June 29, 2021 by Guest Author
Do you have what it takes to become a UI / UX designer?
The truth is, with the right tools and resources, anyone can now become a user interface and user experience designer. The barriers to entry are quickly being eroded away.
In this guide, we are going to talk about how to become a UI / UX designer. Whether you are interested in pursuing a design career or simply want to add another string to your bow, we will cover everything you need to know.
There has never been a better time to enter into the design space. At SaaS Design, we have been creating dozens of exciting tools and resources to make your life easier.
When you have access to design templates and UI kits, you no longer need to be a seasoned professional to navigate design programs and applications. If you want to take a do-it-yourself approach to UI and UX design, you should consider turbocharging your productivity with our Figma templates.
In this guide, the following questions will be answered:
If you’re trying to become skilled in UI and UX, you could be utilizing our templates. These have been built for beginners looking to make a big splash with their first few projects.
Figma is undoubtedly the best application for those attempting to become skilled in UI and UX design. With the right templates and UI kits at your disposal, working on UI and UX projects doesn’t have to be taxing.
While you can follow career guidance on how to become a UI and UX designer, we recognize some professionals are only looking to utilize these skills on specific projects. This is why our Figma templates and UI kits are perfect for those looking to quickly develop their skills.
UI and UX design are essential skills for designers competing in the SaaS world and the tech space in general.
Many people believe you need a degree or qualification to be successful in UX design. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about UX design.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to be successful in UX design, you must focus on building an extensive portfolio of projects.
You can start by filling your portfolio with passion projects and later explore working with industry professionals on real-life assignments. You need to be building a portfolio of work, regardless of whether you are studying for a degree in design.
To get ahead of the game, you need to focus on honing your skills. The best portfolios show extreme versatility and an ability to meet a full range of design briefs.
If you’re not interested in pursuing a career in UX design but need the design skills for a specific project, it’s possible to learn UX design very quickly. You can achieve this by getting hands-on experience with web-based design applications like Figma.
Learning about user experience design is a career-long journey. As user habits evolve and design languages adapt, both UX and UI designers should be prepared to continuously embrace change.
Those who become complacent run the risk of falling behind. With this in mind, it’s best to approach a career in design with a growth mindset.
In terms of getting the basics together, it shouldn’t take you too long to navigate your way around design applications like Sketch and Figma with ease.
There are hundreds of templates and tutorials ready to guide you through these applications. With minimal effort, beginners are often surprised by the remarkable results achieved using Sketch and Figma.
Rather than trying to learn UX design on your own, we would recommend utilizing the wide and extensive range of resources available online. These will rapidly increase the speed at which you can learn UX design skills.
There’s no reason not to start making use of these design resources. From video tutorials and design templates to UI toolkits and wireframes, you have plenty of options to choose from.
You should never be afraid to seek the support and advice of other UX designers. There is a thriving community of enthusiastic designers on Twitter that are always more than happy to answer any questions.
After all, design is a collaborative process. If you’re new to the world of design and want to start building professional relationships, Twitter is the place to be.
The community forums inside Sketch and Figma can also be useful locations for newbie designers to quickly resolve any issues they encounter.
Nielsen Norman Group recently surveyed 963 UX design professionals. This survey found that UX professionals with 4 to 6 years of experience comprised the largest group (27%).
While experience is invaluable to employers, your design portfolio is also vitally important to the progression of your career. If you’re just getting started, you should be aiming to fill your design portfolio with a broad range of UX design work.
Many UX and UI designers will begin their careers in internship positions at design agencies. These internship positions provide budding designers with crucial hands-on experience.
In some cases, emerging talents may be able to walk straight into UI and UX designer roles - without the need for experience in entry level positions. Ultimately, an outstanding portfolio is going to set you apart from the crowd.
Exceptional UX designs do not require any coding. All of this is done behind the scenes inside design applications like Figma and Sketch.
To be a successful designer, you don’t need to worry about coding. You can leave all the heavy lifting to the design applications you’re working with.
At the same time, UX designers who can code are rare and in demand. Many hirers are now looking for UX designers with frontend development experience.
While coding is not required, there may be some instances where knowledge of specific coding languages could inform your UX designs. If you are working as part of a larger team, having a good understanding of coding languages will enable you to work alongside developers.
This is a chicken and egg situation. From a design perspective, UX comes first - but this isn’t always true.
When it comes to learning UI and UX, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of overlap. Even though UX comes first in the order of things, it’s also much more difficult to learn.
I would recommend learning user experience design first to gain an understanding of user research and concept validation before diving into the granular details of user interfaces.
You need to learn to walk before you can run. Ultimately, the discipline you choose to prioritize will depend on your goals and objectives.
Globally, the average UX designer’s annual salary is around $53,000, and Switzerland pays the highest average salary of approximately $101,000. According to Glassdoor, the average base salary of a UI designer in the United States is $80,450 per year, while the average base salary for a UX designer is $90,697.
Rather than focusing on which pays more, you should instead focus on mastering one of them. As a career professional, perfecting your craft is a better way to earn more than simply pouring your attention into the skill you believe will generate the largest salary.
If you’re serious about a career in UI and UX design, focus your time and effort on honing your craft. The economic value of your skills should be secondary in your thought process.
While it’s important to think about how your skills fit into the industry, newbie designers run the risk of playing an endless game of catchup in a fast-moving industry. You should consider learning a broad range of design skills to tackle a variety of projects
If you’re a highly analytical and logical person, user experience design is perfect for you. In contrast, those with more creative personalities may be better suited to user interface design.
UX design comes from a place of empathy. You need to have the unique ability to place yourself in the shoes of the user and understand their needs.
Those with a genuine passion for constructing and building interactive layouts will naturally gravitate to user interface design. In some cases, you will have professionals that can wear both hats and balance these two very different mindsets.
If you want to be a successful UX designer, you will need to carry a range of skills. First and foremost, you must be highly analytical and logical in your thinking.
Alongside these core traits, the industry values UX designers with a range of skills extending beyond those you would expect from a regular design professional. If you want to unlock fresh and exciting opportunities, you should be aiming to expand your skill set.
According to Adobe, there are five desirable skills you need to enhance your career prospects:
When it comes to boosting your market value, there are many avenues to explore. As you start working among other professionals, you will begin to see the types of skills project managers and developers find useful.
UX design has the potential to be a rewarding career for those interested in the analytical and logical aspects of user interaction. If you are passionate and care deeply about this, UX design could be a good career choice for you.
There’s nothing worse than picking a career that you have little interest in. To thrive in the job market, you must venture down a professional path that invigorates and excites you.
The UX design field welcomes transferable skills from other walks of life. For instance, an ex-psychologist may possess skills that can be applied to the world of UX.
In 2020, LinkedIn ranked UX design as one of the top 5 in-demand skills for the year. This year, Glassdoor added UX design to their list of the 50 best careers to pursue.
The demand for UX designers is rapidly increasing due to the need for quality product design. As technology innovation accelerates, startups are in a race against time to deliver exceptional user experiences that fire all on cylinders.
The eye of a UX designer can bring a unique and highly valued perspective to the table. Those in user experience design have a deep understanding of user journeys and how they can make or break a product.
With a diverse portfolio of personal projects under your belt, it can be relatively easy to secure an entry-level position in UX or UI. It all comes down to how you apply yourself.
If you want to get ahead of the game, you should consider using our free Figma templates. With the support of these templates, you will be delivering exceptional designs in no time at all.
Looking to save time with your next Figma project? Check out some free Figma templates today!