Half the world’s population has gone digital. Every major transaction can now happen online. The influx of new websites is ongoing every day on the world wide web! As a result, the need for creative & professional UI/UX designers is rising exponentially.
Do you wish to be one? Great! Let’s get started.
What Is UI/UX Design?
UI/UX design is the process of enhancing visual communication and user satisfaction of a digital product (website, apps etc). A UI/UX designer is tasked with improving the appearance, usability, accessibility, and desirability of the product.
To be a successful UI/UX designer, you need to have a cross-discipline perspective. A mixture of graphics, marketing, and web development is ideal for being a successful designer. If you don’t have it all, that’s fine too. In the world of digital creation, you can always learn anything online.
Why Get UI/UX Design Training?
Learning is good. Learning makes you a better professional than yesterday.
In the world where personal branding is the new trend, simply being a graphic designer, content developer, or web developer won’t get you far. If you want to succeed as a professional, having the added knowledge of UI/UX design will set you apart from the rest of the crowd. Most digital marketing firms are often on the lookout for the most advanced and creative UI/UX designer. It is the new keyword for success.
Being a UI/UX designer doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Just choose an online/offline institute to enrol for a UI/UX course.
Always prefer courses that provide practical hands-on knowledge over long theoretical courses. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Tips for beginners:
- A 6-12 month course is enough to teach you the basics. Do not opt for unnecessary long courses.
- If you are already a developer, learning UI/UX can help you translate designs to code with minimal hassle.
- It is more than just graphics. Appearance isn’t everything. You need to think of a user’s experience with every element on your product.
- Learn from the experts. Follow blogs that share case studies to keep your knowledge up-to-date.
- Avail the most you can from the plethora of online resources available.
Mistakes to Avoid
As it is the case with everything, beginners make mistakes. If you also find yourself short of professional expertise, remember the following:
- Lack of Research & Planning
As a designer and developer, ‘Why’ comes before ‘How’.
Researching into your target customer’s interests, likes/dislikes, digital behaviour (on different systems & browsers), and competition review is the core of success in UI/UX world.
Ask
yourself, “Will the customer actually need the product am creating?
If not, how can I alter my product to be desired/needed?”
After
research, always put your ideas on paper. Think over every aspect of
usability, navigation, network, and demand of the product.
Only then begin with the wireframe, you will save yourself a lot of time.
- Overload
of Effects
Just because you have the skill to create multiple enchanting effects does not mean it serves your purpose with every product. Too many sliders, pop-ups, or animated effects raise bounce rates exponentially.
Use effects to the minimum, keep it inviting and don’t confuse the audience.
No Readability
Never use too many colours on one webpage/website. Always stick to one colour palette which should be comprised of 2-4 colours. If your information is not easily readable, you have failed in doing the single most important job, communicating with the audience.
Use colour contrast in a way that it helps the consumer, never use two similar colours together.
Research suggests that 93% of consumers look at the visual appearance of a product, colour is a crucial aspect.
- No Value Addition
While making a design, at every step, this is the question you should ask yourself, “What is the value that I am adding?” No white space, button, content or visual should crowd the product without serving a purpose.
Image source: https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/15-inspirational-ux-design-quotes-that-every-designer-should-read/
- Not
Going Mobile
So, you have got a great design. Is it mobile optimized?
Always test your product on several devices, including mobile devices of various resolutions.
All
links and buttons should be functioning on all devices.
Biggest
reason companies are losing customers, is because they failed to
adjust their product to be used by the touch of a fingertip!
- Failing to Test
Consider no design project complete without a strict usability test. If you have created something, there is a chance that you can be biased towards your product. Get others to test it on several different devices.
Do individual level testing and group level testing. Studies show if your testing group consists of more than 5 users, you can find more than 75% of problems your product probably contains.
With these points in mind, you can kick start your UI/UX designing career with a win. Learn, practice, fail, and conquer. Soon enough you will be able to create magic on those screens with simple training and hard work.
