Dave Swanson

Lead UX Designer
12+ Years Experience
Console, PC, Mobile, Tools

Former Lead Gameplay UX Designer at Zenimax Online with 12+ years of experience shaping player-centered experiences across AAA online multiplayer RPG shooters. Directed UX strategy and day-to-day operations for a 300+ developer project, managing a team of designers and ensuring quality standards in usability, accessibility, and player immersion. Expertise spans environment interactions, inventory management, progression systems, and tools development, reinforced by a strong foundation in visual design. Recognized for fostering mentorship, transparency, and alignment of design standards with organizational goals to elevate both product and team performance.

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tools

  • Confluence/Jira

  • Figma

  • Adobe Illustrator

  • Adobe Photoshop

  • Miro/Whiteboard

  • Miro/Whiteboard

  • Proprietary Engines

  • Unity UI | Unreal UI

  • After Effects

  • Atlassian products

  • MSFT Suite

  • Google Products

  • Teams

  • Slack

EXPERIENCE

Zenimax Online Studios

Lead Gameplay UX Designer, 2024 – Present

  • UX Product Owner for a new unannounced AAA Online multiplayer RPG shooter IP; ran day-to-day design operations and development for User Experience across a 300+ developer project.

  • Led and managed two UX designers (one senior, one mid-level): goal-setting, performance management, daily direction, feedback, and long-term mentorship.

  • Delivered clear feedback and final design approval on 100+ game and tools features with a focus on player-centered usability and accessibility. Some examples include pillar reputation features, environment interactions, inventory management, player progression, player identity and immersion, and User Interface Editor tooling.

  • Set quality benchmarks, defined UX standards, and ensured team health through balanced pacing.

  • Partnered in strategic planning in close collaboration with game directors and cross-team leadership.

  • Served as acting UX Director for 6 months, overseeing long-term UX decisions across Art, Design, and Engineering in addition to Lead responsibilities.

Senior UX Designer, 2020 – 2024

  • Led UX and UI design of internal AAA game engine, coordinating interdisciplinary research, prototyping, and validation across departments as well as style guide, pillars and best practices across the engine.

  • Responsible for all internal research and interviewing of development teams to meet complex game development needs and requests, including animation tooling, visual scripting, VFX, Combat tooling, User Interface development among others.

  • Championed internal culture initiatives to drive organizational alignment and adoption.

10/2020 - Present

Projects

  • AAA Sci-fi MMO RPG Third Person Shooter

  • Brand new proprietary Game Engine

  • Brand new proprietary UI Editor

  • Brand new proprietary version control, live tracking and launch tooling

Boss FIght Entertainment (Netflix)

UX Designer 2

  • Designed and maintained complex UI architectures for AAA mobile titles across multiple devices and studios including FPS, RPG, idle, strategy and match genres.

  • Led project UX from prototype through production, aligning UX design with overall product and business goals.

  • Owned interaction, experience, and interface design, ensuring consistency and usability across company-wide mobile titles.

  • Partnered daily with engineering, art, design, production, and PM teams to deliver front-facing features in Unity Engine.

  • Standardized cross-studio workflows by creating Confluence templates, playbooks, and best practices for pipelines and handoffs. Developed all UX workshops and led a studio wide initiative to rebuild foundational workshop practices across all studios.

  • Implemented multiple integral UI features, directly improving usability and player experience.

  • Acted as a team culture leader, running company-wide meetings, events, and tournaments to foster collaboration and engagement.

  • Built up a small team of UX designers in collaboration with the game design director.

11/2016 - 10/2020

Projects

  • Unannounced COD Mobile Shooter

  • Call of Duty Puzzle Ops

  • Unannounced Idle Battler

  • Anvil: War of Heroes (Mobile)

  • R&D Mobile Moba (Cancelled due to publisher acquisition)

  • Consultation: Angry birds Dungeon crawler (Cancelled)

  • Consultation: Dungeon Boss

Rival Esports

Head of Graphics Operations

  • Moonlit as Head of the Graphics Department for Rival Esports. Created and Oversaw a team of 7+ working both Live and Streaming Esports events as 3rd party Organizers with Developers such as Psyonix and Stunlock Studios.

6/2016 - 9/2018

Projects

  • Rocket League Rival Series (Psyonix)

  • Gold Rush

  • Battlerite Official Weekly Tournament (Stunlock Studios)

  • PRL Weekly Tournament

  • PRL Weekly 2v2’s

Biolucid

UX Designer

  • Sole UI/UX generalist for a medical VR and mobile app company, designing end-to-end experiences across iPad, Surface, desktop, and VR platforms using Unity.

  • Designed and delivered branded applications for major clients including AstraZeneca and Pfizer, with mobile apps deployed in 30+ countries worldwide.

  • Led company-wide branding efforts, creating and managing design systems, style guides, and internal repositories that supported both project execution and employee learning.

  • Collaborated cross-discipline with art, animation, and management teams while juggling 3–5 concurrent projects, consistently achieving fast turnaround and high-quality results

5/2013 - 10/2016

Education

Ringling College of Art and Design

BFA in Graphic Interactive Communications (GIC, Graphic Design)

2007 - 2013

Additional Extensive Coursework in:

  • Advertising Design

  • Psychology

  • Photography

  • Animation