Introduction
UX design encompasses a wide range of fields related to coming up with products for human use. Thriving in a design career now requires more than knowing how to push pixels on a canvas. Good user experiences come from understanding requirements from different departments that support a company. You will realize that your teammates might be referring to requests that you might not be familiar with, which shows that you are not yet familiar with how they work.
Different skills are required to carry out UX design.
What you have to be familiar with in order to be comfortable at your job is entirely up to how you intend to achieve the goals set before you. We all work at different companies, which means that each of us requires different skills to work effectively. There are some obvious skills you require, regardless of the industry or company you are working for. Let us explore some of them below:
Research skills
Unlike other designers, UX researchers bring research skills to a project, which is a plus for them. If you are not familiar with carrying out user research, then you won’t be able to discover real user needs. You can set research goals, select a research methodology, and track or measure the results. Carrying out user research pushes you towards seeking out more skills to come up with better user experiences.
Analytical skills
We can make sense of research results by carefully examining research subjects. You don’t have to report or use everything you discover when carrying out user research, which calls for proper analysis skills. Carefully examine the items you are including in your research to properly align business goals with user needs.
When making sense of research results, creatively think of how they will affect the overall user experience of the product.
Ideation skills
Designers can translate ideas into vivid objects like sketches through sketching and wireframing. Part of your role is to make sure that you get visual representations of what you intend to design from the user research you carry out.
Visual design skills
Refining ideas is important for making your teammates understand your point of view. You can refine your ideas through visual compositions that reflect your intended goal. Apart from refining ideas, you will also require visual skills to make sure that you follow the right company brand guidelines.
Interaction design skills
UI designers are tasked with understanding the properties of different mediums used to design for user interaction. Effectively working with text, audio, video, and images while you design can lead to improved user experiences.
Programming skills
In order for you to predictively design UI elements that won’t be impossible to transition into code, you need to at least have some working knowledge of how the web works. HTML and CSS are good starting points since they are the ones responsible for the look of things on the web. Once you learn how to play around with the two basic languages, there is a possibility that you will design better since you kind of know how your designs will be transitioned to code.
Advantages of being familiar with the majority of the skills
As someone looking forward to working effectively and efficiently as a designer, you require multiple skills that can serve you in the following ways:
- Easy and fast communication: You won’t lag behind as a result of a lack of specific skills that you could have picked up along the way.
- Smooth workflow: Knowing what skills to employ in the design process can help you navigate work-related difficulties.
- Improved user experiences: We get guidance towards adding the right features for an improved user experience once the right skills are employed.
There are other benefits to having multiple skills related to your role, but what’s important to note is making sure that you never stop acquiring the required skills. We shall explore more UX design-related fields in detail and the skills they entail in the next post.