1. What is user experience design (UXD)?

Is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and a product. UX design is a field that feels essential to product development. Is the process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users? It’s about how a person feels when interacting with software product or an application which could be a website, a web application or desktop software and, in modern contexts, is generally denoted by some form of human-computer interaction (HCI).

If you are looking for career in design industry like visual design, psychology of human-computer interaction, web design combined with strong technical skills, then UI/UX designing can be a lucrative career option for you. The main job objective of a User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) designer is to build a product which is simple to operate and appealing to eye. UI and UX designing are two different functions, which may or may not be performed by the same individual. The focus of UI design is on the visual aspects of a product. It mostly deals with the design, color and placement of various elements of the websites to make the website design look fresh and pleasing. Whereas, the focus of UX is on the usability, experience and functionality of those designs. It aims at understanding the minds of the users and build the designs accordingly.

A UI/UX designer must frequently think from more than one perspective for a design. While the design should be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, which is important to the business stakeholders, it should also consider how the user or consumer will feel when using or consuming it. A good-looking mobile app may be very difficult to use (e.g. 10 steps to order a pizza) and a functional design may not be very appealing to the eye. Therefore, a good UI/UX designer must be able to understand the business context, the expectation of the stakeholders and the usability for the end user.

2. What does a UX designer

As a UX designer, you’re there to make products and technology usable, enjoyable, and accessible for humans. UX designers tend to work as part of a wider product team and will often find themselves bridging the gap between the user, the development team, and key business stakeholders. As a UX designer, it’s your job first and foremost to advocate for the end user or customer. Whether you’re designing a brand-new product, coming up with a new feature, or making changes to an existing product or service—the UX designer must consider what’s best for the user and the overall user experience. At the same time, you are also responsible for making sure that the product or service meets the needs of the business.

As for the kinds of projects you’ll work on, this will vary dramatically from company to company, as will the size of your team, and your priorities. You may find yourself designing websites, mobile apps, and software, or even designing for voice, AR and VR devices! Some UX designers focus on service designrather than tangible products, such as designing the overall experience of using public transport or staying in a hotel. Within the UX designer job title, there are lots of specialist roles.

When it comes to everyday tasks, these will also vary depending on your role and the company you work for. My experience of working in UX has involved elements of research, testing, business analysis, project management and psychology, as well as the more hands-on design tasks such as wireframing and prototyping.

3. What are the typical tasks and processes of a UX designer?

As a UX designer, you’ll go through each step in the UX design process to make sure that any and all products are designed with the user in mind. So what kinds of tasks can you expect to carry out on a day to day basis?

For a glimpse into a typical day in the life of a UX designer, check out the below UX designer role.

• Conducting user research
• Personas and information architecture
• User flows and wireframes
• Prototyping and user testing
• Visual design

Conducting user research

UX design is all about identifying a problem and designing the solution. This requires extensive research and feedback from existing or potential customers. During the research phase, UX designers will launch surveys, conduct interviews and usability testing, and create user personas in order to understand the end user’s needs and objectives. They gather both qualitative and quantitative data and use this to make good design decisions.

Let’s use the fictitious fast food chain “Foodies” as an example. Imagine Foodies approach you because they want to design a new app. Firstly, it would be the UX designer’s role to combine desk-based and field research to get a full picture of who they are designing for. This might include reviewing what the current website has to offer, interviewing existing users to identify opportunities and pain-points, and doing competitor research to see what else is out there.

These tasks enable the UX designer to pinpoint the core features needed for the Minimum Viable Product (in other words, the first iteration of a product that you’ll release) and to start creating some initial user personas. For Foodies, the core features might be a menu, the ability to make online reservations, and a local branch finder.

In a nutshell, the user research phase is when you scope out the project, identifying exactly who you’re designing for and what the users’ goals and challenges are in relation to the product.

Personas and Information Architecture

Based on extensive user research, UX designers might then create user personas. This is where you delve deeper into what tasks each persona wants to perform and why. A typical persona for Foodies might be Pranith, a go-getting 20-something who likes eating artisan salads on his lunch break. An example task for his persona might be:

“Pranith likes to pre-order the Moroccan Lamb Salad via the mobile app as it saves his time between meetings.”

Another popular approach which might be used in conjunction with (or as an alternative to) user personas is jobs-to-be-done (JTBD).

Next, you’ll start thinking about the kind of content needed and how it will be structured across the website or app. This is what’s known as information architecture; working out the most logical layout and organization of the content. A good information architecture makes sure that the user can easily find what they’re looking for and intuitively navigate from one page to the next without too much thought.

User flows and wireframes

UX designers use a range of tools to map out the user’s journey through a product, including user flows and wireframes. User flows are basic flowcharts which visualize the complete path a user takes when using a product, from entry point right through to the final interaction. While user flows map out the entire user journey, wireframes provide a two-dimensional outline of a single screen or page.

Prototyping and user testing

With the product layout mapped out, the UX designer will then create prototypes and run some user tests. A prototype is simply a scaled-down version of your product; a simulation which enables you to test your designs before they get developed. Prototypes range from the simplest of paper models to the more realistic, high-fidelity interactive prototypes which closely mimic the final product.

Testing your prototypes on real users helps to highlight any design flaws before you create the final product. Several rounds of testing could take place before the design is completely right. Once it is, the new product is finally ready to go into development. UX designers also attend sprint meetings, overseeing product development to make sure there aren’t any feature creeps (which often happens in my experience!) and helping to make small refinements to the design as and when necessary.

Visual design

Before jumping into UI/UX design you need to master the basics of web & visual design as all of those principles and skills will be carried over UI design (designing buttons, typography, white space, drop shadow, working with colour combinations, gradients, different kinds of grids, layouts etc). Having good understanding and solid foundation in visual and web design is essential to become a skilled UI/UX designer. Below I’ve highlighted some of the basic and key design principles that you need become familiar with (If you’re not already):

Color - Great three-part series on color theory — color vocabulary, fundamentals and the psychology of colors.

Grid systems - What they are, and how they can be applied to your design process.

Composition Balance – learn how to balance composition

Typography - Better Web Type is an easy-to-follow web typography

Contrast - Using contrast to organize information, build hierarchy and create focus.

4. UX Design Tools

UX designers rely on several different tools as they go about their work. At the research and inspiration stage, they will use survey and polling tools as well as video chat software to interview users and gather as much information as possible. There are also specific programs for wireframing, prototyping and usability testing, with Balsamiq, InVision and UsabilityHub among the most popular in the industry. In addition to design-specific programs, designers also always use communication and project management tools to keep track of their work.

Sketch - leading UI/UX design tool (for Mac users)

Adobe XD - for interface design and prototyping

Framer - Interactive design and prototyping tool

Figma - for collaborative interface design

UXPin - for design, prototyping, collaboration (web browser-based app)

Invision App - for prototyping and collaboration

5. What Kinds Of Projects Do UX Designers Work On?

The field of UX design is becoming increasingly varied. UX designers can find themselves working on a wide range of projects within various contexts. Here are just some applications for UX design.

Website, App And Software Design

In the age of the internet and smartphones, the usability of a website, mobile app or piece of software will largely determine its success on the market. Together with UI designers, UX designers are responsible for ensuring a smooth online experience for the user. From ecommerce websites to dating apps, from CRM software to web-based email clients, each online journey you take has been carefully designed by a UX professional.

Voice Design

Voice user interfaces are revolutionizing the way we interact with technology. UX designers have a huge role to play in the rise of voice, as products like Amazon Alexa can only be successful if they are user-friendly and accessible for the masses. Designing for voice requires a slightly different approach to that of websites.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

UX designers will increasingly be required to design immersive experiences. Likewise, since the Pokemon Go craze hit, augmented reality has also been working its way into the mainstream. More and more, UX designers will have to adapt their approach to ensure the latest technologies are accessible and user-friendly.

Service Design

UX design doesn’t only apply to tangible objects and digital products; experiences need to be designed, too. This is where service design comes in. As explained on Wikipedia: “Service design is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between the service provider and its customers. Service design may function to inform changes to an existing service or create a new service entirely.”

Whenever you buy a coffee, stay in a hotel or use public transport, your experience is the result of service design, and service design methodology is very similar to that of classic UX design.

6. How to Create Online Portfolio

Behance — well known portfolio platform

Dribbble — another great portfolio platform (invitation required)

UPlabs — portfolio platform great collection of free design resources!

Instagram — well known photo and video-sharing social networking service