Find the Best UI Designer Jobs

What does a UI Designer do?

If you’ve ever used a device, app, or website that felt easy to navigate, chances are it was designed by a skilled UI Designer. In the most basic terms, UI designers build interaction experiences between people and interfaces. Their work revolves around design thinking, which includes applying an iterative approach to understand a product's users, identifying their problems, devising solutions, creating a prototype, and testing these solutions over and over again.

For example, an art supply retailer may identify that watercolor painting is growing more popular among artists, but sales of paints and brushes are not increasing in kind. Realizing that online customers are having difficulty finding these products on their website, the retailer might update the site to better highlight them, such as by placing a prominent banner advertising watercolor supplies on the home page. The design process doesn’t end there—based on user testing results, the retailer continues improving how easily users can reach product pages and complete purchases.

While many UI designers are also expected to do user experience design, note that these are two different disciplines:

• UI design refers to the look of an interface. In front-end web design, this may include visual elements, like buttons, toggles, and icons that help guide a user’s eyes around a page. It’s important that designs are visually attractive according to a product design principle called the Aesthetic-Usability Effect, which is a phenomenon that users believe attractive interfaces work better than unattractive ones.
• UX design is more concerned with the interface’s usability and frequently involves user research and usability testing. A UX designer addresses issues in design mockups such as whether a button marked “Next” actually takes users to the next page or whether users can easily understand what to press on a website to go to its home page.

UI designers are also frequently referred to as product designers and interaction designers.

What skills do I need to become a UI Designer?

Despite what some people may think, UI design doesn’t tend to involve much drawing, which is more the specialty of illustrators. Instead, UI designers use tools like fonts, colors, illustrations, and even sound and animations to inform users how certain elements on a page behave when interacted with.

Common skills a UI Designer should possess include:

• Working knowledge of design software, including Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, InVision
• Understanding of design processes and concepts, including wireframing, information architecture, prototyping, and workflow ideation
• Familiarity with product, software, and web development methodologies
• Excellent interpersonal skills, especially for driving design review cycles and presenting design solutions to various stakeholders

UI designers should also have a strong understanding of:

• The Gestalt principles of UI design
• Color theory and applications
• Mesh gradients, vector illustrations, and icon sets
• Typography
• UX/UI design patterns and design systems, and how to apply them

What are the core UI Designer job responsibilities?

Typical UI designer job descriptions tend to involve any of the following:

• Create end-to-end digital products, including apps and websites
• Design user-centered information architectures and interaction flows for user interfaces
• Create user experience artifacts, such as wireframes, mockups, and prototypes
• Work with cross-functional stakeholders on product design teams, including project managers, engineers, content designers, UX researchers, data scientists, and more
• Improve interface designs using results from user testing, metrics, customer feedback, and market analyses
• Apply design patterns and standards as outlined in design systems, branding guides, style guides, and more

Should I get a UI Designer degree or certification?

Nothing will outweigh a strong portfolio of your best design work when showing off your UI design skills. That said, there are degrees and certifications that may help to strengthen your profile in the design field.

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of UI design, job posters frequently seek college degrees in:

• Graphic design
• Human-computer interaction
• Psychology
• Anthropology
• Computer science

Bootcamps also offer budding designers education in design principles and fundamentals. They also often offer assistance with design portfolio building, networking and mentorship opportunities, and job placement. Strong design programs include:

• Memorisely
• Design+Code
• Designlab
• BrainStation

You can also find online tutorials and design courses from sites like Skillshare and even YouTube.

Just remember that every designer benefits from ample time and work experience to build their design sensibilities.