UX designers create digital interfaces centered on the user. To stand out, they must have skills such as interpersonal relationships, empathy, critical thinking, user research, visual design, information management and understanding of the business world.
Today, many companies use the skills of a UX designer to Design digital interfaces which take into account the needs and expectations of the end user. UX design being an incredibly diverse field, it can be difficult to determine how to stand out, and with what skills.
In addition to solid UX design skills (User Experience), UX Designer have many other attributes that highlight their key position within a company. Discover with the Churchill agency, specialist in web design, 10 key skills you will need to become an excellent UX designer.
What is UX Design?
UX is the English acronym for “user experience” and essentially describes what feel a user when he uses a product or service. A good user experience is easy, pleasant, fluid, while a bad user experience is complicated, confusing and frustrating for the Internet user.
UX design is the design process of these experiences. It is a question of identifying and understanding a specific problem of the user and of designing products or services that respond to this problem in a way that affects it. All this is the objective of the UX Designer. To get there, he must master specific skills (soft and hard skills) that we will present to you.
Non -technical skills (or soft skills)
Non -technical skills, also called Soft Skillsare often linked to personality traits, emotional intelligence and knowledge of situations. These are non -technical skills that generally require little or no formal training. Here are the 4 main soft skills that a UX designer must master:
1 – Interpersonal relationships, collaboration and communication
Whether you want to work for a small business in full development, a large company or even integrate a web design agency, there is a good chance that the UX designer will have to interact and collaborate regularly with colleagues, stakeholders and customers.
Understand how he will work in a team and how he will communicate with others will help determine the types of jobs to which it can apply. They may not seem to be the being at first, but these are essential skills of the UX Designer, because they will help show if it will be a good addition to a web team already in place.
2 – Empathy
Being able to put themselves in the place of the user is an essential competence to become a competent UX designer.
Have empathy for user frustrations (and So understand them) can make the designer much more able to find a solution. Listening and analyzing user comments carefully is a great way to understand their problem and, therefore, find significant and useful solutions.
3 – Show curiosity and want to learn continuously
UX designer are constantly looking for means to improve the world around them and, in particular, their web design. This permanent curiosity and this desire to learn are an integral part of the profession.
UX designers must be ready to Seeking ways to improve the lives of their users without necessarily telling them how. Stimulate your curiosity and learning capacities by getting into the habit of listening more than speaking, cultivating your web design inspirations, examining the problems from different angles and asking quality questions. This is one of the key skills in the UX designer profession.
4 – Critical thinking
The development of a spirit and critical thinking is a useful competence for a job in the UX. UX designers must be able to assess, analyze and use all the relevant information to design a product in a thoughtful, creative and logical way. The skills in critical thinking allow UX designer to make intelligent decisions while ensuring that they never lose sight of what is best for the global user experience. Again, and Although little highlightedcritical thinking is an integral part of the profession of UX designer.
UX designer skills specific to its industry
Skills specific to a career in UX Design consist of significant knowledge and capacities that all UX designers must refine and sharpen. The objective? Be accepted as a quality designer, quite simply!
5 – Wireframing, Prototyping, Model and Flow Users
A large part of the product development process is to imagine what it will look like. Depending on the development stage, a UX designer can create wireframes, low or high fidelity prototypes, models or user flows (Flow users). Here is the definition of these terms:
- Wireframe: Layout of a stripped web page of its visual design, used to prioritize the elements of the page according to the user needs.
- Prototype: Simulation of a final product used to test and collect user comments. Low loyalty prototypes can be sketched on paper and do not allow interaction with the user. High-fidelity prototypes are generally carried out on a computer and allow interaction with the mouse and the keyboard (as in the final situation).
- Model : Realistic visual model of a web page or a final application.
- Flow users: Diagram describing each step taken by the user when using a product or service (web in this case).
These elements of design and interaction are skills that require practice. Prototypes and models often require special UX software. If you start, plan to work with a free tool, like Origami Studio. The most popular paid prototyping tools, such as Invision, Sketch or Adobe XD, are generally accompanied by a free trial version that allows you to design some prototypes without paying a penny.
6 – Visual design and design software design
UX designer uses, most often, graphic design software, such as Figma, Sketch, Photoshop and Illustrator, to create the visual elements of a web product. In addition to controlling these tools, UX designer must have skills in graphic designin particular concerning typography, colors, layout, icons and general theory of web design.
7 – Search on user users and conviviality
Users research is essential to design products that really look like them. This includes collecting data through interviews with them, surveys, etc. This also involves analysis of these data in order to identify trends or user behavior models.
Research skills are essential for UX designer because they allow it to understand the needs of users and develop designs that reflect these needs. After having better identified the needs of these users and as the prototypes developed, it is necessary to carry out tests to validate the design choices. Knowing how to repeat these two user -centered phases can help make you a more effective UX designer.
This skill is so essential that some companies have created a specialized role within their UX team, known as “UX researcher”.
8 – Organize information (information architecture)
UX designer must be able to prioritize and organize complex information sets.
The architecture of information structures the content and information of a digital product. Thanks to the structure of the website, menus, labels and research functionality, it aims to make each information element easily accessible to users who need it to accomplish their tasks. When creating web products, UX designer must master the informationboth from the point of view of project management and the design of the product.
Understanding how to organize information is what makes the difference between intuitive navigation and confused and frustrating user experience. A well -designed information architecture allows you to create a very accessible and easy to use product.
Transferable skills for UX designer
Indeed.com defines transferable skills as “useful skills in a variety of jobs and industries”. Here are two that can greatly serve everyone UX designer:
9 – Writing
Writing is so essential to UX design that it is increasingly frequent that companies include a UX or even UX Writer editor. These people make up microcopy and other words that are essential to any UX design. However, even if a UX team includes a dedicated UX editor, the UX designer must be able to write specifications and other information for successfully communicate the elements of their designs and the way the user interacts with them. The more you have perfected this skill before going to design, the more it will be useful to you in the field of UX.
10 – Understanding of the business world
It is a skill that UX designer does not always have, but which is invaluable for those who have it. Indeed, UX projects are designed, launched and carried out because companies think that they can help them achieve key commercial objectives. The UX designers who understand this will be better able to help the business, but also end users.
Whether commercial knowledge comes from training or practical experience in another job, they will make it possible to better understand and communicate how the product designed contributes to the results of the customer or the stakeholders. This will get faster membership and ensure that the design process is easier for everyone.
