Authentication

Simplifying authentication while creating a secure and seamless onboarding experience.

Authentication is the first interaction users have with a digital product. It sets expectations, establishes trust, and directly influences how easily users can access the platform. For G-loot, the authentication experience needed to support multiple sign-in methods, account management flows and onboarding scenarios while remaining simple, fast and intuitive for a global gaming audience.

Research & analysis / UX / UI / Prototype / User testing

2022

G-Loot, later rebranded as Stryda, was a Stockholm-based esports company specializing in stats tracking, player identity, and competitions. It permanently ceased operations in 2023.

New design

The challenge:

Authentication is more than a login form. Users needed to:

Create new accounts
Recover forgotten credentials
Connect third-party authentication providers
Understand authentication errors
Access the platform with minimal friction

The challenge was to create a cohesive experience that balanced simplicity, security and flexibility across every authentication scenario. Before designing new interfaces, we mapped the complete authentication journey. This revealed several opportunities to improve the experience:

Reduce friction: Users should reach the platform with as few unnecessary steps as possible.
Improve clarity: Authentication failures often leave users uncertain about what happened or how to recover.
Maintain consistency: Registration, login, password recovery and verification should feel like one connected experience rather than separate features.
Support future growth: The solution needed to accommodate additional authentication methods and evolving product requirements.

Design goals:

The redesign focused on creating an authentication experience that was:

Intuitive for first-time users
Efficient for returning users
Consistent across all authentication flows
Scalable for future features
Visually aligned with the overall product experience

Browse the gallery to explore the research findings on the previous flow

Watch the new flow

The solution:

The final experience introduced a simplified and more cohesive authentication system:

Streamlined onboarding: The registration flow was redesigned to minimise unnecessary steps while maintaining essential account setup requirements.
Clearer feedback: Validation messages, loading states and error handling were redesigned to help users understand what was happening and how to resolve issues.
Consistent interactions: Common interaction patterns were applied across login, registration and account recovery to reduce the learning curve.
Scalable foundation: The design established reusable patterns that could support future authentication methods and account management features.

Outcome:

The redesigned authentication experience created a smoother entry point into the platform while providing a consistent foundation for future product growth. The solution helped users:

Complete authentication with fewer interruptions
Recover from errors more easily
Understand authentication states more clearly
Move from account creation to product usage more efficiently

Reflection:

Authentication is one of the few product experiences that every user encounters, making even small usability improvements highly impactful. This project reinforced the importance of designing for edge cases as carefully as the primary flow. Error handling, recovery scenarios and clear system feedback are just as critical as the login screen itself in creating an experience users can trust.