interface
TIMELINE
3 Weeks
TOOLS
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, OBS (game capture)
Disclaimer
This project is a conceptual feature proposal created as part of a UX/UI design course.
Final Designs
Work Process
Destiny 2’s current shader system provides limited customization, offering fixed sets of colors and materials that restrict personal expression. This project proposes Shader Kits — a guided customization system designed to enhance flexibility without compromising clarity or cohesion.
Goal
The system builds on existing UI paradigms, balancing player freedom with developer constraints, ensuring a scalable and intuitive tool.
Focusing on three key design principles:
Usability, Desirability, and Scalability
Usability
Players can…
easily navigate the Shader Kit Menu
preview and test options with ease.
save a fixed number of shaders as favorites.
Desirability
Players enjoy…
crafting unique appearances.
earning/unlocking new options.
showing off their guardians as status symbols (with high end cosmetic rewards).
Scalability
Dev team can…
seamless incorporate more colors and materials into system.
build in the complexities of the dev-side shader system to fill-out backend needs.
Shader Breakdown
Destiny 2’s shader system operates through a complex, often opaque layer structure split across armor materials. Through analysis and in-game testing, I reverse-engineered the system into roughly 10 internal zones.
To make this usable for players, I distilled these into three intuitive categories based on surface type and visual prominence:
Hard Surface
metal plating
plastic shells
mechanical or rigid attachments
Secondary
Cloth, capes, and robes
Padding, wraps, underlayers
Leather or flexible textures
Detail
Trim lines and piping
Buckles, clasps, accent marks
Symbols, decals, and edge effects
Emissives, glows
Flow Chart
The flowchart outlines the user journey through the Shader Kit system; From previewing an armor piece to customizing individual surface zones.
The flow prioritizes clarity, minimized menu depth, and platform-friendly navigation, ensuring that both casual and advanced players can quickly achieve their desired look.
U.I ELEMENTS
To ensure seamless integration, every UI element in the Shader Kit was designed to reflect Destiny 2’s existing interface style — leveraging established patterns in typography, spacing, iconography, and navigation logic.
Stacked Menus / Tree Hierarchies
Used for organizing shader categories (Hard, Soft, Detail). Reflects Destiny 2’s approach to layered menu navigation in loadouts and subclass trees.
Content Buckets with Hover States
Color and material selections are grouped into bins with on-hover previews, echoing how players currently preview shaders, ornaments, and weapon perks.
Platform-Compatible Controls
Focus-based navigation and radial selectors were considered for both mouse/keyboard and gamepad use, maintaining Destiny 2’s cross-platform fluidity.
Visual Design
Defining the visual language and creating polished, hi-fidelity UI mock-ups for each screen.
Review & Conclusions
Project TakeAways
We can give players even more in depth ways of customizing their guardians by offering Shader Kits.
Shader Kits allow players to customize shader colors and materials using intuitive UI and guided options.
This new system seamlessly integrates into the game’s current systems and allows for flexible expansion
Core Ux Solutions
Introduced Shader Kits: a modular system with defined surface zones (hard, soft, detail, emission).
Built an intuitive UI model using content buckets, hover previews, and platform-aware controls.
Aligned with existing Destiny 2 interface patterns for scalability and visual cohesion.
Strategic Impact
Shader Kits enhance player expression while respecting technical and platform limitations. By empowering players with structured creativity and intuitive tools, this system deepens personalization, drives engagement through earned rewards, and future-proofs cosmetic customization for live-service content cycles.