How to Enter the UX Design Field

UX design is building a product or website to make it easier for users to navigate. It is more than pretty mockups and visuals. UX design is a collaborative process with different moving parts. The demand for UX designers is high. Learn every part of the field and decide which direction to go to contribute to the magic.?

By Ciarra Maraj

Design is more than just pretty pictures and unique buildings. It is the process that goes into those creations. Everything made by design is fueled by communication.?

User experience (UX) is the interaction between humans and a product or website. Examples are filling out a website form or using a mobile app. The language, the buttons and the presentation are a part of the UX design.?

Every part of UX considers the consumer interaction with the product. The intention is to create a frictionless experience, said senior product designer Ruben Cespedes , who has 17 years of design experience.

“When a design experience is good it's seamless,” Cespedes said. “You don't even notice it's there because it's supposed to be like that.”

UX Design As A Career?

UX design is at the forefront of product creation because each product interaction creates a user experience.

UX design teams consist of designers, writers, researchers and product managers. This group solves problems and delivers the best use of service.?

Technology is embedded into daily life. UX design is important because it alleviates stress from using a product, said Robert Surrency , a freelance UX director and former senior UX designer for LinkedIn Learning .

“We hope to make things better for individuals,” Surrency said. “...It's important to make sure that a certain ethic and standard and also quality is upkept.”?

UX design reduces the time spent carrying out a task, said Marcos Rezende , a UX designer and member of Toptal, a freelance talent company that accepts less than 3% of applicants.

“All the time we try to solve some gaps in terms of [reducing] the effort, reduce the time you spent doing something or your effort to learn to do something,” Rezende said. “All the things that can improve the [relationship] between the human and the necessities.”?

Websites, applications and more lean on UX design. Software to build wireframe prototypes includes Adobe XD, Figma and Sketch. Wireframes create visual mockups of a website or application. They include buttons, icons and other mechanisms to make a product work.?

Building a website is not the same as UX design, it is part of the process.?

“UX design is the kind of overarching abstract theme,” Surrency said. “Building a website is just one of the mechanics in which you can express user experience through.”

Rezende was a website builder before pivoting into UX design. He says building a website without the user perspective is a loss of business.?

Delivering a website to the business without thinking of the user makes the turnaround time faster but the issues greater, he added.?

“It can be hard to recognize…some icons, hard to find information,” Rezende said. “In other words, we need [to] put more time on [investigating] the final target.”?

Becoming a UX Designer?

Hard skills are teachable. A passion for creativity and a willingness to learn will advance a UX career.?

“The people that I've seen that have been the most successful are the very inquisitive ones and the ones that are always open to learning,” Surrency said. “...The field of technology changes so often and so frequently and so expansive that you have to be OK with things kind of always changing. You need to always learn, but the same principles of how you approach a problem remain.”

Focus on the education aspect of UX design and connect with mentors to improve, Cespedes said.?

“Whether you go through college or whether you go and take amazing boot camps that are online, just get yourself educated on design, UX principles,” Cespedes said. “...Learn soft skills like collaboration, communication, empathy, be curious about things, how things work? Do you like to solve problems? Those are the key things that you need to have in your back pocket as a UX designer.”

Mastering those soft skills takes priority over hard skills because UX is about putting the human behind the screen first. UX design is a collaborative career with different perspectives that share one goal: making things easier and digestible.?

“I started my career as a web designer, all the [software] that I learned until now [changed] day by day, year by year,” Rezende said. “But if I have the strong soft skills with me [it] is easy to move between each one.”

Graphic design skills are transferable to UX design. Many similarities exist between the two, like typography, hierarchy, and imagery. Experts agree that a background in graphic design helps with the visual aspect and communicating a message, but there is more to it.?

Cespedes was a graphic designer. That background helped him navigate and target what he wanted to do within the UX field.?

“I started teaching myself how to do UX design and understanding processes, understanding the principles of UX design, like usability strategy, inclusivity, ideation, empathy,” Cespedes said. “All that stuff helped me transition from being just a graphic designer to of course at the end UX design and product design.”

Advantages and Disadvantages of a UX Career

Know the upsides and downsides before pivoting into any career.

Experts agree that starting a project and understanding the ask is the toughest aspect. They need to bring someone else’s vision to life. Not having a clear idea of how it will turn out is difficult. Having several opinions about how something should be is challenging in any field.

The best ways to combat those challenges are:

• To be patient, Rezende said.?
• Come to an alignment, Surrency said.?
• Approach the project like solving a problem, Cespedes said.?

Helping someone and seeing their growth is Surrency’s favorite part of the job.

“I love it when other designers or people that I'm mentoring… accomplish a certain thing or they reach a certain level that they're really jazzed about,” Surrency said. “It's a hard project, but they pushed through and they did it. Seeing other people thrive and accomplish who's on my team, oh man. That's even just as awesome.”?

Finding a solution is Cespedes’ favorite part.?

“When I find out the right solution for the perfect user,” Cespedes said. “...You have that idea in your mind for the first time. And then of course you molded, you iterated, but then when you design that whole solution and you deliver that solution to the engineers to develop that, that's what I love.”

Rezende enjoys collaborating with peers because they are all around the globe and can come together to share perspectives and be in the same space.

“I can learn twice,” Rezende said. “First [giving] my point of view and my background and blend [it] with a different perspective.”

CareerFoundry and Google UX Design are resources available to teach, mentor and prepare students for a career in UX design. The demand for UX designers is high.

“I want people to understand that this is a career… [that] takes time,” Cespedes said. “You need to practice a lot. You need to read books about it. You need to get yourself, like I said, educated on the tools, on the subject.”

Rezende says not to reduce the journey.

“The process is more important than the final result,” he said.?

Top Takeaways?

How to Enter the UX Design Field

• Demand for UX designers is high.?
• Learn everything about the field and decide on a direction.?
• Connect with others in the field willing to help.?