A system is only as good as what it lets you read in the half-second before you decide what to do.

Hi, I'm Jose Alvarez

I'm a UI Artist. I design progression systems, character states and the interfaces that make a system readable at a glance — XP economies, reward tiers, streaks, fail states, and the visual language that carries all of it.

I built ESA (Emotional State Architecture) — a four-state machine where every state has a trigger, a psychological mechanism and an action it invites. It's the logic behind the characters, tiers and fail states in DuoGit and Cuak, and it's what I'm currently applying to a physical device with its own diegetic interface.

I also build what I design — UX Lab OS is an agentic tool I shipped to production, and I'm finishing a software development degree. It's not a separate career: it's why my prototypes behave instead of just animating.

Based in Colombia. UTC-5. Open to roles and contracts in game UI, UI art and interactive systems.

Jose Alvarez

What I Work On

  • Game UI — HUDs, menus, states and diegetic interfaces
  • Progression systems — XP economies, reward tiers, leaderboards
  • Character design as a feedback system
  • Fail states and comeback loops
  • UI style guides, iconography and motion

Highlights

  • DuoGit (progression system + HUD widget family)
  • Cuak (character-driven interface, playtested)
  • Created ESA — Emotional State Architecture
  • Shipped UX Lab OS (agentic tool, in production)
  • CalArts UI/UX Specialization
  • Software Dev degree in progress (TecMD)