While the user experience UX includes all aspects of the final user experience, the user interface is only limited to external elements. In short, it can be said that UI design is the process of designing the look and feel that the user is responsible for as a result of interacting with a digital product.
What does a UI designer do?
Which part of the page is designed by the user interface designer? To get the answer to the question of what a UI designer does, it may be necessary first to define UI and UX. User interface designers are responsible for designing almost all the external parts of a page.
Creating a website, software or application requires an architect and interior designer like building a building. Here, the architect is the UX designer, and the interior designer is the UI designer. During the use of your digital product, the user experiences a journey until he reaches his desired destination. A UI designer is responsible for making the scenery of this journey beautiful and pleasant for users.
What skills should a UI designer have?
The skills you need to master as a UI designer fall into different categories. One of these categories is technical skills. The first technical skill required for a user interface designer is prototyping. All these steps are so that you can imagine what the final product will be like at the beginning of the UI design process.
Note that this final image should not remain only in your mind. It is necessary to be able to present it to others by producing a prototype. Although the UI design must be unique, a lack of loyalty to previous designs can sometimes be problematic. Because the user probably feels alienated and cannot communicate in the new environment.
Note that the plans drawn on paper – or your plans in mind – are not always implemented similarly. In UI and UX design, you need to think about mockup preparation. A mockup is a realistic visual model of the final web or software image. You can use tools such as Mockup Builder, HotGloo, Balsamiq Mockups, and Proto.io to implement the mockup.
Steps after prototyping
User flow is another thing that comes up in UI design. The user faces several steps when using the product or service provided. User flow refers to a diagram in which all the steps taken by the user are covered.
All the steps done by the user interface designer require precision, concentration, attention, and experience. For this reason, it is recommended that those who have just stepped on this path first design wireframe user flow for websites and ready-made software to acquire the necessary basic skills.
For this prototyping, you can use professional tools such as Origami Studio, InVision, Sketch, or Adobe XD. User interface design training with Adobe XD is provided on this website for your convenience. Of course, the software is not required, and you can advance your work to some extent by using paper and pen in the initial stages.
Additional notes
Suppose different people do the UI and UX design in the collection. In that case, it is good to ensure their interaction because cooperation in performance, visual design, appearance, and final feeling is required to measure the user. User capability testing is another capability you need to master as a UI and UX designer. Functionality testing means measuring whether the user interacts with the design or not.
Interaction design
Interactive design is another part that should be considered in UI. The UI designer must ensure that the desired layout works and is displayed correctly on various devices. After this stage, as mentioned in the previous sections, it is time to prototype and check the implementation plan. In this process, the user interface designer will notice the flaws in the design and try to fix them.
You may have to repeat this trial-and-error step repeatedly. Considering the vastness of this field, user interface designers must have complete information about the layout, color, typography, interactive elements, and other design elements. In addition, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the user and his needs. This issue is the result of experience and research, but it can be implemented with a little empathy and understanding of the user’s mutual feelings.
The product should be such that the user can perform the desired activity in the best possible way. This section is placed in the user interaction design, and sections such as how to open the menu, how long the user waits after pressing a key, etc., are examined. Information architecture is another part that a UI designer should consider.
Master it. The information on a website or software should be structured, arranged, and organized so they can refer the user directly to what they need.
Job security
If you plan to start working as a user interface designer, you should ensure that you have personality traits such as patience, perseverance, and creativity. The UI designer has to work with a wide range of people, requiring teamwork. Keep in mind that user design is a meeting point for different sciences.
As a user interface designer, you must have the necessary information in business, psychology, marketing, graphics, etc. However, the user interface UI and UX fields are very wide, and you can earn a high income by becoming an expert in this field. This income can be different depending on the seniority level. An issue that is good to note here is the job security of UI design.
Currently, there is a great demand for this work, and this level of demand is increasing day by day. In addition, it is possible to work with foreign companies and work as a freelancer in this field. Job security in this profession reaches its peak when you know that the role of UI designers will not diminish with the spread of artificial intelligence. Rather, their help is needed to design the world’s future with the Internet of Things and other emerging sciences.