Jagex Accounts
Streamlined accounts for RuneScape players
Key Results
- Met 50% adoption target in 4 months
- 98% import success
- 35% support reduction
- Scalable design system
Context
As Senior UX Designer at Jagex, I took ownership of Jagex Accounts—a fundamental overhaul of RuneScape's 20+ year-old legacy account system. The new system enabled players to manage multiple RuneScape characters under a single secure account with MFA, backup codes, real-time login notifications, and seamless character switching.
The Challenge
Inherit incomplete, unvalidated outsourced designs mid-development while addressing players' deep fear of losing 15+ year-old characters. Build a scalable design system and deliver production-ready flows under tight timeline constraints affecting millions of players.
Research
When I joined in September 2022, the product was already in development with designs from an external partner. My first task: audit existing work and identify gaps.
What I Found
- Incomplete flows: Account creation existed, but upgrade, character transfer, and import flows were missing
- No validation: Designs hadn't been tested with real players
- Inconsistent patterns: Each flow used different UI patterns
- Unclear terminology: "Account Name" vs. "Display Name" confusion
- Missing edge cases: No designs for failure states
Understanding Player Fear
The Player Concern: "I've played RuneScape for 15 years. If I mess up this migration and lose my character, I'll quit forever."
Design Implication: Every step must reassure players their characters are safe. Show confirmation, provide rollback options, enable support contact at every step.
User Flows
With the product in development, my initial focus was auditing and optimizing existing flows—then creating new flows for account upgrade, character transfer, and import that were missing entirely.
User flow for the RuneScape account upgrade path
Key Design Decision: Smart Migration feature automatically suggested characters associated with the user's email to reduce friction and prevent players from "losing" characters they'd forgotten about.
Design System
To support delivery, I expanded and led development of the Jagex Design System—an atomic design system in Figma creating consistent, reusable patterns for account creation, login, and upgrade flows.
- Component library: Buttons, forms, cards, navigation—reusable across all Jagex products
- Pattern library: Common flows for authentication, character selection, error states
- Design tokens: Colors, spacing, typography ensuring consistency
- Documentation: Usage guidelines for designers and developers
JDS became the foundation for Jagex Portfolio, Project Zanaris, and all future Publishing Platform products—an investment that outlived individual projects.
Final Designs
Final designs for the Account Management home page
Product Features
- Smart Migration — Automatically suggested characters associated with user's email, preventing "lost" forgotten characters
- Upgrade Prompts & Incentives — Contextual prompts with in-game rewards (AFK timer, bank slots, cosmetics) driving organic adoption
- Enhanced Security — Strong password policies, MFA, real-time login notifications, and self-service account recovery
- Character Switching — Seamless character management through Jagex Launcher with no repeated authentication
Password Step Iteration
Testing caught critical password confusion before launch:
- Before: 4/10 participants confused Account Name with "Confirm Password"
- After: 20/20 player moderators completed flow without confusion after separating fields into distinct sections with helper text
Impact
Adoption Success
- Achieved 50% adoption target by January 2023 (4 months post-launch)
- 98% character import success rate (exceeded 95% target)
- 35% reduction in account-related Player Support tickets
Player Trust
- Community response positive with influencer videos highlighting benefits
- 98% success rate proved players' characters were safe, building trust
- Support staff: "Clearest account flow we've reviewed"
Strategic Foundation
- Enabled Jagex Portfolio unified game library
- Powered Project Zanaris custom worlds
- Unlocked cross-game features, loyalty programs, and unified purchasing
Clearest account flow we've ever reviewed—this will significantly reduce support tickets.
Reflections
Inheriting Incomplete Work
I advocated for pausing to fix critical usability issues despite pressure to ship quickly. Test #2 with 20/20 completion proved the iteration was worth the delay. Incomplete designs are opportunities, not constraints.
Testing Prevents Disasters
Testing caught password confusion affecting 4/10 participants before launch. For features affecting millions, the cost of testing is nothing compared to fixing problems at scale.
Incentives Over Requirements
In-game incentives drove upgrades more effectively than security messaging or forced migration. Gamers respond to tangible rewards they experience immediately—not abstract future benefits.
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Read the full story
See how I redesigned account migration achieving 98% success rate, reduced support tickets 35%, and built the Jagex Design System.
Jagex Project Zanaris
15gifts Guided Selling