📍 Job Overview
Job Title: UI Artist, Merge Mansion
Company: Metacore
Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Job Type: Full-Time
Category: UI Art, Game Design
Date Posted: 2025-06-11T09:48:16
Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)
Remote Status: Hybrid
🎨 Role Summary
- Create and implement visually appealing and intuitive user interfaces for the popular mobile game, Merge Mansion, ensuring seamless player experience and engagement.
- Collaborate closely with a multidisciplinary feature team including artists, designers, and developers to translate game design concepts into functional and polished UI elements.
- Optimize and implement UI assets for optimal performance across multiple platforms and devices, maintaining consistency with the game's established art and design direction.
- Contribute to the overall artistic vision of Merge Mansion by staying updated with UI design trends and techniques, ensuring the UI enhances the game's world.
🖼️ Primary Responsibilities
- Design and create visually compelling and intuitive user interfaces that align with the established art style and design principles of Merge Mansion.
- Implement and optimize UI assets within the Unity game engine, ensuring high performance and responsiveness across various mobile devices.
- Work closely with UX Designers to translate user flow diagrams, wireframes, and prototypes into final, polished UI screens and interactive elements.
- Collaborate effectively with Game Designers and Programmers to understand technical constraints and game logic, ensuring feasible and functional UI implementations.
- Maintain and manage UI asset libraries, style guides, and documentation to ensure consistency and efficiency across all game features and updates.
- Actively participate in design critiques and feedback sessions, iterating on UI designs based on user testing results and team input.
- Stay informed about the latest UI design trends, mobile game UI best practices, and relevant technologies to continuously improve the visual quality and usability of the game interface.
🎓 Skills & Qualifications
Education: While a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Digital Art, HCI, or a related field is often preferred, equivalent professional experience and a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant skills are highly valued in the game industry.
Experience: Minimum of 2-5 years of professional experience working as a UI Artist specifically on mobile game projects. Experience working on live, updated games is a significant advantage.
Required Skills:
- Proven experience in creating user interfaces for mobile games with a strong portfolio showcasing UI art and design skills.
- Exceptional proficiency in industry-standard UI design tools, including Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) and Figma.
- Solid understanding of fundamental design principles, including typography, color theory, layout composition, hierarchy, and visual storytelling.
- Demonstrated ability to create and optimize UI assets for performance and scalability across different screen resolutions and device specifications.
- Skilled in implementing UI assets and animations within the Unity game engine.
- Familiarity with version control systems such as Git (Github or Sourcetree) for collaborative development workflows.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team environment.
Preferred Skills:
- Knowledge of user experience (UX) principles, methodologies, and best practices, and the ability to collaborate effectively with UX designers.
- Eagerness to contribute innovative ideas and improvements for a live, evolving mobile game.
- Experience with UI prototyping tools, such as Protopie, to create interactive mockups and demonstrate UI flows.
- Familiarity with mobile game development pipelines and the unique challenges of designing for touch interfaces.
🎨 Portfolio & Creative Requirements
Portfolio Essentials:
- Your portfolio should prominently feature examples of UI art and design created for mobile game projects.
- Include case studies or project breakdowns that illustrate your design process from concept to implementation.
- Showcase your ability to create visually appealing, intuitive, and user-friendly interfaces that align with a specific art style.
- Demonstrate proficiency in creating and optimizing UI assets for various resolutions and devices, including examples of asset sheets or UI kits.
Process Documentation:
- For each relevant project, provide context for the design problem you were solving and your approach.
- Include examples of your ideation process, such as sketches, wireframes, or early mockups.
- Detail your collaboration process with other disciplines (UX, game design, programming).
- Explain your rationale for design decisions, focusing on how they address user needs and game requirements.
💵 Compensation & Benefits
Salary Range: Based on current market data for UI Artist roles in Berlin, Germany with 2-5 years of experience in the mobile game industry, the estimated annual salary range is typically between €45,000 and €65,000. This range can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, portfolio strength, and negotiation. (Estimate based on data from sources like Glassdoor, Payscale, and local job market analysis for similar roles in the Berlin tech and gaming sector as of mid-2024. Cost of living in Berlin is also a factor in this estimate.)
Benefits:
- Comprehensive health insurance coverage.
- Support for professional development, including opportunities for training, conferences, and skill enhancement relevant to game UI art and design.
- Emphasis on work-life balance and wellbeing, typically including flexible working hours and support for a healthy work environment.
- Opportunities to grow within the company and advance your career in the mobile gaming industry.
Working Hours: Standard full-time working hours, typically around 40 hours per week. The hybrid work model offers flexibility in scheduling time between office and remote work, supporting creative workflow and individual needs.
🎯Team & Company Context
🏢 Company & Design Culture
Industry: Mobile Gaming. Metacore is focused on creating world-class entertainment through hit mobile games, with a significant focus on engaging player experiences and creative marketing.
Company Size: Over 250 employees. This size suggests a well-established company with structured teams and processes, but likely still maintaining a degree of agility and a strong sense of culture.
Founded: 2014. Founded in 2014, Metacore has grown rapidly since the launch of Merge Mansion in 2020, indicating a period of significant growth and success. This history suggests a dynamic and evolving company culture.
Team Structure:
- The UI Artist will be part of a multidisciplinary feature team, working alongside artists, designers, and developers.
- This structure suggests a collaborative and integrated approach to game development, where design is embedded within cross-functional teams.
- Reporting lines likely involve a Lead UI Artist or Art Director, ensuring consistency and quality across the game's visual elements.
Methodology:
- Development likely follows an agile or iterative methodology, common in live game operations, allowing for continuous updates and feature releases.
- Emphasis on collaboration and cross-functional teamwork suggests a process that values input from various disciplines throughout the design and implementation phases.
- The focus on player experience implies a user-centered approach, likely incorporating player feedback and data into design decisions.
Company Website: https://metacoregames.com/
📈 Career & Growth Analysis
Design Career Level: This role is positioned as a Mid-Level UI Artist, indicating expectations for a solid understanding of UI art principles, technical proficiency, and the ability to work with some autonomy within a team. It's a role where you'll be expected to contribute significantly to the visual output and collaborate effectively.
Reporting Structure: Likely reports to a Lead UI Artist, Art Director, or possibly a Feature Team Lead depending on the specific team structure. This provides a clear path for mentorship and guidance within the art discipline.
Design Impact: As a UI Artist on Merge Mansion, your work will directly impact the daily experience of millions of players worldwide. You will play a crucial role in making the game intuitive, engaging, and visually appealing, directly influencing player retention and satisfaction.
Growth Opportunities:
- Potential for advancement to a Senior UI Artist role with increased responsibility for leading features or mentoring junior artists.
- Opportunities to specialize in specific areas of UI art, such as UI animation, technical UI implementation, or UI system design.
- Growth through contributing to the development of new features and potentially new game titles within Metacore.
🌐 Work Environment
Studio Type: Hybrid workplace with a mix of office and remote work. The primary office location for this role is Berlin, Germany.
Office Location(s): Berlin, Germany, with another office in Helsinki, Finland.
Design Workspace Context:
- The hybrid model suggests a flexible work environment that balances focused individual work with in-person collaboration.
- The office space likely facilitates creative collaboration, team meetings, and access to necessary hardware and software for game development and UI design.
- Being part of a feature team implies a close-knit working relationship with colleagues from different disciplines, fostering a dynamic and interactive environment.
Work Schedule: Flexible work model allows for a balance between time spent at the office and working remotely. This flexibility can support individual work styles and creative flow while ensuring necessary team collaboration.
📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process
Design Interview Process:
- Initial screening call with HR or a recruiter to discuss your background and interest in the role.
- Portfolio review and technical assessment, likely involving a discussion of your past work, design process, and technical skills in UI implementation.
- Interviews with members of the art team, design team, and potentially engineering team to assess collaboration skills and fit within the multidisciplinary team.
- A design challenge or take-home assignment may be required to evaluate your practical UI design and implementation abilities within a game context.
- Final interview(s) with leadership to discuss your experience, career goals, and potential impact on the team and game.
Portfolio Review Tips:
- Organize your portfolio clearly, highlighting your strongest mobile game UI projects.
- Provide detailed case studies for a few key projects, explaining your role, the problem, your process, and the outcome.
- Specifically showcase examples of UI implementation in Unity if possible, or clearly articulate your experience with game engine integration.
- Demonstrate your understanding of mobile UI best practices, responsiveness, and optimization.
Challenge Preparation:
- If a design challenge is given, carefully read and understand the requirements.
- Manage your time effectively to deliver a polished and well-thought-out solution within the given timeframe.
- Be prepared to articulate your design decisions, process, and technical approach during the review of your submission.
ATS Keywords: UI Artist, Game UI, Mobile UI, User Interface, UI Design, Game Art, Digital Art, Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Unity, Game Development, Asset Implementation, Optimization, Version Control, Git, Github, Sourcetree, Collaboration, Teamwork, Typography, Color Theory, Layout, Composition, UX Principles, Prototyping, UI Animation, Mobile Games, Merge Mansion, Gaming Industry, Berlin, Germany.
🛠 Tools & Technology Stack
Primary Design Tools:
- Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator): Essential for creating and editing UI assets, illustrations, and visual elements. Proficiency is required for generating high-quality graphics.
- Figma: Used for UI layout, prototyping, and collaborative design workflows. Strong command of Figma is expected for designing screen flows and interactive elements.
Collaboration & Handoff:
- Versioning Control Tools (Github, Sourcetree): Used for managing design assets and collaborating with the engineering team, ensuring smooth handoff and version tracking.
- Additional collaboration tools might include project management software (like Jira or Asana) and communication platforms (like Slack or Discord).
Research & Testing:
- While not explicitly listed as required tools, familiarity with tools used for user testing, analytics, and gathering player feedback would be beneficial for informing UI design decisions.
👥 Team Culture & Values
Design Values:
- Emphasis on creating world-class entertainment and engaging experiences for players, suggesting a focus on quality and player satisfaction in design decisions.
- Culture of trust, psychological safety, and wellbeing, indicating a supportive and inclusive environment where designers are encouraged to take creative risks and learn from mistakes.
- Collaboration and humility are core values, suggesting a team environment where feedback is welcomed and shared goals are prioritized over individual achievements.
Collaboration Style:
- Multidisciplinary feature teams encourage close collaboration between UI Artists, UX Designers, Game Designers, and Programmers.
- An emphasis on transparency and ownership suggests a collaborative style where team members are empowered to make decisions and contribute to the overall product vision.
- The culture of low ego among leaders suggests an open and accessible environment for sharing ideas and seeking feedback across all levels.
⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities
Design Challenges:
- Designing UI for a live mobile game requires adapting to ongoing updates, new features, and player feedback while maintaining consistency with the existing art style.
- Optimizing UI assets for performance across a wide range of mobile devices and screen sizes presents technical challenges that require careful consideration during the design and implementation phases.
- Balancing creative vision with technical constraints and game design requirements within a multidisciplinary team necessitates strong communication and problem-solving skills.
Learning & Development Opportunities:
- Opportunities to deepen expertise in mobile game UI design, optimization techniques, and implementation within the Unity engine.
- Growth through collaboration with experienced game development professionals from various disciplines, learning about different aspects of game creation.
- Potential to contribute to the UI design and art direction of new features and potentially future game titles at Metacore.
💡 Interview Preparation
Design Process Questions:
- Be prepared to discuss your end-to-end UI design process for a mobile game feature, from understanding requirements to implementation and iteration. Use examples from your portfolio.
- Explain how you approach collaborating with game designers, UX designers, and programmers to translate concepts into functional UI.
- Discuss your methods for optimizing UI assets for performance and responsiveness on mobile devices.
Company Culture Questions:
- Research Metacore's values and culture (available on their website) and be prepared to discuss how your own working style aligns with their emphasis on trust, collaboration, and wellbeing.
- Ask questions about the team structure, how design feedback is given and received, and how the team handles creative challenges.
Portfolio Presentation Strategy:
- Prepare a concise and engaging walkthrough of 2-3 of your strongest mobile game UI projects.
- For each project, clearly explain your role, the project goals, your design process, and the specific UI challenges you addressed.
- Highlight your technical skills, particularly your experience with Unity implementation and asset optimization.
📌 Application Steps
To apply for this design position:
- Submit your application through this link.
- Carefully review your portfolio to ensure it prominently features your strongest mobile game UI work and includes detailed case studies illustrating your design process.
- Tailor your resume to highlight your experience with mobile game UI, specific design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma), Unity implementation, and collaboration skills.
- Prepare for interviews by practicing articulating your design process, technical skills, and experience collaborating with cross-functional teams in a game development context.
- Research Metacore's games, particularly Merge Mansion, and their company culture to demonstrate your genuine interest and understanding of their work.