Essential Skills to Become a Great UI/UX Designer

In recent years, the demand for UI/UX designers has risen. An organization that desires a good customer experience, good growth and competitiveness need the invaluable services that UI/UX designers provide. Therefore, a lot of managers have made the hiring of UI/UX designers a top priority.

To be a UI/UX designer you must have good skills in technology and communication, but they are not enough to make you a great UI/UX designer.

To be a great UI/UX designer, you must possess the following skills:

1. 1. Communication and Collaboration Skills

   If you like to work alone, you will find it quite difficult to become a great UI/UX designer. The design is a ‘team sport’ so the only way you can solve problems and do great things is by communicating and collaborating with your team members. Michelle Bolander, UX practice advisor and senior strategist at SPR, said “UXers that collaborate well with their team, stakeholders and difficult people in general do so because they want to understand how others are feeling. A strong UX designer can clearly express their point of view and keep open lines of communication in order to build this shared understanding. Layer in the ability to easily adapt to change, and you have an individual who can effortlessly pivot to creatively solve any problem that comes their way while fortifying the rest of the team.”

2. 2. Empathy and Curiosity

   Empathy is the ability to feel or understand what another person is going through. Curiosity makes us investigate, explore, and ask questions. Both curiosity and empathy will help a UI/UX designer put himself in the shoes of the customer, which will then enable him to design exactly what the customer want.

3. 3. Ability to Hear and Accept Feedback

   These skills help a UI/UX designer know the areas where things are great and the area that needs more work and improvement. The ability to accept and make use of feedback makes a UI/UX designer create a better product.

4. 4. Research and Analytical Skills

   UI/UX designers must be able to analyze the kind of impact that their designs will have on businesses. They must also know how to capture data with methods like interviews and surveys.

5. 5. Coding Skills

   Having experience in coding is a skill that differentiates a great UI/UX designer from the one that is just ordinary.

6. 6. Storytelling and Presentation Skills

   To be a great UI/UX designer you must know how to tell a story (solution) and present that story. Jeff Davidson, UX/UI consultant, and behavioral strategist said, “The ability to put together a sound argument with supporting facts and an emotional story with compelling images will make you a more dominant UX designer”.

7. 7. Digital Design Software

   A UI/UX designer must know how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, or Sketch. Knowing how to use design software will help you express your visual idea much clearer.

8. 8. Wire-framing and Prototyping

   Wire-framing means everything that must be present from page to page. The prototype allows the user to test functionality. A UI/UX designer must know how to prototype quickly.