User Experience (UX) Designers are responsible for creating websites, mobile apps, and software applications that are easy and enjoyable to use. Through research and design techniques, they test user attitudes and behavior and use that information to design the best products possible.
Where Do UX Designers Work?
Since Apple’s embrace of user experience design in the 1990s, the field has grown and design thinking continues to expand to other fields, although more UX Designers are employed in computing and IT than in any other industry. Some of the areas where UX Designers work are as follows:
- Computing and IT
- Finance and insurance
- Consulting
- Education
- Independent contracting
- Government and military
- Healthcare
- Retail
- Media
- Advertising
- Telecommunications
- Business
- Entertainment
- Aerospace and automotive
- Non-profit groups
Most UX Designers work full time and are employed in industry, while 18% work as freelancers. Many jobs are currently remote and designers work mostly from home. They use various software applications to collaborate and share ideas and designs with team members.
What Do UX Designers Do?
UX Designers can be involved in the creation and development of all kinds of products that people use, but predominantly websites and mobile apps. Some other products that may be created by UX designers include:
- Enterprise apps
- Docs and tutorials
- Desktop applications
- Style guides
- Cloud services
- Artificial intelligence
- Medical hardware/software
- Customer service or business processes
- Social/collaborative software
- Kiosks
- Packaging
- Server/network/sensor systems
- Smart environments
- Installations/interactive exhibits
Research
One aspect of a UX Designer’s job is research into the behaviors and attitudes of users. Tests like card sorting, eyetracking, and A/B testing provide insight into what users value in the experience, and interviews and surveys record users’ attitudes. Quantitative and qualitative methods help researchers make decisions on which problems to tackle first or how to fix them. Good UX design is based on research data.
Design
After the research is finished, a UX Designer creates personas, scenarios, and user flows or journey maps to study the users’ experience. They hold workshops and brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas of what to focus on in the design phase. They will work with other members of a team to create prototypes of products and test them. These can be simple designs on paper or more involved digital designs created with software tools. Designers continue to test the product and make changes until the team approves the design and passes it on to the developers for coding.
The design process is considered collaborative and iterative. This means that a team works together to create the design rather than one person making the whole thing and that the product is constantly tested and the design changes with the new information.
What Skills Does a UX Designer Need?
In addition to research and prototyping, UX Designers need to have an understanding of other aspects of project development, such as:
- Project management
- Group Facilitation
- Writing
- Public Speaking
- Visual Design
- HTML/CSS
- Data Analysis/analytics
- Data visualization
- Market research
- Content strategy
- Instructional design
Other skills that are useful for UX Designers are what are considered soft skills like:
- Communication
- Empathy
- Listening
- teamwork/collaboration
- Problem-solving
- Design
- Technical expertise
- Business understanding
How Much Do UX Designers Make?
Jobs for UX Designers are plentiful and expected to grow over the next ten years. The salary a designer makes depends upon the amount of experience, with salaries often starting in the area of $75,000 and going up to over $130,000.
What Education Do UX Designers Need?
While 82% of UX Designers have a college degree, very few have a degree in UX design. The most common fields include computing and graphic design, but areas like psychology, anthropology, sociology, and communications are common. You do not absolutely need a degree to get a job as a UX Designer. Experience and a strong portfolio of work can help you find a job in the field without going to college.
What Apps and Tools Do UX Designers Use?
UX Designers use different types of software in their work. These tools allow them to design mobile apps and websites often without having to do any coding. Some of the most common are listed below.
Adobe XD
Adobe XD is a design tool based on vector graphics that allows you to create digital designs for everything from mobile apps to websites. XD is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud and works well with other CC apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Animate. There are many repeating features that make your workflow move faster, and XD also includes collaboration features that make it easy to share and test prototypes. You can run XD on both macOS and Windows.
Sketch
Sketch is a Mac application that doesn’t work on Windows. You can use vector editing tools or design at the pixel level. It allows you to scale to any screen size and speed up your workflow with mathematical shortcuts. As with XD, there are repeatable components and you can organize your design so everything is easy to find. Sketch recently added real-time collaboration, so now it is easier for a team to work together, and you can also create libraries of the elements the team is using. There are also many plugins available to customize your workspace.
InVision
InVision works to support the design process from brainstorming and collaborating with Freehand, or prototyping with Cloud, or designing with Studio. You can create design libraries for the team. InVision works on the web, Android phones, and iPhones.
Figma
Figma is another design application. It includes FigJam, which provides an online whiteboard for collaboration to let your design team plan, define, and workshop together. You can use the pen tool for vector graphics or plugins like an instant arc design. Auto Layout moves and stretches items automatically, and Figma makes the work move along efficiently. Figma runs on a browser so it will work with macOS, Windows, or Linux systems.
How to Learn UX Design
If you would like to learn how to use software like Adobe XD in order to switch to a career in UX design, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn XD, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and will cover the design process and software in much more depth than tutorials can. Another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.
It’s easy to take UX design classes and start a new career. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design courses and attend from anywhere. Find UX bootcamps in your area and get started in a new direction today.