How to Get Started with UX Design

The UX Design industry is booming, It is expected to grow 16% per year till the year 2028. With this boom, there is a great demand for UX designers and the number of people aspiring to become a UX designer is also increasing. UX design just like every other field has some well-defined steps that one can follow to get started quickly and make the most of the journey toward becoming a professional UX designer, these steps help you navigate through the highs and lows of the process of learning UX design.

In this article, we will discuss how to get started with the UX design journey and how to face the hurdles that may come your way in this journey.

Getting Started with UX Design

Getting Started with UX Design

By following this step-by-step detailed guide you will get an expanded view on how to start your journey in UX Design.

1. Understanding the basics

The first thing you should start with is to get your basics right, these basics will be the base that you will build your design career upon. The basics of UX design include User Research, Usability, Empathy, Accessibility, User testing, and mock interviews. Make sure to have a decent knowledge of these topics, other than this you should also understand how to conduct Surveys and Interviews. you should know about Focus groups, Wireframing, Prototyping, user analytics, etc.

2. UI/UX Design

Once you are done with the basics of UX design, we can move to understanding what UI/UX design actually is, UI and UX are two interdependent terms where UI design or User Interface design refers to the process of creating the visual interfaces for a software application. And UX design or User Experience design refers to the process of creating the experiences or the interactions that a user has with a product.

The underlying principle of UI design is to design the interface between the actually working of the application or website and the user, meanwhile, the underlying principle of UX design is to keep the needs of the user prior and improve the interaction of the user and the product keeping this in mind.

3. Understanding the UX design Principles

Now the next step in the process of getting started with UX design would be to learn about the various design principles that directly impact the experience of the user for any application or website, some of the most important ones are mentioned as follows:

• Persona: A Persona is a fictional character that UX designers create in order to represent a type of user that will use the product or service we are designing. Personas are grouped according to certain behavior patterns, goals or even demographics of our target audience.
• Information Architecture: Information Architecture as the term suggests is a short document or chart that outlines everything in a particular product or service along with how everything inside it interacts with each other. It is a blueprint that outlines the hierarchy behavior and interaction of content on a particular product.
• Mental model: Mental model is a framework or worldview that helps a UX designer to interpret and understand how the user mentally thinks about the things in the world. Mental models provides the designer information about deeply held beliefs that his/her users holds on how the world works.
• Gamification: Gamification means taking specific “game-like” elements or elements that you would most likely see in a game and putting them into your product or a service that is not the game in order to drive user engagement. It is a popular UX design technique to increase the user engagement and retention.
• A/B testing or split testing: A/B testing or split testing is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage or an app with each other to find out which performs better. A/B testing is done after the product is launched where the designers make small changes to the final product.
• Usability test: Usability test basically is evaluating a product/service by testing it with some users and implementing the feedback provided by them. In the Usability test, participants have to complete some tasks created by UX designers and these UX designers watch the users and take notes about how the user interacts with the product.

3. Learning the Tools

While there’s no need to be a master of every tool out there, familiarizing yourself with some popular options will definitely give you an edge. Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD are the UX design tools that allow you to create user interfaces and prototypes. Additionally, explore user research tools like survey software or interview scheduling platforms to gather valuable user data.

4. Design Thinking

After having a clear understanding about the UX design principles, now we need to dig deeper and understand key terminologies in UX design and one of the most important term in UX design is design thinking. Design thinking is a philosophy or a set of tools to help the designer solve problems creatively. Design Thinking is about empathizing and figuring out who you are designing for? What their needs are? and then solving that problem. Design thinking involves five main steps:

• Understand the challenge
• Define the problem.
• Come up with solutions
• Create a prototype
• Test the prototype and iterate.

5. Accessibility

The next step would be to learn about Accessibility, Accessibility in UX design is the process of designing applications or websites keeping in mind people with special needs and creating an application or website that would be accessible to a larger group of people. The foundational principle behind Accessibility is inclusiveness, so while designing the designer has to take care that the design should cater to everyone – from common people to people with special needs or disabilities. It’s an important foundation for designing user friendly designs.

6. User Centered design

After learning about Accessibility, let’s understand what User Centered design is? and how to create User Centered design? User Centered design is a design that follows a series of processes or steps taken by the designers team in order to put the user at the center of the development of the product. With user centered design every decision is made keeping the user and the goals of the user in mind. To create a user centered design, you can follow these 4 steps:

• Identify the needs of the users.
• Specify the exact number of requirements.
• Come up a solution.
• Evaluate the solution keeping in mind the needs that we initially identified.

7. Heuristics

The next topic we need to understand well for becoming a UX designer is Heuristics and the 10 Heuristics evaluations, Heuristics is the study and use of heuristic techniques about helping humans discover and learn things for themselves. In UX design, we do heuristic evaluations as rules of thumb or a better user experience. There are 10 main usability heuristics, These were created by Jakob Nielsen. Here is the list of 10 Heuristic evaluations:

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
• Help and documentation

8. Practice & Build a Portfolio

Now that you have known UX design till an intermediate level, build some projects from scratch where you follow all the important UX design principles, take mock interviews, surveys and use data from those surveys in your design. The better way of doing this would be to work for some startups for free.

Building projects will help you understand the entire process of UX design and well as have something to showcase in your resume. Everything that you learn, keep on posting it on your socials, specially LinkedIn and Twitter since there is a community of designers active in LinkedIn and Twitter. Start building your resume and applying for companies and startups, you can also register yourself in freelancing websites like Upwork. From here onwards, keep on learning and implementing whatever you learn in your projects and you will surely have a great career ahead of you.

9. Continuous Learning and Networking

The UX design landscape is continually changing. To keep pace with the latest developments and methodologies, it’s essential to engage with industry publications, participate in online UX gatherings, and be active in design forums. Building connections with fellow UX professionals is incredibly beneficial. This interaction allows for the exchange of ideas, the sharing of personal journeys, and the uncovering of new prospects.

10. Landing Your First UX Design Job

Creating an engaging resume and cover letter tailored to UX design positions is essential. Emphasize your UX abilities, pertinent educational background, and any projects you have contributed to. Investigate companies recognized for their commitment to UX excellence and customize your application to demonstrate how your competencies could enhance their team dynamics.

Conclusion

In conclusion, starting a career in UX design is all about learning the basics, practicing what you’ve learned, and staying connected with other designers. By diving into UX design principles, working on actual projects, and getting to know tools and fellow designers, you can build a solid foundation for your career. Remember, it’s not just about knowing your stuff; it’s also about using your skills to make things that really click with people.

So, go ahead and explore the exciting world of UX design, where your work can make technology easier and more fun for everyone.

UX Design – FAQs

What makes a good UX design?

A UX design that follows all the 10 Heuristic principles is considered as a good UX design. These principles are as following:

1. Visibility of system status
2. Match between system and the real world
3. User control and freedom
4. Consistency and standards
5. Error prevention
6. Recognition rather than recall
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
10. Help and documentation

How is UX Design different than UI Design?

UX design or User Experience design refers to the the process of creating the experiences or the interactions that a user has with a product. Whereas UI design or User Interface design refers to the process of creating the visual interfaces for a software application.

What is the average salary of a UX Designer in India?

According to some online surveys, the average salary of a UX Designer in India is about ₹5 LPA.

What is the golden rule of UX design?

The Golden rule of UX design is that “your user should be the center of your design”. Everything in the UX design must be optimized for a better user experience.

What are the three pillars of UX design?

The three pillars of UX design are Research, Usability and User testing.