Are you considering a career in UI Design? Learn about the key requirements to land a job in this field, from education and experience to portfolio presentation and professional UI training programs.

Key Insights

  • UI Designers design user interfaces and develop prototypes based on user research. Their work is vital across various industries, including financial and banking, healthcare apps, retail apps, education, automotive, and gaming.
  • About 71% of UI Designers hold bachelor’s degrees in either graphic design or computer science, but a degree is not necessarily required for this role. Valuable skills and work experience often carry more weight in the field than formal education.
  • Entry-level jobs in UI design usually require 0-2 years of experience. Gaining work experience through internships or volunteering can be beneficial in landing a full-time position.
  • UI Designers need a variety of technical and creative skills, including an understanding of visual and interaction design principles, wireframing, prototyping, and user research. They also need soft skills such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving.
  • A strong portfolio showcasing best work, design process, and versatility can be a decisive factor in landing a job in UI Design. Similarly, tailored resumes and comprehensive LinkedIn profiles are crucial in presenting a compelling professional image.
  • Noble Desktop offers comprehensive UI training courses and bootcamps, teaching essential skills and popular industry tools for UI Design. Students can attend these in person or online and will have the opportunity to build a professional portfolio to showcase their skills to potential employers.

This article will cover the requirements to land a job as a UI Designer. While UI Designer skills and tools will vary between jobs, this will cover hard requirements across industries.

What is a UI Designer?

A UI Designer designs user interfaces, usually for digital applications such as the web, mobile, or video games. They build visual and interactive elements such as buttons, menus, and widgets. They also develop prototypes and refine their designs based on information gained from user research. Primary job duties of UI Designers include:

UI Designers craft designs for various industries, such as financial and banking, healthcare apps, retail apps, education, automotive, and gaming. A UI Designer’s primary goal is to design applications so that users intuitively understand how to use them and perform the actions or find the information they need without learning how to use the application first. UI Designers play a significant role in influencing how we use digital technology in our daily lives. 

Read more about what a UI Designer does.

Education

Around 71% of UI Designers hold bachelor’s degrees in either graphic design or computer science. However, obtaining a degree to become a UI Designer is not required. Since UI design is an interdisciplinary field, no single degree will cover everything a UI Designer needs to know. Graphic design won’t teach technical skills, and computer science won’t teach design. Because of this, work experience is valued more in the field than in formal education.

Even if you choose to pursue a degree, you’ll likely still have skill gaps to fill. The best way to fast-track a career in UI design is to attend a UI design course that comprehensively covers all the skills you need to learn. In addition to graphic design and computer science principles, you’ll also learn to use the most popular industry tools. 

Should you choose not to pursue a degree or a formal UI design training course, you can locate free resources to learn UI design independently. You’ll need to develop personal projects and build a portfolio of your work. Then you can seek an entry-level or a related job position to get your foot in the door. Deciding to train on your own will be a more difficult path than choosing either form of education.

Read more about if you need a degree to become a UI Designer. 

Experience

Is it possible to become a UI Designer with no experience? Technically, yes. Entry-level jobs in UI design usually require 0-2 years of experience. At this stage, employers are interested in soft skills, such as communication, empathy, and personal motivation. However, you’ll still need to know your way around industry tools (Figma) and concepts (visual and interaction design). If you don’t attend professional training to learn these skills, you can find resources to teach yourself. 

Once you learn the required skills, landing an entry-level position may take several months. In the meantime, you should continue honing your skills and gaining as much experience as possible to appeal to potential employers. You can gain experience through internships or volunteering. Some individuals may need to accept a position in an adjacent field, such as graphic or website design, before finding a position in UI design.

Even upon entering the field of UI design, an authentic UI Designer always continues learning. There are always new and emerging technologies to learn and design principles to hone. Advanced positions in UI design require three to seven years of industry experience and demonstrated exceptional skills. Those wishing to land senior roles should continue developing their skills by attending UI design conferences and events and taking advantage of leadership opportunities at work.

Skills

UI Designers need to have a variety of technical and creative skills. They need to understand the principles of visual and interaction design, how these principles affect visual aesthetics, and how users interact with a product. UI Designers also need to understand how to conduct wireframing, prototyping, and user research, as well as how each stage in the project lifecycle informs design creation and iteration. 

UI Designers also require soft skills. Empathy allows them to put themselves in the user's shoes and better understand user needs during initial interface design, user testing, and informed design iteration. Communication skills are needed to interact with users and conduct user testing, as well as to present design ideas to stakeholders, listen to feedback, take constructive criticism, and defend design decisions. UI Designers should also enjoy problem-solving and have an interest in emerging technology. As new advances are made in technology nearly every day, UI Designers should be interested in continuously learning new skills.

Read more about what skills you need to become a UI Designer.

Portfolio

A portfolio provides essential insights into a potential hire's skills and thinking process. A portfolio should showcase your best work, not every project you’ve even created. Focus instead on 3-5 projects that showcase different skills and designs. Employers want to see your versatility. At the same time, you want your portfolio to showcase your goals as a designer. Choose projects representing the work you want to continue doing in your career. For example, if you're going to design websites, your portfolio shouldn’t only showcase software application designs. It’s also a good idea to include information about your goals as a UI Designer and things you want to learn or areas you wish to improve.

A portfolio should showcase more than just finished designs. Make sure to document the need your project was designed to fulfill and show each step of your creative and technical process. Also, go into detail about the methods and tools used. This gives employers key insights into your thinking process and problem-solving skills.

Portfolios should be fully polished. If you have a network, it’s a good idea to show your portfolio to others for opinions and identify any changes that need to be made. A good portfolio should showcase not just your skills but also a bit of your personality. It should give employees a sense of “who” you are as a UI Designer and an employee. 

Resume & LinkedIn Profile

Resumes and LinkedIn profiles should showcase work relevant to the job you’re applying for. Resumes should generally be no longer than two pages. However, you should stick to 1 page unless you have a lot of relevant job experience to include. LinkedIn Profiles can account for all your work.

You should tailor your UI design resume to the job position you are applying for. Review the job posting and identify the most critical skills or qualifications the company requires. Make sure to highlight how you meet these qualifications on your resume. It’s best to list relevant skills and industry tools you know how to use. Since your skills and experience are more important than your education, you can briefly include your education at the bottom of your resume.

Your resume should showcase your work achievements and use action verbs such as delivered, led, advised, and coordinated. If you can, include numbers and metrics that show the measurable impact of your work. If you don’t have much work experience, you can build skills or a project-based resume that showcases your abilities rather than work accomplishments. 

Your LinkedIn profile is a place to showcase yourself as a UI Designer. Your headline is the first thing your audience sees beneath your name and profile picture. You should briefly state what you do and what you’re searching for, whether that’s a new job, a design network, career accomplishments, etc. You can expand on your goals in the “About” section, where you can tell the story of who you are as a UI Designer. 

The experience, skills, projects, and education sections serve as your resume. LinkedIn even has the option to import your resume. However, absent a specific job position to apply for, you can list more work experience here. An important feature of LinkedIn is the ability for colleagues, bosses, and mentors to verify the skills and experience you list. Be sure to use this to prove your capabilities to potentially interested parties.

References

References are people who can speak to your work ethic positively and at length. They don’t need to be people working in UI design, but it certainly helps if they do. References should be people who have supervised you, but if a colleague knows your work better or would be more positive, you can include them. Teachers are acceptable, but you should never use friends or family. Don’t ask for references from people if you’re unsure what they will say about you.

Learn the Skills to Become a UI Designer at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers several UI design classes for those seeking professional instruction in pursuing a career as a UI Designer. Classes are small and feature expert instructors and free retake options. Courses can be attended in person in NYC or online from anywhere. 

The UI Design Certificate is designed to prepare students to launch a career in UI design. You’ll learn essential design principles as well as how to use the most popular UI design tools: Figma, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Throughout the course, you’ll complete a number of hands-on projects and build a portfolio to showcase your skills to potential employers.

Should you be interested in UX design as well as UI design (the two fields commonly overlap), you can pursue the UX & UI Design Certificate. You’ll learn the design principles and industry tools of both UX & UI design, build a professional portfolio, and receive one-on-one job preparation assistance. 

Bootcamps are also available where you can learn the ins and outs of the most popular UI design tools, including Figma, Photoshop, and Illustrator. These courses are open to pure beginners and are designed to guide you to mastery of the program. 

If you’re not ready to jump into a full UI design course, you can explore Noble Desktop’s learning hubs. These hubs are designed to inform you about a topic and offer learning resources, including free tutorials and self-guided education. UI design learn hubs include:

Key Takeaways