If you ever found yourself wondering what is a UX designer exactly?, then don’t worry – you are not alone!
UX design has emerged in the last few decades as a crucial role in tech, but also as one that is interdisciplinary, cross-functional and ever-evolving (particularly in the age of Artificial Intelligence, or AI – more on this later!).
This guide will explain in detail what UX designers are and do, how to distinguish them from UI and Product Designers (the differences, as we will see, can be surprisingly subtle!). For those who entertain such an aspiration, we will also discuss how to become a UX designer yourself.
This is what we will cover in our guide:
CONTENTS
- What is UX Design?
- What Does A UX Designer Do?
- Key Skills Of A UX Designer
- UX Designer Salary Expectations
- Will AI Replace UX Design?
- Is UX Design Difficult?
- Do You Need Coding Skills For UX Design?
- Tools Used By UX Designers
- Deliverables Of A UX Designer
- How Do UX Designers Collaborate?
- What Is The Difference Between UX And UI Design?
- Difference Between UX And Digital Product Design
- Should I Know Both UX And UI?
- What Qualifications Do You Need To Become A UX Designer?
- How To Become A UX Designer
- Why Pursue A Career In UX Design?
What is UX Design?
UX design, short for User Experience Design, is an intricate and multi-dimensional field that focuses on the overall experience a user has with a product or service. It’s not just about how a product looks; it’s about how it feels, how easy it is to navigate, and how satisfying it is to use.
As an integral part of the broader process of digitization of our economies, UX design has become paramount to an exceptionally wide range of industries. Consider a mobile banking app: it’s not enough for it to be functional and intuitive, users must also feel and see that it is secure. That comes down to a solid UX design.
The ultimate goal is to turn complex systems into simple, user-friendly interfaces, thereby bridging the gap between technology and human experience.
What Does A UX Designer Do?
There is a crucial bit of disambiguation to be done here, because – and we realise how confusing this may sound – in most cases a UX designer does not do UX design as we described it above! Or more precisely, they only do a part of it.
Let’s clarify. In certain circles, particularly academia, a UX designer is considered someone who takes care of the field of User Experience in its entirety, from the first to the last phase. In other circles, particularly in the industry itself, that role belongs to Product Designers, sometimes referred to more specifically as Digital Product Designers, Software Product Designers, or UX/UI Product Designers (we will explain the difference in greater detail further below in the article).
Whether the term ‘UX designer’ or ‘Product Designer’ is used to describe the broader role will often come down to semantics, company culture, geographic location, and the background of the individuals working in any given team. Either way, you should not be surprised to find that these two roles often overlap in terms of responsibilities.
So, what does a UX designer do?
The primary responsibility that always characterises the role of a UX designer, regardless of semantics, is that of research. This will be undertaken before the planning phase, but also after, in the form of testing and refining. UX designers should therefore be comfortable gathering and interpreting data related to their prospective users.
UX designers will be involved early in the development of a project, starting with early-stage research with potential users. They will look to gather data that allows them to develop a ‘user persona’, or a variety of personas, which are basically hypothetical profiles representing what a ‘typical’ user may be like.
In most cases in today’s industry, this work of analytical research is the primary and sometimes exclusive domain of UX designers.
In cases where the role of the UX designer is interpreted more expansively, they will also be involved in the conceptual planning of a project. This involves sketching out (often, and at first, on paper) the fundamental framework and components of the project.
For digital products, such as websites, this process entails outlining elements like the contents of the home page and the configuration of internal link navigation. Bear in mind that while UX designers may plan and conceive these products, the actual building of them is usually conducted with the support of a tech team (the programmers writing the actual code based on the directives by the designers).
As we said above, however, the role of UX designers in the real world is rarely interpred this broadly. If a professional is involved not just in the research but in everything from the ideation and the design to the strategy and implementation of a product – that is to say, in everything that falls under the category of ‘UX design’ as defined above – then that person’s title is more commonly Product Designer.
Key Skills Of A UX Designer
The key skills of a UX designer generally fall into two broad categories: research and analytics on one hand, and soft skills like communication and teamwork on the other.
In terms of research, UX designers should have an understanding of user personas, the hypothetical models that represent their users, and user journeys, meaning the succession of experiences that users will or could have while using the product. The finality of all this is to empathise with users and their emotional journey. Equally, designers should be capable of independently gathering and analysing data related to their users.
As well, UX designers are always team players, working in close collaboration with other departments. They must therefore have the soft skills that let them communicate efficiently and harmoniously with management, with stakeholders and with their tech teams, bridging the gap between these departments and providing what each of them needs at various stages.
As we said above, there are schools of thought that ascribe broader responsibilities to UX designers as well. Where this is the case, a UX designer also needs a heavy helping of (mostly visual) creativity, and the digital skills to put that creativity to use. Once again though, a UX designer that is involved in everything from the base research to the conceptual design and the final implementation will more often be described as a Product Designer.
UX Designer Salary Expectations
As previously discussed, UX designers are crucial to modern product design, which means they tend to earn well.
In European markets, figures can vary considerably depending on the European country where one chooses to work. According to Glassdoor.com, for entry-level positions the range is usually between €30,000 and €45,000 yearly, with experienced designers earning upwards of €70,000 or more.
In the USA, UX designers can expect a starting salary just over $60,000, but this can rise very quickly. According to Indeed.com, the average UX designer salary stands at $106,000, and for the more experienced professionals this can rise to over $160,000.
Several factors influence a UX designer’s salary, including their level of experience, the industry they’re in, and the size of the company. Specialists in high-demand sectors, such as finance or technology, unsurprisingly receive the best pay. The UX Design institute reported figures in the USA as high as $184,000 yearly for professionals in Silicon Valley.
Will AI Replace UX Design?
The debates that are taking place for so many tech jobs are also taking place for UX design: will AI replace professionals in this field?
At the moment, there is no concrete reason to believe this. The core of UX design is understanding and empathizing with human needs, a skill that current AI models cannot be trained to develop. Human creativity is also essential, which is notoriously the most difficult thing for AI to imitate.
With that said, it must be acknowledged that several of the processes involved in UX design, such as data analysis and pattern recognition, are rapidly being automated by AI. These are essential parts of the work of UX design, meaning that an understanding of the AI tools required to perform them will become increasingly relevant.
It’s a variation of a sentence you have no doubt heard before, but it’s true for this line of work as well: AI will not replace UX design – but UX designers who use AI will replace UX designers who don’t.
Is UX Design Difficult?
UX design is a field that combines psychology, and technology. It can be challenging due to its ever-evolving nature and the need to keep up with new tools and trends.
However, it’s not an especially exclusive field. You do not have to be a gifted artist or a brilliant technologist in order to access it. What you do need is passion, discipline and a willingness to learn.
If you’ve got those, there is no reason you should consider UX design out of your reach, no matter your background or what other type of work you may be doing now.
Do You Need Coding Skills For UX Design?
UX design is a job intimately related to tech – but no, you do not need programming skills to perform it. What you do need is proficiency with the digital tools used in the field, which is a different kettle of fish (see the next section in this guide!), and the patience to work with quantitative data.
Knowing how to code can certainly be helpful, as you will acquire a deeper understanding of what your tech team can and can’t do. But it is by no means essential.
Tools Used By UX Designers
UX designers rely on a range of tools to bring their ideas to life. For the actual work of creation – or, to use the correct expression, digital prototyping – the industry standards are Figma, Sketch (for Apple users), Origami Studio, Framer and Balsamiq. (Until a short while ago Adobe XD also used to be very prominent, but it is now being discontinued by Adobe.)
In terms of project management, apps like Marvel and Invision can help in centralising and organising a design project, while Overflow and Lucid Chart are used to assist product design in terms of specific user flows. Google Analytics remains among the most popular platforms for data gathering and analytics, although alternatives like Lyssna (formerly known as UsabilityHub) also exist.
AI tools are becoming increasingly prominent in the field as well. Besides common ones that are also used outside of UX design (ChatGPT, Midjourney), there is scant consensus right now on what should constitute the industry standards, meaning which tools you’ll need will depend on where you work.
Some, however, already show great potential. The text-to-UI tool Galileo AI can be of great help for people who don’t use Adobe Creative Cloud, while the plug-in QoQo.ai, specifically created to automate design processes, is riding on the popularity of Figma. Some of these tools could go extinct within a year, but others could be with us to stay.
Deliverables Of A UX Designer
A UX designer’s work culminates in several key deliverables. These include user personas, which represent the target audience; wireframes, the skeletal framework of a project; and prototypes, which are interactive demos of a product.
Usability testing reports are also crucial, providing insights into how real users interact with the design.
How Do UX Designers Collaborate?
UX design is inherently collaborative. Designers work closely with various stakeholders, including product managers, developers, marketers, and customers. This collaboration ensures that the product not only looks good but also works well and meets business objectives.
In a typical project, a UX designer might collaborate with the development team to ensure that the design is technically feasible, and with data scientists to gather information and conduct tests. They might also work with the marketing team to align the product’s design with the brand’s vision and target audience.
What Is The Difference Between UX And UI Design?
UX design is often confused or conflated with UI design, a related but distinct discipline. Understanding what separates the two is important, and indeed we have written a detailed guide on the difference between UX and UI design – but let’s go over the differences in short.
UX designers conduct the research necessary to understand a user’s experience with a product. They will conduct tests and surveys on, say, a feature that a product may have, and then determine where and how to deploy that feature, if at all. UI designers, on the other hand, work on enhancing a product’s interactive and visual elements like buttons and menus, often starting after the product’s basic structure is established, and developing their work based on the research conducted by UX designers.
While UI designers concentrate on visual design aspects such as colour theory and typography, UX designers require a broader skill set, focusing less on visual details and more on the research and overall user journey. UI designers need to understand immediate user reactions to visual elements, whereas UX designers have skills that are less technical but more ‘human’, as they must understand users’ long-term goals and feelings.
As you may have gathered, UX design generally has more tools and concepts than UI design. That said, there is no doubt that the fields frequently overlap. There is a measure of research involved in UI design, and a measure of visual intuition necessary for UX design.
Difference Between UX And Digital Product Design
The difference between a UX designer and a Digital Product Designer (also referred to as a UX/UI Product Designer, or a Software Product Designer) can often be confusing.
As we discussed previously, there are some who conflate these two roles, and who may argue that what we are about to describe as Product Designers are in fact UX designers. We will go with the definition of the role that is most prevalent in the industry, but bear in mind that the topic is contentious, and that some may legitimately be able to point out exceptions to what we are about to say.
So, if the primary role of UX designers is that of research, Product Designers take a much more holistic approach, which encompasses research but also conceptualisation, ideation, design, implementation and strategy. It’s accurate to say that where a Product Designer is employed, it’s quite rare to find a UX designer working alongside them, as their responsibilities will already be covered.
While UX designers focus on the early to mid-phases of a project with a specialization in design, product designers handle the mid-to-late phases, adding a focus on management and strategy. Product designers have a more generalist skill set, encompassing UX skills but also understanding market dynamics and business model viability. They will be able to assess a product’s market performance, engagement, and economic conversion, and not just an individual’s user experience.
Feel free to explore these differences in detail in our extensive guide on the difference between a UX designer and a product designer.
Should I Know Both UX And UI?
The question of whether one should ‘also’ learn UI design on top of UX design stems from a misunderstanding of these two fields as wholly separate.
While it is possible to specialise professionally as a UX designer or a UI designer, practising either of these disciplines will require a measure of knowledge of the other. You cannot start doing UI design if you don’t have the knowledge of UX on which to base it, and your research as a UX designer won’t be of much use if you don’t know what UI applications it will be useful for.
It’s not a matter of should – if you want to practice UX design, you will learn much about UI design as well, as the skills involved overlap.
What Qualifications Do You Need To Become A UX Designer?
Typically, UX designers come from various educational backgrounds. Common fields of study include graphic design, psychology, human-computer interaction, and even fields like anthropology or sociology. A formal degree in design is beneficial, although considering this line of work is relatively young, it’s not a strict prerequisite.
In fact, the field of UX design is open to individuals from very diverse backgrounds. Many successful UX designers have transitioned from other careers, leveraging transferable skills and specialized training, such as bootcamps or online courses.
How To Become A UX Designer
The most linear path into a career in UX design begins with university education in related fields like design, psychology, or computer science – or ideally, something at the intersection of two or more of these fields.
For those who do not possess this academic background, there are online courses and bootcamps specialised in offering people access to jobs in the tech industry. They are the most common starting point for people wishing to transition into a career in UX design from a different field of work, and while they’re pretty intensive, they are generally the fastest way into this line of work.
If you are considering a similar career transition, check out our program in UX/UI Product Design for a comprehensive curriculum designed expressly for today’s job market.
Why Pursue A Career In UX Design?
There is no use in pretending that UX design is ‘for everyone’. However, there are very many people who possess the right inclination for it, but who simply never came across the discipline. If you belong to this group, then you should definitely give UX design a chance.
It is a line of work that is an outlet for the creative type, but that also makes the most of other, more grounded skills you may possess. It lets you make a tangible impact on people’s interactions with technology: the next time you see an elderly person shaking their head because ‘this website just doesn’t work for me’, think that you can be the one who turns that bad experience into a good one.
Do the work you love, and in the process don’t just wait for the next big thing. Make the next big thing.
