How to find a UI/UX designer for your indie game

Updated October 28, 2026 · 6 minute read

Your UI is the first thing players touch and the thing they look at the whole game. Players forgive a lot, but a confusing menu or a HUD they can't read gets noticed fast. I'm making my own game too, and here's how I'd find a UI/UX designer who makes it feel easy.

1. UI, UX, or both?

People say "UI/UX" like it's one thing, but it's two jobs that overlap:

• UX is how it works. What's on screen and when, how many steps it takes to equip an item, how a new player learns the controls, and what happens when someone picks up a controller.
• UI is how it looks. Layout, type, icons, colors, frames and the little animations that make buttons feel good.

Plenty of designers do both, and some lean hard one way. There's also a third question: who builds it? Designing screens in Figma and building them in Unity (UI Toolkit or uGUI), Unreal (UMG) or Godot (Control nodes) are different skills. If you need someone to do the building too, say so up front.

2. List your screens and your platforms

Before you look for anyone, write down what needs designing. A typical list:

• Title screen and main menu, plus save and load slots
• Settings: video, audio, controls and accessibility
• The HUD: health, ammo, cooldowns, the minimap, prompts
• Inventory, crafting, shop and upgrade screens
• Dialogue boxes, quest log and map
• Pause menu, game over, results and loading screens
• Icons for items, abilities and status effects

Then list how people will play: mouse and keyboard, controller, Steam Deck, phones or TV. Each one changes the design. Valve's Steam Deck compatibility rules, for example, say interface text must be readable from 30 cm away, with the smallest character never below 9 pixels tall at 1280x800. A designer who's thought about that before is a big help.

3. Plan for accessibility from the start

A lot of accessibility lives in the UI, so it's much easier to plan in than to bolt on later. Two free references are worth sending to anyone you hire: the Game Accessibility Guidelines, and Microsoft's Xbox Accessibility Guidelines. Things a good UI designer brings up without being asked:

• Text size options and readable subtitles
• Good contrast, and never using color alone to show something important
• Remappable controls, and hold or toggle options
• Menus you can use fully with a controller or keyboard

4. Where to look

• IndieGuild. This one's mine. UI/UX profiles show HUDs, menus, inventories, settings screens, wireframes and UX flows they made. In Find my match you pick what you need, like a HUD, a main menu or an inventory, plus the look you're after, like clean, pixel or diegetic, and it shows designers who fit. Or post a role and mark it paid, rev share, paid or rev share, or hobby, with a budget if you like. Designers who fit get it in their inbox, and if you want human-made work only, you can mark the role Human-made only. It's free, and I don't take a cut.
• Games whose UI you love. Check their credits for the UI and UX people. Many have portfolios on ArtStation or Behance.
• Work With Indies. Work With Indies lists indie studio jobs, and UI and UX roles show up there next to art and design. Studios pay to list, so it suits a real role with a budget.
• Reddit. r/gameDevClassifieds for paid work and r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams. Read the rules first.

Tip: Collect references before you brief anyone. The Game UI Database is a big library of real game menus and HUDs, and a few screenshots with "I like how this one shows the map" say more than a paragraph.

5. Judge portfolios by flows and states

A beautiful mockup is the easy part. Here's what I'd look for:

• Flows, not just screens. How you get from the main menu to a save slot, or from picking up an item to equipping it. Good designers show the path.
• States. Hover, selected, disabled, an empty inventory, an error, a really long item name. Real games have all of these.
• In-game footage or a prototype. UI that moves, in an actual build or a clickable prototype, not only flat images.
• Controller support. Where the focus goes when you press down, and how you back out of every screen.
• Your kind of game. A strategy game packs a lot of info on screen, a cozy game needs it calm. Look for work close to yours.
• Their process. Wireframes before polish, and changes they made after playtests.

6. What to put in your post or first message

• Your game, the genre, and a gameplay clip or build
• Your list of screens and the platforms and inputs you support
• Your engine, and whether they design only or build it too
• References: games whose UI you like, and what you like about each
• The style, like pixel, hand-drawn, clean or diegetic (UI that lives in the game world)
• Whether you'll translate the game later, since translated text often runs longer
• Your deadline, the deal (paid, rev share or hobby) and your budget

7. Start with one paid screen

Before you hand over the whole game, pay for one small piece:

• One screen with every state, like your settings menu or inventory.
• A HUD redesign drawn over a real screenshot of your game.
• A UX review of your first ten minutes, with the fixes they'd make first.

Agree on the file format and the deadline first. You'll learn fast whether their work fits your game and your engine.

8. Put it in writing

Write down the screens and states included, the file formats (layered source files, exported sprites, 9-slice frames, icon sheets), how many rounds of changes, and who builds it in the engine. Check font and icon licenses, since a font has to be licensed for use in a game. Add who owns the source files, how they're credited, when they can show the work in their portfolio, and an NDA if the game isn't announced.

Red flags

• Only polished shots with no game context. No flows, no states, no footage.
• Controller and gamepad never come up, when your game supports them.
• Can't explain why a button is where it is.
• Fonts or icons with unclear licenses.
• A free "test" that's really your whole UI.

Common mistakes

• Leaving UI to the end, then squeezing it in around a finished game.
• Mockups nobody can build, because the designer never saw the engine.
• Forgetting the controller and the Steam Deck until a playtester picks one up.
• Text baked into images, which then has to be redrawn for every language. My translator guide covers prepping your text.
• No style guide, so every new screen looks a little different.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find a UI/UX designer for my indie game?

Check the credits of games whose UI you love, ArtStation and Behance portfolios, Work With Indies for studio roles, r/gameDevClassifieds for paid work and r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams. On IndieGuild, UI/UX profiles show HUDs, menus and UX flows, and Find my match shows designers by what you need and the look you want.

What's the difference between UI and UX in games?

UX is how it works: what's on screen and when, how many steps things take, and how players learn the controls. UI is how it looks: layout, type, icons, colors and animation. Many designers do both. Building it in your engine is a third skill, so say if you need that too.

What should I look for in a game UI portfolio?

Flows between screens, every state of a screen (hover, selected, disabled, empty, error, long text), UI shown moving in a build or prototype, controller support, accessibility, and work close to your kind of game.

How much does a game UI designer cost?

I won't make up numbers. UI designers charge per screen, per icon set, per hour or per project. What drives the cost is how many screens and states you need, whether they also build it in your engine, the style, and how many platforms you support. Ask for a quote on one screen first.

Is IndieGuild free?

Yes. Posting a role, browsing, matching and messaging are free for game devs and creators, and I don't take a cut. You and the designer agree on pay, files and rights directly.

More guides

• How to find a game designer for your indie game
• How to find an artist for your indie game
• How to find a QA tester for your indie game
• How to find a translator for your indie game
• How to find people to work on your game
• How to find game UI/UX design work (for creators)