Who is a UX designer? To examine the employment conditions and the necessary skills for a UX designer, it is necessary first to know who a UX designer is and what his duties are. UX design is one of the new and popular jobs in technology.
This design is not limited to how the web page looks and what happens when you click each button. UX designers design the user’s feelings, so it is necessary to have a set of abilities required for this feeling design.
Soft skills for a UX designer
Many job titles and employment conditions have been considered soft skills. These skills include social and behavioral behaviors that allow you to work with others. One of the most important soft skills you must have as a UX designer is the power of understanding and empathy. A UX designer must be able to empathize with users and understand their needs.
Understanding the user’s mentality, compassion, and sympathy with him will allow you to provide the right solutions for the problems that arise. Working in a team is another mandatory skill for a UX designer. Designers must be able to collaborate with other team members, such as developers, programmers, and graphic designers. These communication skills are also necessary to interact with customers and stakeholders.
One of the skills that help UX designers to keep their knowledge up to date is curiosity. There is always something to learn in UX and computer activities, and the process will never stop. Studying and learning, and following innovative methods will help you become a professional UX designer. The ability to prioritize and organize tasks is another soft skill required for UX designers.
When designing a user experience, you will deal with a huge amount of information. For this reason, it is necessary to be able to organize this information. Also, prioritization helps you decide on the areas the team needs to focus on. In addition, designers may sometimes have to work on several projects at the same time. In such a situation, prioritization helps to manage your time more efficiently.
Familiarity with wireframe and prototyping as a UX designer
The cornerstone of UX design and production of the UX designer’s mental plan is wireframing and prototyping. There is a lot of software that you can use for prototyping. Maybe this question is raised for you as well, what is the reason for the importance of wireframes? The user’s mental plan may not lead to increased interactions. If the planned plan is unsuccessful, the group’s energy and strength should not be focused on its implementation. Formatting and prototyping can be considered the first and most important step for UX design.
User research
In some collections, research on users is not the responsibility of the UX designer. But a UX designer must have the power of research and understand research results. Researching the user and knowing the research results will help you be more successful in the next designs. User research helps to know the needs of the audience well. There are different methods for this. Creating user personas, interviewing users, sorting studies, etc., are among these methods.
One of the most important interactions that a UX designer needs to learn in UX and communication with the user is listening well. You should listen to the users’ feedback and find the answer to their needs in the best way. The result of your work will be heard in the form of different feedback from different people. For this reason, it is necessary to be critical and not be defensive.
Customers, users, shareholders, and team members are entitled to express suggestions and criticisms. So it is better to get used to this process and strengthen the spirit of criticism. Of course, keep in mind that hearing criticisms do not mean applying them in UI and UX design. As a UX designer, you should include only useful and principled comments in your schedule.
Familiarity with technical principles as a UX designer
Although, as a UX designer, you do not need to learn coding knowledge, you must be aware of the general principles of programming. Otherwise, your final designs may not be implemented. This problem shows another reason for the importance of interaction and teamwork for UX designers.
Familiarity with programming principles will help you create a scalable UX design. Understanding programming and knowing about it allows you to design economically and can be done quickly.
UX is a very broad science. For this reason, all your previous experiences in your field of study or job can be helpful. For example, psychology and sales experiences can greatly impact your current job as a UX designer. Other general knowledge, such as business, will help the designer become a professional.
Writing skills
As a UX designer, it is necessary to strengthen your writing skills to find the best language to communicate with users. It is good to know that even the wording of error messages, explanations, subtitles, and recipes is very important. This wording can represent the uniqueness of your collection and make you last in mind.
Visual skills
Although UI design and UX design are two completely different categories, as a UX designer, you should know many basic principles of UI. Many collections no longer distinguish between UI and UX design and are looking for someone who can take responsibility for both UI and UX design.
In addition, having information about UI will help you to have a better relationship with the UI designer and convey your meaning to him correctly. Remember that you can get better job positions by mastering UI concepts.
In which companies can a UX designer be employed?
The fields in which UX designers can work are very wide. Advertising companies, small startups, and the UX design team in large technology companies are among the environments where you can work as a UX designer. Note that your work history and experience in the field of UX can guarantee better job positions and more income.
Of course, keep in mind that a UX designer will not be involved in coding and programming. This issue is considered a great advantage for those interested in UI and UX design who do not want to program. So you can cross-programming and code from the list of skills a designer needs to master.