UI/UX design creates a positive user experience so that customers remain loyal to a product or brand. But, before carving a successful UI/UX design career, you must know each of these terms.
- UX, or user experience design, is a method to create products that meet the brand’s promise while ensuring meaningful user experiences for consumers. Designers specializing in UX conduct usability tests, study how people use the product, and iterate on the designs due to this input.
- UI or user interface design determines the look and feel of an application or website. Interface design includes features like colors, fonts, graphic design, menus, and buttons.
To become a successful UI/UX designer, you must first get a computer or laptop capable of handling complex design tasks. Then, since you need to install several design and editing tools, you must uninstall apps and programs on your computer you don’t need anymore. Using a cleaner app automates this process and ensures enough storage space for the tools you need for your project.
It is important to note that anybody can become a UI/UX designer without prior experience. It is unnecessary to come from related fields like web development, graphic design, or product design. New UX designers come from different industries and backgrounds, such as tech consulting or someone with knowledge in psychology or computer science. What’s important here is your passion and willingness to learn.
Continue reading to learn the essential tools and skills you need to become a UI/UX designer.
UI/UX tools
UI/UX designers use many tools and apps to help them complete a project. Start by installing designing tools to help you create and edit assets for use in designs. The top designing tools include Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, etc.
Then, it would be best if you used prototyping tools to showcase the design and feel of your project. The best prototyping tools include Proto.io, Adobe XD, and InVision.
To cover the design and structure of a website or product, designers need wireframing tools to help them iterate on wireframes. Some well-known wireframing tools are Balsamiq, UXPin, etc.
Skills to become a UX/UI designer
- UX research skills
Analysts and researchers working on user experience projects must be able to collect and assess quantitative and qualitative data on specific topics.
The research methods include user observations in controlled test environments or real-world user interviews, focus groups, and survey distribution.
- Innovation and creativity
As a UI/UX designer, you must be one step ahead in creativity and innovation. It is your job to develop out-of-the-box designs and push the boundaries of design aesthetics. Also, your designs must resolve user concerns and meet their needs.
- Visual communication skills
UI/UX designers must pay attention to enhancing the consumer experience. Thus, the visible layout must go beyond how the Internet seems and feels.
To become a successful UI/UX designer, think of the needs of the consumers when designing a website, app, or any digital product. The aim is to make it simple for the users so they find what they need.
- Attention to detail
Paying close attention to detail is one of the finest qualities of a UI/UX designer. But, unfortunately, the minor things make a huge difference rather than the picture.
- Understand emotional design elements
Understanding color psychology and emotional design impact the emotional journey of the customer. So to be a good UI/UX designer, one must develop a keen sense of emotional design elements. These include personalized interactions, micro-interactions, and simple lettering.
- Interaction design skills
For the generic public, a user-friendly interface is critical for any digital product they intend to use. Factors affecting how users use a digital project include physical space, aesthetics, sound, and movement. So, you must pay attention to information access, screen layouts, and user flow.
- Skills to prototype and wireframe
Wireframing refers to creating a visible illustration of the page’s format for a website or product. It allows you to understand how the consumer will use the product and the changes required to heighten the user experience. As a UI/UX designer, you must have the skills to draw diagrams of UI factors like menus, CTA buttons, and images.
Creating mockups of the product early on will give you an idea of the changes required so you don’t end up with a faulty website or product.
- Knowledge of design principles
For UI and UX designers, it is critical to understand design concepts. Designing software, website, or product is accessible when proven design concepts are followed.
- UX writing skills
Knowing how to write about UX is a specialized skill and a vital component of the experience and website navigation. You can achieve your goal by having strong UX writing skills to attract consumers to your digital product.
Build a work portfolio
Watching design tutorials or reading articles and books will only get you so far as to teach you the basics. But to become a professional UI/UX designer, you must start accounting for a solid body of work.
If you’re starting from scratch, you might ask yourself how to build a work portfolio. The solution is to get free UI kits, a set of pre-made design components containing the essential visual elements for a particular UI design, like menus, fonts, buttons, etc.
For starters, you can design mobile apps or websites using UI kits. Also, you can consider redesigning existing apps or websites. You can pick your favorite website or app and redesign its appearance to make them function better.
Also, you can create mockups for your designs and post them online.
Don’t shy away from asking for feedback
Feel free to ask for feedback. Starting from scratch, you’ll benefit from both positive and negative feedback. In addition, it will help you level up your skills and grow as a designer.
So embrace negative feedback and use it to enhance your designs. You can even post your designs on Dribble and other online channels to seek creative criticism.
Moreover, you can interact with the community members on Dribble and other such networks to find a design mentor. You can build your career by seeking their help.
Work on different projects to strengthen your skills
A key to being a successful UI/UX designer is having the flexibility to handle all types of projects with ease. So seek projects that use your knowledge of the UX design fundamentals and principles, user research strategies, design thinking process, design research strategies, etc. Besides, these projects must allow you to practice creating responsive and UI design elements.
As you proceed, you will develop soft skills like collaborating with project stakeholders and other team members, project management, empathy, and communication. You will even develop the skills to put yourself into the users’ minds of the product so you can create better designs.
Get hands-on experience
If you have created enough mock up designs and feel confident in your skills, it is time to get real-world experience.
The first step is to create an online design portfolio to showcase your skills and talents. Then, ensure to include your best work to impress employers.
Second, start applying for entry-level design jobs. You may not land the jobs right away but keep applying for them. Job hunting is one of the most critical stages of carving a successful career as a designer. Moreover, job hunting is where you can practice and sharpen your soft skills, such as communication skills.
Some relevant job titles you can apply for are UX Architect, UX Designer, Usability Tester, Product Designer, UX Strategist, Graphic Designer, Content Strategist, Visual Designer, UX Product Manager, etc.
You can also start working as a freelancer and apply for freelancing jobs online. These jobs will not tether you to any specific niche but allow you to design whatever interests you. There are several online platforms helping freelancing designers manage their projects, from contracts and proposals to manage their invoices and payments. You can sign up on one of those platforms, such as Bonsai.
Lastly, you must keep updating your portfolio with new work. This will help potential employers get a glimpse of your skills. They can also compare the latest designs with the old ones to get an idea of your growth.
Final thoughts
To become a good UI/UX designer, you don’t always need professional help because most of them are self-taught. But, you might need professional help later in your career when you hope to stay ahead of the curve. For now, understand the basic concepts of UX and UI design, hone your sense of creativity and aesthetics, invest in appropriate design software, and create a work portfolio. Upload your portfolio on several websites to get freelancing projects or join a company. Get started!
Head of Design at DesignBro and is responsible for UI/UX Design, managing the global designer community, and ensuring quality levels of both designers and designs remain high.
