Freelance 2D Game UI Artist

Agate; United States; Remote; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Agate is seeking a mid-level UI/UX artist to lead visual development for game interfaces. You will translate art direction and UX into cohesive visual styles, build style guides, and create high-fidelity mockups and assets that integrate with gameplay systems.

You will collaborate with UX designers and art directors to ensure a clear information hierarchy, responsive UI across resolutions, and polished motion graphics that enhance player immersion.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience in game UI/UX art.
• Mastery of composition, visual hierarchy, typography, color theory, and icon design.
• Proficiency with 2D/vector tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma.

Responsibilities

• Visual Development of the UI.
• Style Guide Creation to ensure visual consistency across menus and screens.
• Wireframing & Mockups to convert UX into high-fidelity concepts and prototypes.
• Asset Production of game-ready UI assets including buttons, panels, icons, fonts, badges, and HUD elements.
• Motion Design & UI FX Concept to define transitions, micro-animations, and visual effects for tactile feedback.

Skills

UI/UX design

Visual design

Typography

Color theory

Icon design

Portfolio presentation

Tools

Photoshop

Illustrator

Figma

Unreal Engine (UMG)

Job description

Responsibilities

Visual Development of the UI.

• Concept Ideation & Mood boards: Translate Art Direction and UX into visual styles, color palettes, and thematic Game UI Concept.
• Style Guide Creation: Build and maintain comprehensive UI style guides to ensure visual consistency across all menus and screens.
• Wireframing & Mockups: Convert low-fidelity UX wireframes and user flows into high-fidelity visual concepts, mockups, and interactive prototypes.
• Asset Production: Design and polish game-ready vector and raster assets, including buttons, panels, icons, fonts, badges, health/resource bars, and map overlays.
• Motion Design & UI FX Concept: Define UI transitions, micro-animations, button feedback, and visual effects (VFX) to make menus feel tactile and responsive, also can be communicated to the UI Programmer or Technical Artist for implementation.

Nice to Have

• Engine Integration: Import UI assets directly into game engines (such a Unreal Engine) and work with technical artists or programmer.

Collaboration

• Partner with UX Designers to guarantee clear information hierarchy and intuitive navigation.
• Align with Art Directors to harmonize the UI art styles with other assets on screen.
• Iterate based on feedback, performance constraints, and multi-resolution/ scaling requirements.

Requirements

Essential Skills & Qualifications

• Experience: Typically 3+ years (mid-level) of professional experience in game UI/UX art.
• Core Design Fundamentals: Mastery of composition, visual hierarchy, typography, color theory, and icon design.
• Software Proficiency:
  • 2D/Vector tools: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and preferably Figma.
• Portfolio: A strong, focused portfolio showing the complete design thinking process—from early wireframes and moodboards to final polished in-game screens and motion animations.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Engine Experience: Practical familiarity implementing UI in Unreal Engine (UMG, Widget Blueprints).
• Experience with UI animation/spine/motion graphics tools.
• Knowledge of accessibility features (e.g., scalable text, colorblind-safe palettes, flexible HUD layouts).
• Shipped/ Created at least one commercial title (PC, console, or mobile).