If you are looking to restart your career, you might have heard a lot about UI UX design. However, it can be confusing to figure out what a UI UX designer actually does. 

Luckily for you, we are here to help. In this article, we will go over what UI UX design is and what the job entails. This way, you will be able to know if it is the right career path for you.

Are you interested in learning more? If so, then keep on reading and we will take you through everything that you about UI UX design.  

1. What Is UI UX Design?

Before we get into what a UI UX designer does, it is important that we first go over what UI UX design actually is. UI UX (user interface, user experience) design focuses on the interaction between real people and everyday services and products. These services and products can be applications, websites, and even refrigerators.

It is an extremely varied practice. The job combines aspects of technology, design, market research, business, and even psychology. As you can probably tell, a UI UX designer needs to wear a lot of hats. 

UI UX design isn’t new. The term has been around for several decades now. 

Since the term started being used, UI UX design has grown to be understood as necessary for good business. Only services and products that offer an enjoyable user experience are going to do well on the market. 

Since the 90s, the demand for these kinds of designers has gone up greatly. As the tech market continues to grow and change, UI UX designers are more important than ever before.

The demand for these designers is shown in both the employment market and average salaries for UI UX designers. If you are a UI UX designer, you will probably find yourself working at an agency.

What Does a UX Designer Do?

It can sometimes be difficult to concretely and easily sum up what a UI UX designer actually does. An easy way to put it is that UI UX designers humanize technology. 

If you work as a UI UX designer, then your job is to make technology and products accessible, enjoyable, and usable for people. UI UX designers tend to work as part of a bigger product team. They will usually find themselves closing the gap between the main company stakeholders, the development team, and the user.

As a UI UX designer, you need to advocate for the customer. Whether you are designing a new item, making changes to an existing service or product, or you are thinking of a new feature, you need to consider what is best for the customer and the overall customer experience. 

At the same time, you will also be in charge of making sure that the service or good meets the needs of the company. Does the product fit the vision of the CEO? Is this product or service going to retain loyal clients or increase revenue?

Types of Projects

When it comes to the types of projects that you will work on, this is going to be very different from one business to another. The same can be said of your priorities and the size of your team. 

You might find yourself designing software, mobile applications, and websites. You might even find yourself designing for VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), and voice devices. 

Some UI UX designers work on service design instead of physical items. This can include something like designing the overall experience of staying in a hotel or using a subway system.

There are a lot of specialist roles within the UI UX designer job title. 

Conducting User Research

The first step of the UI UX design process is the research stage. Usually, a UI UX designer will get a brief from their manager or customer asking them to do research for a new project. 

As a UI UX designer, you would need to combine field and desk-based research to get a full idea of who you are designing for. This might include reviewing the current website of the company and performing competitor research to see what else is out there. 

You would also probably want to identify opportunities and pain points and interview current users. 

These tasks will allow you to find the core features that are needed for the Minimum Viable Product (the first version of a product that you release). You can also start coming up with some initial customer personas. 

Visual Design

UI UX designers also need to pay a lot of attention to visual design. You need to concern yourself with the final typography, icons, color schemes, and imagery. 

It should also be noted that UI UX designers usually do not work on products after they launch. There might be small fixes that you need to do but very little. No matter what, you will need to be able to communicate and collaborate. 

The Importance of Knowing What a UI UX Designer Does

Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have a better idea of what a UI UX designer actually does. As we can see, this kind of designer is a crucial part of any company that is trying to offer an enjoyable experience to their customers.

Are you looking for other helpful articles like this one? Check out the rest of our site today for more!