The UX/UI designer is a hybrid of two disciplines, combining the creativity and design skills of a graphic or web designer with the analytical thinking required to understand user behaviors. Our guide will help you decide if this career path is right for you.
A user interface (UI) is the design, look and feel of an app or website. It’s what you see on your screen every time you open up any software application on your computer.
User experience (UX) is how it feels to use some software or online service. UX is about the actual experiences and feelings a user gets while using that product.
A UX/UI designer is responsible for designing both of these elements, which must work side by side to ensure the quality of the overall experience.
UX/UI designers use their user research knowledge, design process skills and sense of interaction to create amazing user experiences that are intuitive, engaging and memorable for the end-user. They use wire-frames to present their ideas visually before they go into development. These wire-frames will be used as the blueprints for the final product.
To become an effective UI/UX designer, you’ll need to be highly creative and artistic. There are a number of skills you will need including the following:
- strong writing skills
- problem-solving ability
- excellent Photoshop/Illustrator/Premiere Pro skills
- ability to translate written requirements into visual designs
- able to handle rapid iterations of design changes on tight deadlines
- it’s recommended that you learn the basics of HTML and CSS.
How Much Money Can You Expect to Make?
A UI/UX designer can expect to make between $45,000 and $80,000 per year. Depending on where you live or work (located in more metropolitan areas), you can make more or less than this range.
We recommend looking for jobs that pay between $45,000 and $65,000 per year. This is a comfortable middle ground salary where designers can handle their costs of living (rent/mortgage, food, transportation) without sacrificing too much of their financial future.
Expected salaries for UI/UX designers. Source: Payscale.com
Best Cities to Live and Work as a Designer
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these are some of the best cities where you can work as a UX/UI designer:
Columbus, OH Seattle, WA Washington DC Atlanta, GA San Jose, CA Portland, OR
It’s important to note that your expected salary can vary depending on which city you choose. For example, if you are a UX/UI designer in Atlanta making $64,000 per year and move to San Jose where the average pay is $84,000 per year , this will raise your salary greatly.
What Does a UX Designer Do?
UX Designers are typically responsible for generating creative design ideas, wire-framing out interface designs, creating mockups and prototypes of their ideas, testing them with users to ensure that they meet user expectations and finally conducting usability tests to ensure that user feedback is positive. They also request feedback from users and conduct user interviews to determine the ease of use and appeal of their designs.
UX designers also design and create new Web applications and redesign existing ones, using a variety of software programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Google Sketchup to make high-resolution mockups that will be made into the final product. The UX designer is also responsible for collecting, documenting and prioritizing feedback from users. This type of information will allow them to make changes to the product or website before it goes live to the public.
User Experience Designers also consider how best to balance features for different types of customers. These include beginners, intermediate learners and expert users who will each have different needs in terms of the interface layout, what information is provided, tutorials or other guidance that’s offered for getting started with a new product.
UX Designers typically work closely with developers (web app builders) in order to build prototypes – which are interactive models that show how a proposed design would function on an actual device before any coding is done.
What Does a UI Designer Do?
A UI designer is responsible for the look and feel of a product. This person is responsible for the user interface (UI). They make the final decisions on the design of any product, from icons to navigation structures to typography.
The UI designer must be able to think visually and understand how people interact with different products. This job entails using sketches and wireframes to create prototypes and mockups of all screens in a product.
It also involves translating this into final assets that can then be implemented into the product by engineers. The designer must always consider how well their design meets users’ needs and incorporates feedback from usability testing as well as other types of research throughout the process.”
What are a UX/UI Designer Job Responsibilities?
A UX/UI designer’s main responsibility is to create user-friendly interfaces. They do this by analyzing data of feedback from users, conducting research on the intended audience, and more. They also create wireframes and prototypes, in order to test the interface before it goes into production. [1]
In this job role, you might be expected to:
– design user interfaces for websites
– design mobile apps
– perform usability testing
– research users with focus groups
– analyze data from tests on
What are the Educational Requirements for a UI/UX Designer
If you want to be a UI/UX designer then you’ll need to get formal training. You have a number of different options based on personal preference and financial resources. You can go ahead with an undergraduate degree in design or computing with as much concentration as possible on UX/UI Design principles.
You also have an abundance of online learning and BootCamp options offering great certifications and degrees that will help to boost your resume.
Here’s a few options you have for getting the right training in this field:
- Bachelor’s degree in the field of design
- Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline
- Attend a Bootcamp in UI/UX Design
- Associate degree in a related discipline
- Certificate from a trade school or community college
What is the Job Outlook for UX/UI Designer
The job outlook for a UX/UI Designer is considered to be very good. In fact, there’s been a recent boom in the number of jobs available for this position. As more and more companies become aware of the importance of UX/UI Designers, the job outlook will remain favorable for this profession.