What skills do you need to become a UX Designer?

It’s a role attracting plenty of attention in the digital sphere.

Written by Nology Team - 17.01.20

Advancing software capabilities and the desire to make websites, mobile apps and software programs more intuitive and human-friendly, have spurred the growing number of UX Designer or Developer roles.

But what skills do you need to succeed at this intersection of social research and technology?

Digital interfaces now play such a big part of our lives, thanks to the omnipresent company of our smartphones. From selecting and purchasing tickets for train travel to shopping for an upcoming holiday, businesses are increasingly in tune with the notion that poor user experience with their digital product, whether it’s an online store, travel matrix or game, could result in missed sales, hits or traffic, to the detriment of revenues.

A UX Designer makes sure businesses don’t suffer from missed opportunities, by creating, testing and implementing user-friendly software. While this role requires a solid grounding and understanding of software development, it also requires good research and analysis of data, and, surprisingly creative! While artistic flair and pleasing aesthetics may seem unrelated to the world of software, creative skills are central to the UX Designer role. You’ll need to design all of the visual features and elements of the website or app your working on, to make sure it delivers the best user experience possible.

And the demand for this skillset has never been higher. In the UK, Google Trend data shows searches for UX Designer jobs has increased by 60% in just 5 years; a growing appetite which shows no sign of slowing down. What’s more, making technology more accessible to non-technical staff is an increasing focus for large companies putting digital transformation at the heart of their future plans.

So what skills do you need to become UX Designer? Employers look for the following skills:

Development – A strong grounding in technical skills and development. Having the ability to build digital products is key for most companies.

Analytics – Website tracking and tags provide vast amounts of data on your customer’s journeys. You need to be able to use this data to inform your UI journeys.

Communication skills – You’ll talk to customers, clients, designers and the development team, presenting your findings and ideas to multiple stakeholders.

Design – You’ll design webpages and applications through proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite, to create the visual design layouts needed to deliver the desired UX.

Research – You’ll need to carry out research for competitive analysis, segmentation, and persona development in order to get to know the audience you’re designing your product for.

Come from a creative background? Join our 12-week web development course here at _nology, and you could combine your graphic design or marketing experience with development skills to pursue a career as a UX Designer.

Posts

Related Stories

Get a future-proof career. Discover how you could learn to code, and transform your career with our 12- week tech training course.

It’s often said that the global business language is English and the business language of the future is Chinese. I don’t think that’s true....

Read More

September 7, 2018

We think you’ll agree: there has been little solace over the past couple of months for those among us with career ambitions. Fired, laid off, furloughed,...

Read More

June 11, 2020