How to become a UX designer: Tips and guidelines

Author Ivan Zdravkovic

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Have you ever wondered how to become a UX designer? Many people think that it is a very complicated process that takes years. In fact, the world of UI design is quite open to new ideas and people. As long as you are passionate about UI design, UX design, A/B testing, or prototyping, then you are perfect for this job.

Because it’s pretty difficult to find reliable sources to learn from, you need a solid starting point. This is why you need to get informed about UI designers or UX designers you can learn from and good resources from where you can get your information from.

At Amelia (the best WordPress bookings plugin), we are determined to make sure you get the necessary information about how to become a UX designer. Aside from this, please keep in mind that the Internet has unlimited resources, and joining a UX community can open a lot of doors for you.

Table of contents

Table of Contents

What is UX design?

When asking yourself what exactly User Experience design means, you need to consider several factors. First of all, you should understand that corporate industries are now using UX as a buzzword, a term that takes part in the trend. The User Experience can be defined as the impression a person has when interacting with a product or a service.

This is the simplest definition of the term that you will be able to find. An official definition was launched by the International Organization for Standardization and it is very similar to the previous definition, only a few terms changed. This definition states that User Experience is represented by “a person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use or the anticipated use of a product, system or service.”

The characteristics that should define UX design are represented by usefulness, usability, desirability, accessibility, credibility, findability and value. The process of designing UX has to respect several goals, depending on what type of interaction is demanded the respective product or service. How to become a UX designer is not that complicated if you know your data well.

The first step in UX design

The first step in becoming a UI/UX developer is to understand two basic principles. One has to do with knowing that the process of becoming a professional UX/UI designer takes time. You will encounter difficulties and you may feel overwhelmed at times if you just started your path, but the patience and perseverance are both worth it. After understanding how to become a UX designer, the rest will come naturally.

The second principle has to do with not aiming for too much. Even though you feel like you start getting around UX/UI design pretty easily, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that you are a beginner, and you will need some time to get your way around this job. Moreover, professional UX designers actually try to stick with the mind of a beginner designer because it’s easier to handle projects this way – always open to learning more.

How to become a UX designer?

UX design courses

Taking courses is the easiest way to assimilate the needed information to start performing as a UX designer.

If you feel like you can’t find the information you are seeking, and nothing seems to be helpful, a course can send you in a good direction without much effort. You will pay for it, but it’s definitely the easy way to learn some things about UX/UI design.

If you think a course is not worth the price, just think of the actual cost of designing an app: a cost that translates to revenue for you as a UX designer involved in creating the app design.

There are plenty of courses online. Here are two articles that are shortlisting some of those courses:

Targeted audience

Learning how to become a UX designer is not that easy. You also have to learn how to work with your audience and select it properly. Once you set the purpose of your design, it’s time to reach the audience you consider relevant.

A User Experience designer has to identify the requirements and preferences of the audience he is working with, long before launching the final version of the design. The targeted audience will offer you the exact starting point you need to create something that people enjoy.

Don’t forget that subjectivity may intervene and what you consider suitable for design, your audience may not. People are interpreting designs in their own ways, and these might not always be the same as yours, which makes the process a little bit more complicated. You need to come up with a UI design that is appealing to the users.

Storytelling skills should be improved

You may wonder what storytelling has to do with design. Well, UX and UI designers must be great communicators. Without good communication skills, the final design won’t reflect the ideas and requirements of the client. Storytelling does exactly that – putting the ideas of the client in something visual, which can transmit an idea.

Using stories to build your design will make it much easier to transmit the idea that the client wants his audience to receive. Storytelling becomes a skill that all UX designers must constantly improve in order to engage the targeted audience and please the customers.

Be open to new ideas

UX designers might be tempted to use the first idea that pops into their heads and seems good enough. In fact, this is a mistake and should be avoided at all costs. When the first idea comes to your mind, take some time to think about its quality and how it can be bettered. Finding many good ideas and choosing the winning one is a process which should take some time. Think that the idea you choose will reflect in the final outcome of your design.

Be a good user yourself

You already know what does a UX designer do, but you might need to put yourself in the position of a user to understand exactly what your work means to regular people who are actually trying to find a product they enjoy using.

Once you have learned how to become a UX designer, all you have to do is start thinking like a user and find out what a person would want to see on a website or mobile app.

Manage testing sessions

Most problems with your UI/UX design will be exposed during testing sessions.

The usability of the design you developed must be tested in different sessions to see how people can interact with it. If everything goes right in these stages, you are ready to launch the design and track the reactions it gets.

Improving your UX design practices

Improve your overall communication skills

As mentioned before, learning how to communicate efficiently is part of being a good UX/UI designer.

Of course, you should know the technical terms used in UX design, but you shouldn’t bother your clients with them, as they don’t know what they mean or how important they are.

Use a language that is very friendly and makes clients understand what you mean. Don’t alienate your customers from the design you create. Instead, explain what you are doing in simpler terms. It is a highly-appreciated skill that not all UX designers have.

Rethink old creations

When you feel like you are out of ideas and you remember you had projects that went well, you can use that core idea but transform it according to the needs of another client. Analyze your previous work and see if the projects could help you in any way after that.

Seek the extraordinary

You understood how to become a UX designer, you tackled your first projects – all that’s left is to find a style of yours that recommend you instead of others. You need to think out of the box and avoid limiting yourself in any way.

Set goals for yourself as a UX designer

Setting goals is a practice that will allow you to advance in your career. Learn how to set challenging (but not overwhelming) goals for yourself and prioritize them above anything else.

The easiest way to achieve the goals you set is following these few principles: make the goals achievable, set deadlines that you respect, set reminders and reward yourself each time you reach one.

Seek the much-needed inspiration

UX/UI designers need to find their inspiration somewhere, and the best way to do it is by reading about the latest trends and trying new things. The design field and all of its subcategories are changing constantly, and it is a benefit you should take advantage of.

Keep your designs simple

You can’t fail by using simplicity, so whenever you feel like you can’t get around a project, stick with what is common and simple, but very responsive. These are the types of designs that never fail.

Ending thoughts on how to become a UX designer

You don’t need any degree to learn how to become a UX designer. You only need the time and motivation to do it, as well as some talent and passion for this industry. Follow the tips you found in this article and get to work.

If you enjoyed reading this article about how to become a UX designer, you should check out this one on affordance in web design.

We also wrote about a few related subjects like persona templates, UAT testing, User Interface design principles, web usability and UX designer portfolio.