Hire the best UI designers

Check out UI designers with the skills you need for your next job.

Clients rate UI designers
Rating is 4.8 out of 5.
4.8/5
based on 5,666 client reviews
Denise K.
$55/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Figma
  • WordPress
  • sketch app
  • WooCommerce
  • InVision
  • Adobe XD
  • Logo Design
  • Brand Strategy
  • Prototyping
  • UX Design
  • UX & UI
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Elementor

Hello! I'm a senior UI/UX Designer based in Berlin and working for more than 7 years as a freelancer for companies in the US, Europe, and Brazil. I will help your small business or startup take off and achieve the much-needed digital presence these days, building from its branding strategy to its fully responsive and SEO friendly website. I have experience with UX Research, designing prototypes and developing e-commerce, company websites, and blogs. I have deep knowledge of Shopify and Wordpress, and their plugins, WooCommerce, and page builders such as Divi and Elementor, as well as a good understanding of HTML and CSS. Please check...

Alex M.
$45/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Web Design
  • Page Speed Optimization
  • PSD to WordPress
  • Website Development
  • Elementor
  • Webflow
  • CSS
  • WordPress Development
  • WordPress
  • Landing Page
  • HTML
  • Website
  • Adobe Photoshop

Do you want a modern, mobile-optimized, custom-designed WordPress website? ► Tired of looking through generic WordPress themes trying to find out the appropriate one that fits your business needs? ► Want to have a modern, custom-designed website designed especially for your business and concretely for your purposes? ► Want at the same time to retain the power of WordPress CMS and have the ability to manage the content by yourself without asking your developer for help every time you need to make changes? If you answered yes, then you're in the right place. To discuss your needs, message me! --- Design and creative thinking are...

Nathalie J.
$88/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • User Experience Design
  • Branding
  • 2D Illustration
  • Corporate Brand Identity
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Illustration
  • Layout Design
  • Digital Art
  • Website Asset
  • Graphic Design
  • Ad Creative
  • Creative Direction
  • UI Graphics
  • Responsive Design
  • Art & Design

I’m a professional Graphic Designer & Senior UX/UI Designer from San Francisco with seven years of experience designing visual graphics, digital applications, and creative business assets in Silicon Valley. I have experience in the following industries: innovative technology, eCommerce, retail, healthcare, SaaS, NFT virtual assets, BioTech, and FinTech. ミ★ 𝐆 𝐑 𝐀 𝐏 𝐇 𝐈 𝐂 𝐃 𝐄 𝐒 𝐈 𝐆 𝐍 ★彡 ✔ Adobe Creative Cloud ✔ Brand Design ✔ Advertising Design ✔ Freestyle Drawings ✔ Illustrations ✔ Print Design ✔ Art Direction ✔ Creative Direction ✔ Stationary Design ✔ Packaging Design ✔ Editorial Design ✔ Merchandise Design ✔ Layout Design...

Ilya M.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • Software Design
  • UX & UI
  • Web Design
  • User Flow
  • Figma
  • Prototyping
  • User Experience Design
  • Wireframing
  • Visual Communication
  • Website Redesign
  • Website
  • Interaction Design
  • Responsive Design

Balanced design solutions for your business. My goal is comfortable and exciting communication of a modern user with your product. My method is a design of convenient and unusual interfaces that is pleasant to interact in a new way and bring profit to the business. - Conversational English - Flexibility in cooperation - Balanced decisions - Focus on your business priorities There is no designing for design's sake in cooperation with me. Balanced decisions based on your business needs, relevance, and utility - that is what I am ready to propose to you. You will not see how the interface looks only, but you will see how users interact with...

Mayra O.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Sketch
  • Art Direction
  • Art Curation
  • Web Design
  • User Experience Design
  • Graphic Design

Graphic Designer and Cultural manager from Mexico City. Specialization in UX/UI interfaces: websites, web and mobile apps (iOs/Android) Editorial design in digital and printed media. Logo Design. Corporate image & Brand design. Image & Photo edition. You can check some of my work on my Website www mayorozco com

Oleh G.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Figma
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • User Experience Design
  • Web Design
  • Wireframes
  • Style Guide
  • UX & UI
  • Product Design
  • UX Design
  • Responsive Design
  • Prototyping
  • Mobile App Design
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Landing Page

Hello 👋 

I am a professional UX/UI designer with 5+ years of experience in creating digital products with care to users, along with providing profit to your business. I teach design in Dnipro. What makes a design good and successful? 

1. User-centered approach. Knowing your users & understand their context. 2. Understanding the business and marketing goals of a product. It’s highly important for me, not only to create a good product, but make sure, that it’s gonna make additional revenue for its business owner. 3. Consistency and idea behind every product. It’s always been that way, that better things in our world are having more...

Kateryna S.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Web Design
  • Responsive Web Design
  • Adaptive Web Design
  • Website Prototyping
  • Axure RP
  • Adobe XD
  • Figma

I'm Web Designer with 5+years experience. Passionate abou web & graphic design, UI/UX, HTML/CSS, beautifying things and current design trends. I'm flexible and open-minded and have passion to learn new technologies and improve skills to make innovative products. I’ve developed more than 100 successful projects. Meet deadlines and work well within a team environment. - Design Development of landing, sites, e-commerce, etc.; - Creation of Prototypes; - Adaptive & responsive web design; - Creation and selection of icons; - Basic knowledge of HTML and CSS; - Experience in pre-print design of posters, business cards, banners, logos etc.; -...

Anastasija J.
$45/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • Adobe XD
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Web Design
  • Figma
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Sketch
  • Logo Design
  • User Experience Design
  • iOS
  • UX & UI
  • Android
  • Icons
  • Business with 1-9 Employees

I am a UI/UX designer and artist. I love to create interfaces that are both beautiful and efficient. My working areas are User Interface design, User Experience design, Responsive Web Design, iOS app design, Android app design, Web design, rapid prototyping and creating wireframe etc. I work with the following, but not only programs: Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Zeplin, Trello, Jira etc.

Irina L.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Prototyping
  • UX & UI
  • Game Design
  • User Experience Design
  • Mobile Game
  • App Design
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Game Art
  • Logo Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Figma
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Web Design

I specialize in many styles. Here some of them: Modern, Minimalism, Glassmorphism, Fantasy, Medieval, Semirealism, Vintage, Grunge, Cartoon, Comic, Pixel, Cartoon, Sci-Fi, Horror, Flat. Tools I use daily: - Figma - Photoshop - Illustrator - Wacom tablet It's important to me to build long-term relationships with clients. My workflow based on open communication and feedback. Feel free to contact me, and we will discuss the idea and details of your project.

Sara P.
$68/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Product Management
  • Style Guide
  • UX & UI
  • User Flow
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Mockup
  • Product Design
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Usability Testing
  • Mobile App Design
  • User Experience Design
  • Prototyping
  • Wireframing
  • Figma

US based UI/UX designer who specializes in low and high fidelity prototyping across web and mobile. I have 2+ years of experience with the Design Thinking methodology and have been thoroughly involved with conducting user interviews, creating user journey maps, and wireframing. Most of my experience has been in the B2B and eCommerce space, though I also work in the consumer space. How I can help: - Creating wireframes - Creating high fidelity Figma prototypes (clickable or stills) - Iterating on existing prototypes - An analysis on existing prototypes based on user interview insights. I am excited to help out with any portion of...

Nataliia S.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • UX & UI
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Website Redesign
  • Design Thinking
  • Design Writing
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • Journey Mapping
  • Competitive Analysis
  • User Research
  • Prototyping
  • User Experience Design
  • Figma
  • Responsive Design

✅ Mobile application design ✅ Web design ✅ SaaS projects My workflow: 1. 🔍Research Understand requirements Kick-off Meeting with a Stakeholder Elaborating The Design Brief Competitor Analysis User Research (Surveys, Interviews, Personas, Empathy Map) 2. 🎯Define Information Architecture Customer Journey Map Brainstorming 3. 🧩Design Moodboard Design System Low-fi and Hi-fi Wireframes Interactive Prototypes Tools that I use: 🥇Figma 🥇Adobe XD

Dijana M.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InDesign
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Mobile App Design
  • Adobe XD
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Web Design
  • UI Animation
  • UX Research
  • UX Design
  • UX & UI
  • Landing Page

A designer is not what I am, it is who I am. I have an eye for detail that allows me to see things that many people would not be able to catch in a million years. I love building authentic, long-term relationships with my clients that entail good communication, trust, respect, and an occasional joke. When I’m not busy with a design project, you can find me either taking care of an unhealthy number of plants or hiking one of the 5089 mountains my beautiful country has to offer.

Andrei S.
$22/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • UIKit
  • Design Thinking
  • Google Analytics
  • UserTesting
  • User-Centered Design
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Website Redesign
  • Responsive Design
  • Figma
  • Web Design
  • UX & UI
  • User Experience Design

Hello! 👋 I'm Andrei, a UX/UI designer with a few years of hands-on experience in creating user-centered designs that deliver business value and provide a fantastic user experience. As a freelancer on Upwork, I'm dedicated to helping my clients achieve their goals through excellent design. I've had the opportunity to work on various projects, including a comprehensive platform redesign for a B2B marketplace that resulted in a significant increase of over 100% in the number of companies listed for sale. The redesign also received positive feedback from users, with a satisfaction rate of 90% for the sleek and modern design. I have extensive...

Maxim A.
$44/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Brand Design
  • Front-End Development
  • Bubble.io
  • UX Wireframe
  • Social Media Design
  • Product Design
  • Interactive Prototype
  • Figma
  • UX Research
  • User Experience Design
  • Presentation Design
  • Webflow
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Interaction Design

Top 3% Upwork TOP RATED PLUS Senior Product Designer with 16 years expertise in delivering first-class products using UX Research, UI/UX Prototyping, User Interface Design, Interaction Design and Front-End Development. With more then 450 projects accomplished i can assure you that you have a solid backup choosing me to help you give life to your product. If you are looking for Product Design, User Experience Design, Interactive Prototyping and Brand Design, please look no more because i can provide top notch skills, hands-on experience and best practice knowledge. It's hard to find such all-in-one solution: 1. UX Design - conducting user...

Md Ohidul I.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • User-Centered Design
  • Adobe XD
  • Web Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • Figma
  • Graphic Design
  • UX & UI
  • Wireframe
  • Interaction Design
  • Mockup
  • User Experience Design
  • Landing Page
  • Prototyping
  • Journey Mapping

As a Senior UI/UX Designer, I am passionate about solving real user problems by understanding their needs. With a strong background in User Experience and Interface Design, I always try to match the users' needs and business goals. I always care about human psychology, motivation, pain points, user satisfaction, and designing an enjoyable product. I enjoy designing from empathy to launching an end product that includes user research, ideating, prototyping, and testing. Through team collaboration and following the UX process, I confidently turn complicated problems into seamless user experience solutions for different industries....

Kyle C.
$100/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Product Management
  • iPhone UI Design
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • User Experience Design
  • Visual Communication
  • InVision
  • Figma
  • Sketch
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • Adobe XD
  • Wireframing
  • Mobile UI Design

Hard work and craftsmanship are my foundation. User interface, user experience, user-testing, prototyping, and more. My skills might be varied, but they all come with the same promise of quality, dedication, and reliability. I am an experienced creative with knowledge gathered from all different backgrounds, with over 14 years of design experience and a degree from one of the top design schools in the world, Ringling College of Art & Design. During my career I have lead design teams on major apps that saw over $1 Billion dollars of revenue go through our apps. Along with having the pleasure of working with large brand name clients such as...

Vira N.
$65/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Corporate Brand Identity
  • Illustration
  • Ecommerce Website
  • Web & Mobile Design Consultation
  • User Flow
  • Interaction Design
  • Figma
  • Journey Mapping
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Web Design
  • Landing Page
  • User Experience Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Responsive Design

👋 Hi! I'm Vira! My everyday world is filled with color, creativity, and business problem solving by design. I graduated from the Academy of Design and Fine arts. I have a BA in Graphic and Web Design and also I have a Master Degree in Psychology, that helps me to find the best way to create Design that will not only look nice and catchy, but first of all — will work and sell! My design experience spans back 6 years and includes: ✅ Graphic Design ✅ Company branding & identity ✅ UX (user experience) design, which focuses on usability and visitor interaction based on user's psychology ✅ UI (user interface) design according to modern UI...

Georgios K.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Blender
  • Adobe XD
  • Sketch
  • Software Design
  • Responsive Design
  • Figma
  • User Experience Design

Hi, I am George Ketsiakidis, a UX/UI designer from Thessaloniki. Coming from both a creative and technical background, I am a senior creative with 8+ years of experience involved in high-profile projects from start to finish. My clients include startups, creative individuals, and major corporations. I have been involved in high-profile international projects and I excel in fast-paced, high-stress environments, where teamwork is an indispensable part of success. I have strong expertise in the following areas: - Tool agnostic (I can work in any tool, I do 90% of my work on Figma or Sketch) | Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Invision - UX...

Daniel L.
$75/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • High Fidelity Design
  • Website
  • Business with 10-99 Employees
  • Webflow
  • Figma
  • Wireframing
  • Business with 100-999 Employees
  • User Experience Design
  • Business with 1-9 Employees
  • UX & UI
  • Responsive Design
  • No-Code Landing Page
  • Landing Page Design
  • Product Design
  • Landing Page

I am a full stack designer. I work with businesses to bring their vision to life. You don’t need something that just looks nice, you need something that you envisioned and meets your goals. I build websites from scratch. From the very beginning, I’ll work through the process with you. Have a brand or design already? Need development only? No problem. I’ll help you from where you started to get to the finish line. I specialize in: - Web design and development (I use a platform called Webflow to build websites) - Figma Design Systems - Dashboard design - UX/UI design Feel free to discuss your project with me!

Daria L.
$64/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • User Experience Design
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • GUI Design
  • UX & UI
  • Web Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Landing Page
  • Mobile App Design
  • Website Redesign
  • Prototyping
  • UIKit
  • ClickFunnels
  • Design Thinking
  • WordPress

Hey! I'm Daria Lucchesi. You’re here because you’re looking to build a game changing product. I’m here to be the game changer you need to do it. I am a former DI national champion with 2 successful exits during the span of my college career. I know what it takes to win, and I’m here to get you there. Over the last 6+ years, I’ve spanned industries getting my reps in: From web + mobile apps, to product design, wireframing, landing page design, checkout cart optimization, to web development & implementation. My technical background as a designer allows me to build and revamp interfaces that increase adoption, inspire customers, & scale...

Yurii F.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Sketch
  • User Experience Design
  • User-Centered Design
  • Web Design
  • UX Design
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Website Wireframing
  • Business with 1-9 Employees
  • Business with 10-99 Employees
  • Figma
  • Wireframing
  • Mobile App Design
  • iOS

👋 Hello! My name is Yurii, and I am a UX / UI designer with over 6 years of experience. Also, I am a founder and Design Lead in my own design studio Cre8 Team. In a few words: 🔸 6 years experience in the design sphere. 🔸 Strong portfolio 🔸 Perfect knowledge about UX and UI My Skills 🔹 UX/UI design 🔹 Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator 🔹 iOS and Android guidelines 🔹 Mobile design and patterns 🔹 Tablet design and patterns 🔹 Responsive design principles 🔹 Human interface guidelines by Apple 🔹 Material design by Google 🔹 E-commerce design 👌 When working on a project, I primarily focus on high-quality and effective user...

Faiz A.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Product Design
  • App Design
  • SaaS
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Wireframing
  • Landing Page
  • Web Design
  • Webflow
  • Website Redesign
  • User Flow
  • User Experience Design
  • Mobile App Design

Hello, I'm Faiz. UI/UX Designer & Product Designer with 8 years of design experience, working for Jualo, Avia, Norrth, Skoda, oDesk, various agencies, and startups. I specializing in digital product design, covering website design, landingpage design, and mobile app design. My goal is to increase your business bottom line by improving conversion rates through a great user interface and user experience. I create personas, sitemaps, user journeys, user flow, wireframes, and functional specifications of a digital product. I also build a design system from the ground up. By working closely with the stakeholders, I ensure that each project...

Thuso M.
$95/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • User Experience Design
  • iPhone UI Design
  • Wireframing
  • Responsive Web Design
  • Interaction Design
  • Website Prototyping
  • User Experience
  • UX & UI
  • Framer
  • Responsive Design
  • Website Redesign

Your idea is unique and deserves all the love and attention it is can get. That is where I come in. I will listen well, move extremely fast, be very creative, take the initiative and be highly curious - all of these being the five attributes that you desire the most. Here is how I typically work to build international standards-compliant and user-friendly Mobile Apps, Dashboards, Responsive Websites & Web Apps: ______________________________ 1. A quick evaluation of whether our availability matches your deadline. 2. We have a 10-minute call to get to know each other. 3. We carry out further Research to get some solid insights. 4. We create...

Vito T.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Responsive Design
  • CSS
  • Mockup
  • Web Design
  • Website Redesign
  • Style Guide
  • WordPress
  • Wireframing
  • Webflow
  • User Flow
  • Figma
  • Web Component Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • HTML
  • Graphic Design

🦉 The visual aesthetics of your website or app is your 📓 "book cover". While we are told to never judge a book by its cover that's exactly what 99% of your customers do while being exposed to your business. Whether you 💸 sell something, ✍🏼 keep a blog, or run a ⛑ humanitarian movement you are evaluated first and foremost based on what people see while using your app or browsing your web page. If you want to improve on how people perceive you or wish to create that presence from ground zero I am here to land a hand. 🚀 What I can help with: 🥦 Consult about best practices for UX/UI research methods. 🥦 Conduct UX/UI audits. 🥦 Problem...

Murad A.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • User Experience Design
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • UX Research
  • App Design
  • Mobile UI Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe XD
  • Sketch
  • Figma
  • Web Design
  • Adobe Illustrator

Hello, I'm Murad Abgaryan. I have 6+ years of experience in UI/UX industry. I am glad to inform you that I have designed 100+ web pages and apps including ecommerce platforms, landing pages, corporate websites, game apps. Creativity is my main priority and I always apply new approaches and new solutions. I create user-centered designs by understanding business requirements, and user feedback. I will be happy to cooperate with you and make your apps/websites more attractive and interesting.

Ibrahim A.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Responsive Web Design
  • UX Design
  • Zeplin
  • Wireframing
  • UX Writing
  • Responsive Design
  • Landing Page
  • Information Architecture
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • UX & UI
  • Mobile UI Design
  • UX Research
  • User Flow
  • Competitive Analysis

✅ UX/UI Designer I'm a web designer since 2004 and a UX/UI Designer for more than 7years, enjoy research, analyze, and finding the simplest solutions to solve problems. Working on landing pages, IOS, and android mobile application designs keeping in mind all the Usability, User thoughts/goals, User expectations, and competitors' levels. Care about aesthetics including Design Trends such as UI design Guidelines, Responsive web design, choosing the right colors, Typography style, and content hierarchy. Have been working in the field of training since 2006. Participated in a large number of funded projects as a coach and adviser since...

Zoe C.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon User Interface Design
  • Product Design
  • App Design
  • UX Wireframe
  • Wireframing
  • Figma
  • Prototyping
  • Web Design
  • Mobile App Design
  • UI/UX Prototyping
  • User Experience Design

Hello! I am a UI/UX designer that uses mostly Figma and Framer for user interface design. My services include: - Design systems and libraries - Low-fidelity to high-fidelity wireframing - Prototyping and interaction design - Web and mobile interface design - UI and visual redesigns

$NaN/hr

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How to Hire Top UI Designers

How to hire UI designers

A slick user interface (UI) is a core part of delivering a smooth user experience (UX). If you’re looking for a freelancer who can make those menus, forms, and buttons pop, a UI designer can help.

So how do you find UI design consultants? What follows are some tips on how you can find top UI designers on Upwork.

How to shortlist UI design professionals

As you’re browsing available UI design consultants, it can be helpful to develop a shortlist of the freelancers you may want to interview. You can screen profiles on criteria such as:

  • Portfolio. You want a UI designer whose aesthetic sensibilities match the direction you wish to take your brand, a portfolio is a good place to see what they can do.
  • Communication. A UI designer needs to be able to effectively communicate the UX designer’s user journeys and research into fleshed out designs.
  • Feedback. You can get a feel for what it’s like to work with a UI designer by checking reviews from past clients for red flags or glowing testimonials.

How to write an effective UI design job post

With a clear picture of your ideal UI designer in mind, it’s time to write that job post. Aim to provide enough detail for a freelancer to know if they’re the right fit for the project.

An effective UI design job post should include:

  • Scope of work: From site navigation to content layout, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
  • Project length: Your job post should indicate whether this is a shorter or larger project.
  • Background: Translate your UI design needs into a candidate profile. If you prefer experience working with certain industries, software, or marketing channels, mention this here.
  • Budget: Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.

Ready to create a UI design that will help you maximize the effectiveness of your marketing campaign? Log in and post your UI design job on Upwork today. Looking to set up a Website but not sure how much money it will take? Use Upwork's Free Website Cost Calculator tool to estimate costs associated with setting up a website - Website Design, development, and functionality.

UI DESIGNERS FAQ

What is UI design?

From dropdown menus, to login forms, and call-to-action buttons—UI design is about creating the visual elements that make up the front-end of your app. They use color, shape, texture, typography, and layout to create UIs that are not only visually appealing, but also simple and easy to use.

Here’s a quick overview of the skills you should look for in UI design freelancers:

  • Graphic design tools such as Adobe CC (e.g.,InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop)
  • Wireframing and prototyping tools such as Sketch
  • Ability to transform user guides and storyboards from a UX designer into visual front-end elements
  • Design research

A UI designer can content layouts, sliders, and other elements that make your app look amazing.

Why hire UI designers?

The trick to finding top UI designers is to identify your UI design needs. Do you need help creating visual elements for a single page application (SPA), a mobile app, or a progressive web app (PWA)?The cost of your project will depend largely on your scope of work, and the specific skills needed to bring your project to life.

How much does it cost to hire a UI designer?

Depending on the complexity of your UI, doing this well may require the overlapping expertise of a few disciplines: developer, analyst, designer, researcher, and marketer. With these insights and understanding, a UI designer can help to create a product that responds to your user’s actions with clarity, efficiency, and purpose. 

Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise and experience, location, and market conditions. Learn about the cost to hire a UI designer.

7 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a UI Designer

Engaging a user interface (UI) designer to help your design team develop your app or site’s UI? There’s a lot of amazing UI talent out there to choose from, but when you’re not a UI design pro yourself, it can be tricky to know what to look for or what your project needs most.

Because UI design tends to overlap with UX, mobile, and web design, finding a great UI designer then clicking “Hire” won’t always ensure you’re getting the specific help you need. There’s a bit more to it, as well as some common pitfalls to avoid.

1. Misunderstanding what a UI designer actually does

If you’re not sure what you need, you’re not going to get who you need. And it’s easy to confuse web design, UI design and UX design—which can lead to a job post that misses the mark. If your job post is unclear, a UI designer will be, too. As a result, great talent could decide not to submit a proposal.

A UI designer plays an integral part in developing the interactive features your end-users interact with, and they can play a critical role in making your digital product a success. On paper, it might look like they just design layouts. But in reality, they’re key in deciding many aspects of the design, navigation, menus, gestures, and subtle animations that help users along their way.

2. Making a decision on visuals (not process or results) alone

UI is definitely about design, but top rated-UI/UX designer Kyle Sandstrom said, “It isn’t necessarily beautiful design.” He notes that there’s a lot to UI design that doesn’t meet the eye.

Finding a UI designer that fits the bill means going beyond the visual aspects of their portfolio to try and uncover the reasoning behind a design. “Look for the thought process behind a design—behind the end product,” Sandstrom explained. “When you get a sense for the thought behind the work, not just font and color palette, you’ll understand the ‘why’ of a design. It’s a distinction someone is going the extra mile.”

He added that, in some cases, practicality can win over aesthetics. At the end of the day, you want the design to work well—not just look nice.

“Look for problems they solved and how they solved them,” he added. That includes metrics or reviews that demonstrate the overall effectiveness of a project. Because in the end, customers will be your biggest barometer of success. An application may appear sleek and spectacular within a portfolio, but that doesn’t mean users felt the same.

3. Not having a budget for your project

Not having a budget for your project, or hiding it in the job post, can narrow the range of talent who submit proposals for your project. Why? Because having a budget can help the UX designer determine the level of experience you’re looking for and decide the best processes to recommend in order to get the best results and value for you.

Tip: Your timelines and deadlines factor into this calculation, too. A UX designer will often look to these details to understand the context of your project as well as your expectations; omitting them from your job post leaves the experts guessing.

4. Limiting your search to local design talent only

When tapping into flexible talent, your first inclination may be to try and hire a UI designer who’s still local. However, with all of the cloud-based collaborative design software and prototyping platforms today, designers can provide mockups and input seamlessly—without being onsite.

Tools like Sketch, InVision, and RedPen—an annotated feedback tool—allow designers, developers, and marketers anywhere in the world to collaborate on the same design. And in some cases, it’s more efficient than working it out on paper.

Going remote can remove a lot of geographic barriers to talent and provide access to designers you might not otherwise know were out there. That gives you a world of candidates to choose from with the skills, experience, and work style you’re looking for.

5. Communication breakdown

Who else is on your design and development team and how will they collaborate with the UI designer? This is important—and the team should meet early on to decide the cadence and who will be involved in which stage. Without a plan for communication throughout the project, it can be too easy for key information from other stakeholders to be missed, leading to decisions that may or may not work for the final product.

Also, consider timing and collaboration. You don’t want to bring a UI designer on too late or phase them out too soon. And you want to have the right processes and tools in place to help them be effective no matter where they’re located.

6. Not providing the designer with adequate data and analytics

A great UI designer will want a good brief and then some—data, analytics, and all the personas and background information you have on your customers. This is how they get inside the mind of the user and create the kind of digital experience that can give users what they’re looking for (and accomplish your business goals).

In fact, a good portion of top designers will not even accept a project without solid user experience data to help guide them from the very start. Be sure you have access to this data lined up and ask the designer what information they need for your project to be successful. Leaving data up to chance will leave your design up to chance, too.

7. Giving user feedback low priority

A talented UI designer takes a lot into the consideration of a final design, and the least of which will never be user research. But all too often, aesthetics, ego, and a passion for design that “wows” can outweigh insights from customers. And that’s who you’re trying to please.

Sandstrom advised that it’s helpful to keep the tangible details in your sights. “In some ways, UI design is easier to evaluate than visual design, because you can focus on outcomes and changes vs. subjective aspects like color and visual design.”

UI vs. UX: How are they different and which do you need?

It’s not uncommon for there to be quite a bit of overlap between UI and UX designers because their goals are the same: To ensure an excellent user experience and for an app or site to accomplish what it set out to do.

Generally, the two roles are defined as

  • User experience design: UX focuses on how people interact with products, brands, and layouts. For a digital project, this can mean creating a framework for a site or app. A UX designer leverages usability testing and user feedback to create wireframes for a digital experience using data, competitor analysis, and customer feedback. They then make a blueprint for a UI that fully addresses customer needs and preferences.
  • User interface design: UI creates the design around the framework. It starts with the UX blueprint (wireframes), then designs the interactive elements needed for users to navigate through the experience with as little friction as possible. This includes buttons, dropdown menus, navigation, layout and typography, as well as elements like photography and video. A UI designer focuses on the functionality and overall visual elements that help a user accomplish what they’re there to do.

The roles aren’t always broken out, so what’s most important is finding someone who can tackle your particular problem.

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