Playstation 5 UI Concept Design
The Generational Juggernaut
To this day, no console has surpassed Sony’s Playstation 2 in sales. Over 155 million units have been sold to this day. But why?
The simplest answer is: the PS2 was the ultimate entertainment system.
Released in North America in October 2000 for $299 USD, it could play not only the latest generation games released, it was backwards compatible allowing users to play Playstation 1 games, as well as watch movies via the newly-released format known as DVDs.
For my PS5 concept, I built upon the foundation set over 20 years ago: create the ultimate entertainment system for today.
Make it easy to play the latest generation of games, provide backwards comparability, and consolidate streaming services in an easy-to-use interface on the PS5…
User Journey
The first step was simple: design for intention. When a user boots up an entertainment device, whether its a television, computer or gaming console, there is always intention. Often, it’s to pick up where they left off.
- Were they in the middle of playing a game?
- Do they typically watch TV at this hour?
- Are they looking to connect with their friends?
It can be difficult to know for certain a user’s intention, so the simplest way to structure their journey is to build it around their choices. Here’s the layout of content I settled on which allows for those choices to be made quickly upon boot:
In this layout, we can see content nested into easy-to-access zones. Upon boot, the home dashboard will give the user the ability to pick up exactly where they left off by showing them their most recently-opened software. Otherwise, the most commonly-accessed content is two (or fewer) button presses away:
- Play a game > Right Arrow to access game library
- Open a streaming service or application > Left Arrow to access installed applications
- Check messages from friends > R1 to access messages
- Swap to a new user profile > Up Arrow to enter profile selection screen
- Read the latest in gaming and entertainment news > Down Arrow to access news feed
With the user journey established, I set out to create styled mockups that illustrate the clean layout and atmospheric aesthetic:
