How To Become A UX Designer

Working in UX requires a highly diverse skillset coupled with a passion for user-centric design. A career in UX can be very varied, challenging and financially rewarding.

There is no standard background or path that leads to a career in UX. However, the best UX designers typically share certain qualities and attributes, including:

• An ability to think both creatively and analytically
• A strong gift for empathy and a user-first mindset
• An interest in technology and how humans interact with it
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate

What Are The Most Important UX Design Skills?

UX designers don’t necessarily need a university degree to break into the field. Employers tend to look for a mixture of design skills, business acumen and soft skills. Some requirements you will often see in UX designer job descriptions include:

• Proficiency in creating user stories, personas, sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes and storyboards
• Ability to plan and conduct user testing, surveys, and formal evaluations
• Ability to iterate your work based on user testing data and qualitative feedback
• Understanding of interaction design principles and information architecture
• Ability to translate goals, objectives, and data into digital experiences
• Understanding of business metrics, and how your designs contribute to performance
• Strong communication and presentation skills; an ability to articulate and discuss your design decisions with clients and stakeholders
• Flexibility and adaptability

What counts as essential or desirable will vary depending on both the company and on the nature of the role.

Learning UX Design

Many people switch to UX design after gaining experience in another field like psychology, computer science, marketing or customer service. To get started in UX design, it’s important to do plenty of reading and research, to get to know the UX workflow, familiarize yourself with industry tools and build up a solid design portfolio. The most effective way to prepare for a career in UX is by taking a structured course and working on practical projects. Find out what exactly you should learn in a UX design course here and feel free to check out these free UX design tutorials.