Wargaming is a blend of art and science, meant to create experiences in which players can interact with systems to achieve a specific objective. The growing field of user experience (UX) design deals with exactly these sorts of experiences, interactions, and systems. UX design as a discipline brings together research into visual design, human psychology, human interactions, prototyping, and testing, and it can offer wargamers many lessons in creating intuitive, painless solutions to complex problems. In this talk, Akar Bharadvaj will give a quick primer on UX design best practices and discuss implications for wargame design.
Akar Bharadvaj is a Research Associate at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), where he primarily works on wargames and tabletop exercises. In addition to wargaming, he has professional experience in UX design, graphic design, and analysis. He holds an M.A. from the Georgetown Security Studies Program, a B.A. in history from Dartmouth, and post-baccalaureate certificates in graphic design and UX design from George Mason University and University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively. Akar also designs historical hobby board games in his spare time; he won first place in the 2021 Zenobia Award for his forthcoming game, Tyranny of Blood.