Aesthetically pleasing design elements play a critical role in web development. Besides being visually appealing, it should also be clear and informative. It further enhances the User Experience (UX), which potentially makes or breaks websites/applications. For this reason, UX companies in India and elsewhere only hire the best of the best UX designers.
The careers in UX design is widely diverse and significantly competitive. Moreover, the job of a ‘UX designer’ can be quite elusive as it deals with multi-faceted backgrounds and varying skill sets. If you aspire to be a top UX designer, you need to be asking yourself these two questions: What sets you apart from other designers? What skill(s) do you possess that demonstrates your full potential as a top UX designer?
By the end of this blog, you should attain a comprehensive understanding of the different skills you’ll need to be an amazing UX designer. There are many standard soft skills alongside the technical specialist skills that are expected of most designers. These skills, once acquired, boost your worth as a designer and encompass your future career. Read on to find out more about these crucial skills and how you can go about acquiring them.
Soft Skills of a Top UX Designer
As mentioned above, UX designers require a set of soft skills besides the expected technical skills to effectively manage and streamline a company’s design process. Here are a few soft skills that will come in handy, especially for newbies:
- Management skills:
The ability to manage, coordinate and even lead the design team is crucial for any UX designer.
- Collaborative and communication skills:
Any UI/UX agency would require interpersonal, collaborative and communication skills in their employee, especially in UX designers. This skill helps determine whether you are a good addition to the team or not.
- Empathy:
A good UX designer must be empathetic towards how users think and respond. UX designers always work for the users-not vice versa.
- Team skills:
Developing good team skills or collaboration skills is essential for UX designers to articulate their ideas and work on their team member’s ideas.
- Continuous learning:
The willingness to always learn and improve is an integral part of a UX job, regardless of the specialization. So boost your curiosity by continuously fostering a thirst for knowledge.
- Critical thinking:
All your knowledge, information and special skills should be used in a purposeful and relevant way. For this, critical thinking skills are a must.
Top 5 UX Design (Technical) Skills
Career aspiration to be a part of a prestigious UI/UX agency would demand you to hone and sharpen your skills to the best of your abilities. Keep in mind that it requires perseverance and immensely hard work. Here are some of the essential skills that we have curated especially for you:
1. Intensive and thorough UX research:
You must step up your research skills as ideas that look good only on the surface imminently become a major failure. Therefore, research everything to target users, data, design plan, and even testing and coding processes to develop an informed design for your project.
2. Skilled in design tools:
Wireframing and prototyping are the core skills of UI/UX designers. It is a given that designers must be proficient in these skills to deliver good design ideas effectively. Other popular design tools include Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma and Axure.
3. Coding and development:
Digital knowledge is key information for all UI/UX designers; however, knowledge of coding and developments adds to your worth as an appealing designer. Even a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript is considered a good experience in coding. It can prove to be advantageous in your potential hiring in a good UX company.
4. Design framework application skill:
We are aware the UX design will always be an ongoing process. There are many design frameworks in UX design in general, and the knowledge of what, when and where to apply and implement these frameworks require a prominent skill. And this skill is high in demand; always.
5. UX writing:
Last but not least, writing content is also considered a major tool. This skill may be easily dismissed when compared to coding and other design skills, but writing is a tool that helps develop brilliant user experiences. Because of this, good UX writing should never be underestimated. All the successful apps and websites with good UX have one thing in common: perfectly crafted words full of meaning and relevance.
So do you think you have what it takes to be a good UX designer? If yes, well, then great! If you are still over the fence about your skills, get ready to start implementing the above tips to help you grow as a specialized, knowledgeable and experienced UX designer. Trust us; cultivating your skills is the only way to move forward to achieve your goal. Best of luck!
