We’re all starting from somewhere!
Whether we’re senior UI UX designers at a big company or a student aspiring to become one, we were all Googling “What is UI UX design?” or “UI UX for beginners” at one point in our lives. And the truth is that you don’t have to have all the answers right now. Everything comes with experience – just like in any other job. All you need is to start!
So, in this UI UX for beginner’s guide, we will talk about what UI design is and what UX design is, the difference between the two, what a UI UX designer actually does, and the tips that will give you a boost at the beginning of your career.
When thinking about what UX design is, the first answer should be what it stands for – User Experience. And as the name implies, it represents the experience our users have when interacting with us. UX design is all about making sure that when someone uses our products, apps, services, and so on – not only do they like what they are seeing – the visuals – but it’s also fun and easy for them to understand how to use it.
UX design is also about mastering the art of understanding the needs of our audience. User experience represents the relationship between our users and our products. Can they use it easily and efficiently? Do they feel excited when using it? Well, yes, they should. But maybe there were times when you did not understand where to find a specific section on a website. That’s not your fault – not you as a user, at least.
For example, Let’s say you’re shopping online for clothes. How easy is it to find that blue T-shirt you really want? Does the checkout process give you a headache? Or is it straightforward? All of these represent the user experience.
The purpose of a UX designer lies in the development of creating easy, efficient, fun, and logical flows. All of these are in order to leave a positive impression when it comes to functionality so that our users can complete the entire customer purchasing cycle. But in order to achieve all these, we must also understand what our customers want. Their wishes. Their wants. And most importantly – their pain points with their current products.
UI design (user interface design) represents the visuals – how a product looks. It creates an immediate impact and it is the first impression we make when we interact with a product. Adobe even said that 38% of users lose interest in an app or website if it lacks engagement or simply if it looks bad – that’s how important it is.
A user interface is what we see and interact with when using a digital product. It’s the touchscreen of your phone or computer. Or even your car’s touchpad to adjust the temperature or change the song on shuffle. A UI design is all about creating a pretty and interactive platform while also making sure that the product is as intuitive and visually appealing as possible.
That’s why UI design is the art of choosing the fitting color palette that makes our brand stand out, the right font, the perfect placement of elements, the cool animations, and the aesthetically pleasing images. Not only will a UI designer think about how every button and every icon fits together, but he will also think about how everything fits with our brand and our industry. In my book, UI designers are the true artists in the product design process.
The main role of a UI UX designer is to identify innovative and effective solutions to enhance the user experience while also heavily focusing on the visual balance of the product. UI/UX designers need to have an eye for aesthetics and an emphatic approach to the creation of user-centric designs. A seamless design needs to be easily navigable, unusable, and visually appealing. In the digital world, a great designer will know to pay attention to both the user interface elements and the components that support the user experience.
To understand the duality of UI UX design, let’s think about a fashion app. If we only focused on the design of imagery and graphics, surely, we would have a pretty app to look at. However, it is equally essential that users can place an order on it or find the category of clothing they are looking for without much effort. A design will never be successful unless both the UI and UX components are carefully manufactured.
UI UX Designer Salary
Of course, the salary of a UI UX designer depends on the country you are in, your experience level, and even the company you are working for. However, in the US, due to the high demand, both UX and UI design are high-paid jobs, and you will find that they have similar salary ranges. According to Glassdoor, the following salary averages are:
UX Designer Salary:
Junior UX Designer – $78.704/year
UX Designer – $99.116/year
Senior UX Designer – $120.942/year
UI Designer Salary:
Junior UI Designer – $79.847/year
UI Designer – $93.624/year
Senior UI Designer – $114.975/year
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.” – Don Norman in The Design of Everyday Thing, the famous UI UX Design.
This is one of the principles of design that all UI designers and UX designers should follow. Just as great design is not as easy to recognize, we might not realize just how many gifted UI UX designers the digital world needs for it to function properly. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to imagine a business that does not use some type of technological or computerized system. From displaying and selling the products themselves to marketing them to different audiences, any company needs to make use of e-commerce to prosper. And who is responsible for ensuring that users will be drawn to e-commerce websites and apps in the first place? Well, of course, UI/UX designers!
So, If you think that this description matches your skills and passions, a career in UI/UX design might just fit you like a glove. Because we know just how difficult it can be to start in a new field - and how to be a beginner in UI UX, we have compiled a list of helpful tips for breaking into the industry.
- Basics
One of the first things any UI/UX designer at the beginning of their journey should do is to learn the basic skills of the role. There are general requirements that any potential employer will ask from you, and you must tick these boxes. Think about traits such as familiarity with graphic design for the UI aspect or the soft skills that are needed to create user-centric designs.
Before you get to the nitty-gritty of prototyping and other more complex duties, you should be familiarised with the very basic tasks of any UI UX designer. What does a UI UX designer do on a day-to-day basis? What types of projects do they work on? How much time do they spend on certain steps and tasks? All these questions, as well as other related ones, should have a clear answer in your mind before you even begin working on your portfolio.
- Research
You have now mastered the basic notions of UI/UX design, but you still are not completely sure about the state of the industry. It is now a good time to get down to investigating the market. Whether we are talking about design companies or the design tools that are most suitable for a Mac user, UI/UX designers need to be familiar with the state of the digital design environment.
We can look at different companies, conduct usability tests, or check community forums - as long as we analyze the market and achieve a good understanding of the demand and opportunities, we are on the right track. For example, we might be really eager to begin, but if we select a design tool that has a complicated learning curve, we might lower our chances of advancing our design skills. It is crucial to identify the best solutions for our particular skills and level of knowledge of the field.
- Wireframing and Prototyping
These two components are essential for the UI/UX design process. Both of them have the common goal of creating the perfect websites and apps that reflect the business goals of the owners. A design process must go through these steps while it is being developed for it to fully function. Prototyping and wireframing are very common tasks for UI/UX designers. Hence, we must dedicate some of our time to mastering them.
- Take an Online Course
The internet is an endless source of information and learning opportunities. If we want to break into the UI/UX market we will find it helpful to look for online courses on this matter. Many of them are free of charge, which makes online studying extremely convenient and accessible. In case you find it difficult to choose between the wide array of lessons available on the web, there are plenty of forums and online communities that can provide you with feedback on which courses are more suitable for your specific goals.
- Stay Up To Date
Technology is quite possibly the most fast-evolving field nowadays. There have been instrumental advances and discoveries made in the UI/UX design sphere only in the past two years. Design tools are constantly emerging and shifting the landscape of the design process. This is why staying connected with the latest updates and innovations in the industry is crucial for how great of a UI/UX designer we will be.
- Trial And Error
The learning phase has probably given you a lot of new confidence in your design skills - and it is now time to apply and exercise them. Nobody gets it right from the first try. This is why we should experiment a lot with UI/UX projects and play around as beginners in UI UX. One of the most common practices around newcomers in the design industry is to create mockups. You could try to recreate a website that you use, but you have ideas on what improvements it could benefit from. No matter the subject, exercising our digital design skills is a must in our progress journey.
- Inspiration
Inspiration is all around us - especially on the World Wide Web! Behance and Dribble are just two examples of online platforms that host thousands of UI/UX designs and models that have been crafted by other industry professionals and amateurs. There is no such thing as a 100% original work. Viewing and learning from other projects can both broaden our perspective and help us learnearn new skills. So, let’s take advantage of the multitude of designs that we can draw inspiration from!
- Collaboration
UI/UX is far from being a solitary duty. Because we are working with the creation of websites and apps, there are many other roles and responsibilities in the design process that need to be handled. Of course, we will not manage all of them - developers, marketers, and product designers all join forces to establish great digital projects. If we want to ensure the smooth sailing of our work, we need to learn to communicate and collaborate with the team.
- Create a Portfolio
Any UI/UX designer has to create a good portfolio. This is our resume, our collection of the projects that we think best represent our skills and history as designers. A portfolio should not only reflect what we have done until the present day but also what our goals are and what we want to achieve as designers. An employer must be able to easily identify what type of designers we are by giving our portfolio a simple read. If you would like to find out more about how you can create the perfect portfolio, you can visit our article UI/UX Portfolio Best Practices.
- Networking
If you have successfully navigated all the steps and tips we have listed until now, you are ready to embark on the job-scouting journey. However, most of us will probably not have the luck of knowing countless professionals who work in the industry to quickly offer us a role in their company. This is why networking is a great practice for anyone looking for a UI/UX designer position. There are countless opportunities to do it, too: From attending design events and conferences to creating a social media following, we can interact with other people from the field and establish useful leads.
We at uinkits understand the importance of inputs in great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly.
“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.
Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button.
Our design system components, including variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!
