Lauren Salk
Lead UI/UX Designer & Design Systems Specialist
Co-Founder of Black Heart Games
Designing scalable systems, shipping live products, and bridging UX, engineering, and art.
About
UX Case Studies
Lauren Salk’s
Portfolio
Some highlights from my UI/UX Career
My UX Case Studies
Check out my case studies of some UX challenges I’ve brought from ideation to completion, as well as some in-game interfaces that I’ve designed and implemented. I have worked extensively on solving the design, info architecture, layouts, and looks for features, HUDs, menus, full games, apps, and tools.
Click on the tiles to do a deep dive into my end-to-end process.
Heroes Feature UX
The Heroes Vertical in Game of Thrones: Conquest, a top grossing mobile game.
Wireframes
Design Docs
Process
View Case Study
PlinkIdle - Scaling Systems that Boost the Fun
How I worked through end-to-end UI/UX, art, and design on a lean indie team.
Art
UI
UX
Game Design
Unity Implementation
Etc
View Case Study
iCasino Games Design System
A design system for several genres and diverse games in each: Slots, Casual, Cards, etc.
Design System
Wireframes
Process
Design Docs
View Case Study
Live Ops Dev Tool Design
Creating a Live Ops dev tool for scheduling thousands of live events per month.
UXR
Wireframes
Prototyping
View Case Study
Social Casino App
A top-to-bottom product design framework (research, art, and UX) for a mobile social casino app.
Competitor Analysis
Wireframes
UI Art
Product Design
View Case Study
In 2024, I co-founded Black Heart Games.
My Indie Games
Most recently, I’ve been making a lot of indie games alongside my cofounder Dave and our awesome team at Black Heart Games.
Play the PlinkIdle Demo on Steam.
PlinkIdle is a retro-inspired game with an idle/incremental spin on a classic ball drop mechanic. Falling balls, rare buffs, and steady upgrades unlock colorful, cozy stages and immersive environments.
Available: 2026
Wishlist on Steam
Play Messy Hearts Volume 1 on Steam.
In this retro-inspired, pixel art, cozy visual novel, a workplace friendship begins to unravel.
FREE
Play on Steam
Play Rombo on itch.io.
A cozy sandbox adventure about a resourceful little robot on an alien planet. A little robot named Rombo is working hard to maintain an empty human colony on an alien planet.
Street Cleaning Day: Rat’s Revenge on itch.io.
In "Street Cleaning Day: Rat's Revenge," players immerse themselves in a silly world of retro-inspired 2D pixel art, where a courageous rat takes on the challenge of defending the streets against the soapy minions of a Street Cleaner.
Play on Itch.io
Games I’ve launched since 2008.
Shipped Titles
I’ve been a professional UI/UX Designer on several games, as well as a Content Designer. I’ve contributed design work to Lord of the Rings Online, Game of Thrones Conquest, and many, many more.
Casual Games Suite for PENN Game Studios
Lead UI/UX Design for an enormous iCasino games suite, systems for casual games, slots, cards, etc.
PENN Play Site
Game of Thrones: Conquest
Lead UI/UX Design for a top-grossing mobile Real Time Strategy game.
GOTC Site
Star Trek: Timelines
Mobile Gacha UI/UX Design.
Google Play Store
Lord of the Rings Online
Content Design for an MMORPG - Narrative and gameplay design and implementation.
LOTRO Site
The Walking Dead - March to War
Mobile RTS UI/UX Design for numerous features - combat, character collection, menus, and more.
Venture Valley Site
Venture Valley
Sole UI Artist & UX Designer for an educational strategy finance simulator for a client.
Fandom Wiki
I do art on the side.
Art
I’ve studied painting, drawing, and pen & ink. I also work digitally and do tons of pixel art.
About
UX Case Studies
Lauren Salk’s Portfolio
Lauren Salk
Lead UI/UX Designer & Design Systems Specialist
Co-Founder of Black Heart Games
Designing scalable systems, shipping live products, and bridging UX, engineering, and art.
Some highlights from my UI/UX Career
My UX Case Studies
Check out my case studies of some UX challenges I’ve brought from ideation to completion, as well as some in-game interfaces that I’ve designed and implemented. I have worked extensively on solving the design, info architecture, layouts, and looks for features, HUDs, menus, full games, apps, and tools.
Click on the tiles to do a deep dive into my end-to-end process.
Heroes Feature UX
The Heroes Vertical in Game of Thrones: Conquest, a top grossing mobile game.
Wireframes
Design Docs
Process
View Case Study
PlinkIdle - Scaling Systems that Boost the Fun
How I worked through end-to-end UI/UX, art, and design on a lean indie team.
Art
UI
UX
Game Design
Unity Implementation
Etc
View Case Study
iCasino Games Design System
A design system for several genres and diverse games in each: Slots, Casual, Cards, etc.
Design System
Wireframes
Design Docs
Process
View Case Study
Live Ops Dev Tool Design
Creating a Live Ops dev tool for scheduling thousands of live events per month.
UXR
Wireframes
Prototyping
View Case Study
Social Casino App
A top-to-bottom product design framework (research, art, and UX) for a mobile social casino app.
Competitor Analysis
Wireframes
UI Art
Product Design
View Case Study
In 2024, I co-founded Black Heart Games.
My Indie Games
Most recently, I’ve been making a lot of indie games alongside my cofounder Dave and our awesome team at Black Heart Games.
Play the PlinkIdle Demo on Steam.
PlinkIdle is a retro-inspired game with an idle/incremental spin on a classic ball drop mechanic. Falling balls, rare buffs, and steady upgrades unlock colorful, cozy stages and immersive environments.
Available: 2026
Wishlist on Steam
Play Messy Hearts Volume 1 on Steam.
In this retro-inspired, pixel art, cozy visual novel, a workplace friendship begins to unravel.
FREE
Play on Steam
Play Rombo on itch.io.
A cozy sandbox adventure about a resourceful little robot on an alien planet. A little robot named Rombo is working hard to maintain an empty human colony on an alien planet.
Street Cleaning Day: Rat’s Revenge on itch.io.
In "Street Cleaning Day: Rat's Revenge," players immerse themselves in a silly world of retro-inspired 2D pixel art, where a courageous rat takes on the challenge of defending the streets against the soapy minions of a Street Cleaner.
Play on Itch.io
Games I’ve launched since 2008.
Shipped Titles
I’ve been a professional UI/UX Designer on several games, as well as a Content Designer. I’ve contributed design work to Lord of the Rings Online, Game of Thrones Conquest, and many, many more.
Casual Games Suite for PENN Game Studios
Lead UI/UX Design for an enormous iCasino games suite, systems for casual games, slots, cards, etc.
PENN Play Site
Game of Thrones: Conquest
Lead UI/UX Design for a top-grossing mobile Real Time Strategy game.
GOTC Site
Star Trek: Timelines
Mobile Gacha UI/UX Design.
Google Play Store
Lord of the Rings Online
Content Design for an MMORPG - Narrative and gameplay design and implementation.
LOTRO Site
The Walking Dead - March to War
Mobile RTS UI/UX Design for numerous features - combat, character collection, menus, and more.
Venture Valley Site
Venture Valley
Sole UI Artist & UX Designer for an educational strategy finance simulator for a client.
Fandom Wiki
I do art on the side.
Art
I’ve studied painting, drawing, and pen & ink. I also work digitally and do tons of pixel art.
About
UX Case Studies
Lauren Salk’s Portfolio
Lauren Salk
Lead UI/UX Designer & Design Systems Specialist
Co-Founder of Black Heart Games
Designing scalable systems, shipping live products, and bridging UX, engineering, and art.
Some highlights from my UI/UX Career
My UX Case Studies
Check out my case studies of some UX challenges I’ve brought from ideation to completion, as well as some in-game interfaces that I’ve designed and implemented. I have worked extensively on solving the design, info architecture, layouts, and looks for features, HUDs, menus, full games, apps, and tools.
Click on the tiles to do a deep dive into my end-to-end process.
Heroes Feature UX
The Heroes Vertical in Game of Thrones: Conquest, a top grossing mobile game.
Wireframes
Design Docs
Process
View Case Study
PlinkIdle - Scaling Systems that Boost the Fun
How I worked through end-to-end UI/UX, art, and design on a lean indie team.
Art
UI
UX
Game Design
Unity Implementation
Etc
View Case Study
iCasino Games Design System
A design system for several genres and diverse games in each: Slots, Casual, Cards, etc.
Design System
Wireframes
Design Docs
Process
View Case Study
Live Ops Dev Tool Design
Creating a Live Ops dev tool for scheduling thousands of live events per month.
UXR
Wireframes
Prototyping
View Case Study
Social Casino App
A top-to-bottom product design framework (research, art, and UX) for a mobile social casino app.
Competitor Analysis
Wireframes
UI Art
Product Design
View Case Study
In 2024, I co-founded Black Heart Games.
My Indie Games
Most recently, I’ve been making a lot of indie games alongside my cofounder Dave and our awesome team at Black Heart Games.
Play the PlinkIdle Demo on Steam.
PlinkIdle is a retro-inspired game with an idle/incremental spin on a classic ball drop mechanic. Falling balls, rare buffs, and steady upgrades unlock colorful, cozy stages and immersive environments.
Available: 2026
Wishlist on Steam
Play Messy Hearts Volume 1 on Steam.
In this retro-inspired, pixel art, cozy visual novel, a workplace friendship begins to unravel.
FREE
Play on Steam
Play Rombo on itch.io.
A cozy sandbox adventure about a resourceful little robot on an alien planet. A little robot named Rombo is working hard to maintain an empty human colony on an alien planet.
Street Cleaning Day: Rat’s Revenge on itch.io.
In "Street Cleaning Day: Rat's Revenge," players immerse themselves in a silly world of retro-inspired 2D pixel art, where a courageous rat takes on the challenge of defending the streets against the soapy minions of a Street Cleaner.
Play on Itch.io
Games I’ve launched since 2008.
Shipped Titles
I’ve been a professional UI/UX Designer on several games, as well as a Content Designer. I’ve contributed design work to Lord of the Rings Online, Game of Thrones Conquest, and many, many more.
Casual Games Suite for PENN Game Studios
Lead UI/UX Design for an enormous iCasino games suite, systems for casual games, slots, cards, etc.
PENN Play Site
Game of Thrones: Conquest
Lead UI/UX Design for a top-grossing mobile Real Time Strategy game.
GOTC Site
Star Trek: Timelines
Mobile Gacha UI/UX Design.
Google Play Store
Lord of the Rings Online
Content Design for an MMORPG - Narrative and gameplay design and implementation.
LOTRO Site
The Walking Dead - March to War
Mobile RTS UI/UX Design for numerous features - combat, character collection, menus, and more.
Venture Valley Site
Venture Valley
Sole UI Artist & UX Designer for an educational strategy finance simulator for a client.
Fandom Wiki
I do art on the side.
Art
I’ve studied painting, drawing, and pen & ink. I also work digitally and do tons of pixel art.