The user experience in today’s digital-first world, where people engage with numerous apps, websites, and software applications every day, is the key to determining whether a product is a success or failure; this is why UI/UX designers are the unseen designers behind many products we use today. UI/UX designers are responsible for how we navigate through, experience, and ultimately use technology. So what is a UI/UX Designer?
Through this article, we will explore the details of this complex position, including the various responsibilities, expertise, skills, and the tremendous impact that UI/UX designers will have on the products you use daily.
Understanding the UI/UX Design Duo
Begin by clarifying what UI and UX are, since they are often used interchangeably despite representing two different yet very closely related disciplines.
UX Design is the strategic foundation for User Experience. It encompasses the way a product feels and works overall by enabling UX designers to address user needs, create a logical flow of information, and establish a satisfying user journey that progresses naturally from A to B; answering the question, “Does this product serve the user well?”
UI Design comprises the visual and interactive layers of a product. UI designers develop how a product looks/layouts, develop its interactive components (buttons/icons/spacing/typography/color scheme/responsive design), and turn the UX blueprint into an aesthetically pleasing, visitor-friendly interface; answering the question, “Does this product look nice and feel good?”
In most organizations, especially smaller teams, these roles come together as one: UI/UX Designer. A hybrid role that connects the design aspects with those of the user’s experience to produce a product that is functional as well as beautiful.
The Core Responsibilities: A Day in the Life of a UI/UX Designer
A UI/UX designer’s role can be captured by the adjectives cyclical, iterative, and collaborative. The designer usually does not perform one singular task, but instead, is involved in multiple tasks or actions that are dependent on each other throughout the entire development life cycle of the product.
- Research and Discovery (The UX Foundation)
Before a designer creates even a single pixel on screen, she must have a firm understanding of the “why” behind an application or website. It is at this phase that a designer acts in empathy and leverages data.
User Research – The designer performs user research by engaging in a variety of techniques, such as conducting interviews, surveys, and sessions of observation, in order to learn about their targeted users’ behaviors, needs, motivations, and pain points.
Competitive Analysis – The designer evaluates competitors’ products to discover the marketplace’s standards for a given industry, along with the opportunities within that marketplace, as well as what opportunities and holes are present within that marketplace.
Defining User Personas – Based on data, User Personas are fictitious characters that serve as a reference when a designer is designing for their ideal user, since they assist the designer in making design decisions.
Mapping User Journeys – A designer creates a visual representation of a user’s complete journey to accomplish their end goal and identifies potential friction points and points of delight.
- Ideation and Structure (The UX blueprint) determine the low-fidelity structure to form your ideas.
Information Architecture, or IA, is the clear and logical organization and structuring of your content in order for your user to find the information they are looking for easily.
Wireframes are low-fidelity layouts that outline the structure and hierarchy of pages or screens. They are like a blueprint of the building and do not include any design elements. However, they include all of the necessary components of an interface.
Prototype models allow you to build interactive models of your product before production (low to high fidelity), so you can test the flow and functionality of it before it goes into production.
- Visual Design and Interaction (Polish for UI) is about completing the personality and polish for your interface.
Visual design uses color theory, typography, iconography, and spacing to create a visually appealing interface that is on-brand.
Creating design systems allows for the creation of a design library (Components such as buttons, modals, form fields, and style guide) to ensure consistency in the product over time.
Micro-interaction allows for the subtle animations and feedback (such as a button changing color) that make your interface feel responsive and alive.
Responsive and Adaptive design means ensuring that your interface appears appropriately and functions correctly across all types of devices (desktop/tablet, and mobile).
- Testing and Validation (The Reality Check)
Validation is the centerpiece of usability testing through observing actual users interacting with the prototype or the product to find out about usability challenges in the product by recording and listening to feedback from these users about how they may have used the product and where they experienced challenges during their user journey on the product.
Through A/B Testing, you can compare two different variations of designs on a specific piece or element(s), for example, a button’s color or style, to determine which one performs better than the other.
Using Feedback Analysis is a process where designers can collaborate with developers, product managers, and any other key stakeholders to go through the cycle of iteration and improvement based on the log of user feedback and the designer’s knowledge of their users’ business goals.
- Collaboration and Handoff (Bringing the Design to Life)
The designer works very closely with the engineering team throughout the build phase of the design to provide ongoing answers to questions, to address any constraints, and to support the successful delivery of the final design according to the original design vision.
Design Handoffs are created through the use of various platforms such as Figma, Sketch, and/or Adobe XD, to provide engineering teams with accurate design specs, assets, and interactive prototypes based on the particular designs they create.
The Essential Skill Set of a Modern UI/UX Designer
A UI UX Designer’s roles demand a range of diverse skills.
- Hard Skills: This is the development of the toolset to perform the roles. The toolkit consists of:
- Design and Prototyping Tools: Knowledge of Figma (the current leader) and/or other industry-standard software (Adobe XD, Sketch, InVision) will ensure that designers have mastered the most current design and prototyping tools.
- Visual Design Principles: The designer has to have a very strong knowledge of design principles in visual design (layout, color, typography, iconography).
- Understanding of Interaction Design: Interaction design focuses on how users interact with different elements within the application and how the designer designs feedback for those users.
- Design of Information Architecture: Information architecture is the ability of a designer to organize and manage large amounts of information accurately and effectively.
- Basic Front-End Literacy: For the majority of designers, a basic understanding of HTML/CSS/JavaScript is a plus to developing usable designs and the ability to communicate with and work closely with developers.
- Wireframing and Prototyping: Designers develop both wireframes (low-fidelity) and prototypes (high-fidelity, interactive).
- Planning and executing user research and usability tests.
- Soft Skills ( The Human Element ):
- Empathy is at the core of UX. The ability to “walk a mile” in a user’s shoes and understand their point of view is a must-have trait.
- Communication / Storytelling designers need to communicate their design decisions to stakeholders, developers, and other members of their teams. Designers need to be advocates for users, ensuring that their needs are represented in every aspect of the user experience.
- Collaboration: Collaborating and thriving on a cross-functional team with PMs, developers, marketers, and other designers.
- Problem-solving a designer must have a problem-solving mindset that is geared toward solving complex problems with creative and user-centric solutions.
- Adaptability and Continuous Learning The fast-evolving nature of the digital environment requires great designers to be committed to continual learning about the latest tools and trends, as well as the latest methodologies used in design.
Specializations Within UI/UX Design
As the industry matures, individuals who design have more specialised skills than ever before. A UX Researcher is almost entirely focused on conducting user testing, researching users, and analysing data from the above; as such, they are considered the “research arm” of product design. An Interaction Designer creates how users interact with products, including micro-interactions (i.e., button presses, hover states, menu animations, etc.). A Visual/UI Designer is focused on developing deep knowledge of design systems, pixel-perfect user interfaces, and product brands. A UX Writer/Content Strategist is responsible for creating the words that live inside the user interface (referenced as microcopy) to ensure that the user has a clear understanding of what to do with the product. Product Designer is a general title that describes an individual who does all of the previous roles as well as understands business strategy and product roadmaps.
The Impact: Why UI/UX Design Matters More Than Ever
A highly qualified UI/UX designer does more than make screens; They also bring about measurable business results and represent the experiences of people.
Makes Users Happy & Loyal: Providing users with an easy and enjoyable experience encourages users to return and continue to support that brand.
Improves sign-up and purchase rates, & other metrics: Users who navigate with ease and clarity for calls to action are way more likely to create accounts, make purchases, etc.
Decreases Costs: By identifying and addressing visual problems during the design process, designers can reduce the cost of fixing them in software development after launch.
Improves Inclusivity: Good design creates access to more users; this means that everyone, regardless of ability, can use the product.
Provides Competitive Advantages: Users will choose to use your products if they are more enjoyable than your competitors’.
Conclusion
A UI/UX Designer is a creative individual who wears many hats. They are designers, thinkers, innovators, advocates, and more. They bridge the gap between the needs of users and what companies want from them. While they do much of their work behind the scenes, all users benefit from their efforts through a smooth process every time a user downloads an app, completes a transaction online, or has an enjoyable experience on a website.
This is a difficult job to do because it requires the combination of both logical thinking and creativity, but it is also very fulfilling. It allows designers to tackle real-world issues while helping individuals interact better with technology.
If you are a hiring manager looking for someone to assist you in hiring a UI/UX Designer, someone interested in collaborating with a UI/UX Designer, or someone who is considering pursuing the position of UI/UX Designer, understanding the diversity of the role will help to create a product that performs well, but also has a positive user experience.