The demand for UI/UX designers continues to grow as businesses seek to make their products more user-friendly and accessible. They play a critical role in ensuring that users can easily navigate products while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing interface. Whether it’s building a small business website or creating a new addicting mobile application, UI/UX designers are there to help get the job done.
If you’re looking to get a career in UI/UX design, you must have a set of particular skills. Having the right skill set will give you an advantage over other candidates and increase your chances of landing the role. Luckily, we got some of the most critical skills you need to become a UI/UX designer. Read on to know more.
What Do UI/UX Designers Do?
Before acquiring the skills to become a UI/UX designer, you must first understand the difference between UI and UX designing. These terms are often used together or interchangeably. However, UI and UX designing are different things.
UI designing focuses on the overall layout, feel, and interactivity of the elements users see on their screens when they use a technical product. UI designers are also responsible for anticipating user needs and ensuring the accessibility of the product.
On the other hand, UX designing is the process of creating the product itself. This task focuses on providing users with a meaningful and relevant experience while they navigate the service. It is also responsible for integrating the brand, design, usability, and function of the product into one design.
UI and UX design teams work closely together to provide significant contributions to the design process and ensure their product or service is easy to operate while effectively helping the user. They have different responsibilities, but both groups go hand in hand when creating websites and apps.
Skills To Become a UI/UX Designer
Now that we learned the overall concept of UI/UX designing, here are the skills you need to become successful in the field.
Technical Skills
These are skills that are more specialized in the world of UI/UX design.
Researching
One of the most important factors in creating an outstanding program is by having a strong foundation. And by that, we mean extensive research. Gathering qualitative and quantitative data about users through in-depth research and analysis will help you have an idea of how you will design the entire program better to meet your audience’s needs.
Wireframing and Prototyping
Envisioning the outcome of your design is the greatest aspect of a product’s development process. And you could accomplish this by creating wireframes and prototypes.
A wireframe is a web page layout that focuses on the most important interface elements. Meanwhile, a prototype is an initial sample of the product used for testing.
The UI/UX designer’s job is to create wireframes and prototypes to ensure that the project works well and properly before releasing the final product.
UX Writing
Having UX writing skills is crucial in UI/UX design as it significantly impacts the user’s experience. Writing a great microcopy, such as words for menus, buttons, or instructions, is needed for website navigation. It should be brief, practical, and intuitive of the brand’s ideals. And by also creating a great information architecture, you also make it simple for users to grasp where they are, where they need to go, and what comes next.
Coding
While coding is not necessary for UI/UX design, it might be beneficial to have a foundational grasp of application development. Learning different programming languages will let you realize how easy it is to make an app, even without the need for Python engineers. By understanding how they’re developed, you can have a more realistic approach to your design.
Creating a Visual Design
Aside from mastering different visual design tools and software, knowing the best practices in typography, color theory, layout, and general design, is a must-have skill for a UI/UX designer. They make the design process quicker and more efficient.
Soft Skills
These are more generic skills one can already have.
Creativity and Critical Thinking
Having knowledge about the process of creating a Ui/UX design isn’t enough to produce one that can draw anyone’s attention. One must have a flair for creativity to produce a unique and eye-catching product. Together with critical thinking, you can ensure that it’s not only visually pleasing but also efficient. You can create a design with appealing functionality, alluring aesthetics, and responsive interface elements.
Empathy
Putting yourself in the users’ shoes can give you a better understanding of what needs to be improved in your design. Because when you understand their concerns, you can also create an accurate solution. Always remember that the goal of UI/UX designs is to boost customer traffic. And you can only achieve that by giving your customers the best user experience.
Communication
As UI/UX designer working for corporations, it is important to have strong communication skills. Knowing that you’ll be explaining your design concept to non-designers, it is best to practice yourself in public speaking and presentations. Having communication problems might lose you your projects since it is the investors who fund and approve your design.
The Bottom Line
To become a UI/UX designer, one must have the skills to effectively create the perfect product. By learning about both soft and technical skills in this article, you can have a good chance of landing a job in UI/UX design. And if you want to hone the skills you already have or gain more, enrolling in professional programs is a step toward the right path. So, start your journey in UI/UX now!
Watch this video to learn more about UI/UX Design:
