Understanding the options for UI Design training can be overwhelming, often leading potential students to question the importance of certification and how to choose the best path to certification. This content aims to clarify the difference between certification and certificate programs, offer insights into the field of UI design, and how to choose the right program for skill development.

UI Design Certifications and Certificates

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your UI design skills, you might be overwhelmed by the different certifications and certificate programs available. You might also have many questions, such as how important it is for me to become certified. How can I become certified? Is there a difference between a certificate and a certification?This article aims to answer these questions so you can efficiently choose the right path toward a UI design certification. Keep reading to find out more.

What is UI Design?

UI design is the field of graphic design concerned with how digital applications look and how they communicate information to users. UI designers ensure that a digital application looks appealing and communicates effectively with its audience. UI Designers will create digital assets using graphic design programs and then build layouts and prototypes of those layouts to share for collaboration and testing. UI design pairs closely with UX design. UI designs concern themselves with how the digital application looks, whereas UX Designers concern themselves with how the digital application feels. These two fields work closely enough together that often, one designer will do both.

Visual and graphic design skills are vital to the field of UI design. UI Designers will need to learn how to utilize a variety of different graphic design programs, and they will need to understand theories and philosophies of composition. Images and graphics communicate a large amount of information in a small space, and it is the job of UI Designers to ensure that the information a digital application communicates aligns with the desired message that a client seeks to send. This will mean that UI design focuses heavily on any project's small details, assuring that all design elements come together to communicate ideas effectively. UI design is thus concerned with both the big picture design of a digital application and the visual design of the various individual components that are used to build the appearance of that digital application.

Read more about what UI design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with UI Design?

Training in UI design will help creatives build vibrant and instantly memorable web designs and user interfaces for digital applications. UI Designers can blend text, images, and graphics to create functional and evocative designs using the various design programs. Unlike traditional graphic design projects, UI design projects will let creatives maximize the affordances of the digital canvas they are given, and UI Designers will be able to create digital layouts that communicate effectively and quickly. With so much modern communication happening over the internet, learning UI design is a powerful tool for expressing the interests of oneself and one’s organization.

UI design is also a useful skill for creatives who aren’t necessarily planning to build a career out of their graphic design training but still want to optimize their digital presence or their organization. Given the number of web applications designed to ease the process of web development, individuals can start designing and building digital applications for themselves or their organizations without only a little bit of UI design training. This is a bonus for small businesses, up-and-coming charities or nonprofits, advocacy organizations, and any other interest group that may want to build a web presence but is hesitant to hire professional Web Designers.

Finally, learning UI design can give existing creatives an entirely new medium to express their ideas. While web design is concerned with the functional elements of a digital application, learning UI design will allow artists and designers to build unique installations and projects that would otherwise be impossible to construct in a physical space. While most people receiving UI design training will do so with professionalization, learning how to build assets and art pieces online can give artists a new space to experiment with their creative ideas.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

For those not in the industry, it can be confusing to learn that becoming certified means receiving either a certificate or a certification, which are two different processes. They both demonstrate that a holder is proficient in UI design skills, but they demonstrate that proficiency in different ways.

UI design certification is awarded to individuals who pass a proctored skills exam demonstrating proficiency. Each exam will be different, and many certifications expire after a set time. UI design certificates are awarded to individuals who complete industry-recognized skills training courses and function much like a diploma. These do not tend to expire but will take significantly longer to complete.

Top Certifications & Certificates for UI Design

Noble Desktop offers several options to students seeking a UI design certificate. Their career certificate programs, such as the UI Design Certificate program and the UX & UI Design Certificate program, provide students with expert instruction and confer an industry-recognized certificate of completion after the course. These certificates indicate that a student has received UI design training and significant training in complementary skills, such as graphic design programs or UX design training.

Certification exams are offered through third-party proctors, such as CIW. These exams vary in length and rigor, but they all reflect an industry-standard gauge of proficiency. Test takers are usually expected to have completed about 100 hours of training or on-the-job training.

Noble’s certificate programs are also ideal for picking up the training students will be expected to have should they choose to sit for a certification exam.

Should I Get Certified in UI Design?

Getting UI design certified is not a requirement for most professions that regularly use those skills. However, becoming UI design certified can help set designers apart from their competitors in the eyes of prospective employers. The most important thing on the job market is an impressive portfolio of sample designs to showcase your skills. Beyond this, being UI design certified communicates to employers that a candidate has received significant training and experience in graphic design, which can benefit candidates wanting to demonstrate that they are prepared to start working immediately.

How to Get Certified in UI Design

Students looking to become UI design certified may be unsure what route to take. The answer will almost always revolve around how comfortable students are with their skills and training. Students with a substantive amount of UI design experience, who have worked in the field of UI design, or who are merely looking to demonstrate basic proficiency in a program or two should consider sitting for a certification exam. This is because the lengthy certificate training programs will likely review the information they are already familiar with.

A professional certificate training course may be the best option for students who want this refresher course, students with no UI design experience, and students looking to learn a number of complementary skills. These courses are designed with training in mind, so the professional certificate is an added bonus for all the professional skills training. Plus, students taking these certificate courses will simultaneously prepare for the certification exam.

Learn UI Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Once students have committed to learning UI design, they can receive hands-on training in one of the many UI design classes offered through Noble Desktop. These courses, available both in-person at Noble’s Manhattan campus and online, provide students with career-focused skills training in an industry-recognized educational environment. Students will benefit from working with live instructors who can answer their questions, provide feedback, and help them overcome any learning challenges they encounter. Even online, Noble’s classes boast small class sizes so that students can receive individual attention from their instructors. Plus, Noble offers free retake options, meaning that a student can re-enroll in a completed course within one year to receive additional training, review material, or just get a bit more hands-on UI design experience.

Students looking to learn the basics of UI design may wish to consider enrolling in Noble’s UI Design Bootcamp. This course will provide students with hands-on experience, using practical examples, designing the appearance of web pages and mobile applications. Students will receive training in the basic theories of composition and design and one-on-one feedback from expert instructors on the make-up of their UI design projects. This course is ideal for students hoping to learn the ins and outs of how to apply their existing knowledge of visual design tools to the process of building digital applications. Students who wish to enroll in this course should have a working knowledge of the user experience design tool Figma. Students looking for this training can enroll in Noble’s Figma Bootcamp.

Noble offers a UI Design Certificate program for students who want a more career-focused learning experience that will teach students all of the important fundamental skills they will need to enter the workforce as UI design specialists. Students will learn theories of composition and design and how to apply those theories of design to web pages and digital applications. In addition, students will learn how to use design tools like Figma, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator. This course caps off with a series of lessons concerning how to build a design portfolio to take onto the job market. With portfolio design training, one-on-one career mentorship, and the reception of an industry-recognized skills certificate, this course is ideal for students looking to build new careers in UI design.

Key Takeaways

• Anyone looking to become certified in UI design has two options to achieve that goal. They can either pass an industry-recognized certification exam or complete a training program that grants a certificate of completion.
• Certification exams are ideal for UI design students who have already completed a training program or have significant on-the-job experience with UI design. Particularly ambitious students can attempt to self-teach in preparation for a certification exam.
• Certificate programs are ideal for UI design students looking for skills-intensive training and direct instruction. These courses are much longer but more akin to training seminars confer diplomas than certification exams.
• Regardless of how one opts to become UI design certified, Noble Desktop offers UI design training options to ensure a student succeeds regardless of how one opts to become UI design certified.