Who Is a UI Designer and What Do They Do?
Explore the role of UI designers, understand how this profession differs from UX design, discover the reasons to pursue a career in UI design, and learn how to begin your journey in this field.
What Is a UI Designer?
A UI designer creates the graphical interface for apps, websites, or devices that people use. For example, when you open a website or an app on your phone, the graphical interface helps you navigate and accomplish tasks. UI designers make and improve the interactive parts, like buttons, menus, progress bars, and other elements that help you take action.
Learn more: Mastering UI Design: Definition, Tips, Best Practices
Creating visually appealing interfaces is important, but UI design is more than just looks. When using an app or website, it should be easy to understand how to interact with it. For example, you should know what will happen when you click a button or switch something on. UI designers use visual cues to help guide users through the interface.
Additionally, a website or app should be accessible to everyone. Users should be able to use and understand the interface no matter their abilities, age, race, gender identity, or background. This means choosing fonts that are easy to read and can be translated into different languages, as well as using colors that are distinguishable for colorblind users.
Learn more: UI vs. UX: Key Differences for Success
Vocabulary of UI Design
When you explore UI design, you may encounter important terms specific to this field. Here are some key terms to help you understand UI design better and make informed decisions about starting a career as a UI designer:
User Interface: The way a person interacts with an app or device.
Typography: The style and look of written text; it focuses on making text easy to read and visually appealing.
Color Theory: Concepts and rules about how colors work together and affect design.
Prototype: A sample version of a final product used to test ideas and gather feedback.
Wireframe: A basic layout that shows the main elements of an interface.
Breadcrumb: A navigation tool that shows users their current location within a website's structure.
Accessibility: The design principle that ensures products can be used by everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Affordance: A feature that helps users understand how to interact with an element.
What Does a UI Designer Do?
As a UI designer, your job is to create the appearance of digital products and how users interact with them. Here are some of the tasks you might handle:
Testing new designs on both mobile devices and desktop computers.
Managing prototype content within wireframes.
Instructing team members about low-fidelity (simple) and high-fidelity (detailed) prototypes.
Creating style guides to ensure design consistency across different screens.
Turning business needs into functional UI designs.
Working together with UX designers, development teams, and product teams.
Creating layouts for e-commerce websites and other interactive sites.
Additional Responsibilities Might Include:
Making sure designs work well on different types of devices.
Improving and modernizing existing design environments.
Designing interactive elements like buttons, sliders, toggles, icons, drop-down menus, and text fields.
Selecting color palettes and fonts for the design.
Working with developers to ensure features work as planned.
Studying how design and usability changes affect users.
Making wireframes or high-fidelity layouts that show what an interface looks like, including visual elements and branding.
Michael Worthington, a founding partner at a design studio, explains, “A big part of being a UI designer is being part of a team. Your creative solutions need to align with other team members' concerns, like back-end issues and UX feedback. The best teamwork happens when your work improves through these interactions.”
Essential Skills for UI Design
As a UI designer, you'll use your creativity in the digital world and apply technical skills to bring your ideas to life. Effective UI designers have a wide range of skills. You might already have some of these important abilities:
Empathy: To create a product that is easy and intuitive to use, it's important to understand the user's perspective. By empathizing with the people who will use your designs, you can adjust your choices to meet their needs.
Collaboration: Product development is a team effort. You will often work closely with UX designers and user researchers to turn their basic wireframes into complete prototypes. You'll also work with front-end developers to turn your designs into functional code. Sometimes, you may need to present your designs to stakeholders.
Design and Prototyping Tools: The tools you use can vary depending on the company, the product you’re designing, or your own preferences. Some popular UI design tools to consider learning include Sketch, Figma, InVision, Balsamiq, Axure, and Adobe XD.
Color Theory: Choosing the right colors is one of the most important parts of UI design. It’s not just about what looks nice; colors can also indicate functions and help define a brand’s identity.
Typography: Since over 90% of information on the internet is text, good typography is essential. It can greatly impact the user experience and distinguish between effective and ineffective designs.
Design Patterns: Familiarity with UI design patterns can provide general solutions to common design issues. Understanding these patterns can save you time and help you focus on specific user challenges.
UI vs. UX Design
User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design are closely related fields, but they have key differences.
User Experience (UX): This refers to the overall experience a user has when using a product or service. It involves understanding users’ needs and how they interact with the product to ensure a positive and efficient experience.
User Interface (UI): This focuses on the visual elements and design of the interface that users interact with. UI design is about creating attractive and functional layouts, buttons, menus, and other components that help users navigate and accomplish their goals.
In summary, UX is about the user’s overall experience, while UI is about the specific visual design of the interface.
Why Pursue a Career in UI Design
If you are passionate about design and have an interest in product development and web design, a career in UI design might be a great match for you. This field offers the chance to work in a team environment where you can develop solutions for real-world problems.
UI Designer Salary and Job Outlook
According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for UI designers in the U.S. is $99,863 as of January 2023. This amount includes the base salary along with additional earnings like bonuses, commissions, and profit sharing.
Although user interfaces have existed for a long time, the role of a UI designer is relatively new and rapidly growing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that jobs in web development and digital design will grow by 23% between 2021 and 2031, which is much faster than the average for other occupations.
How to Become a UI Designer
There are several paths to becoming a UI designer. The route you take may depend on your experience, education, transferable skills, and the type of company you want to work for. Here are some steps you can follow to prepare for a successful career:
1. Learn UI Design Skills:
To start a career in UI/UX design, you need the right skills. While having a degree isn’t always necessary, it can help. Many universities offer degree programs in human-computer interaction, human-centered computing, or human-centered design. You can also find degrees or courses in web design, digital design, and graphic arts, which often cover skills relevant to UI design.
Another option is to take courses or attend boot camps focused on UI design. Look for programs that provide hands-on experience with common UI tools, allowing you to practice what you’re learning.
2.Gain Experience:
After learning some basics, it's important to work on a real project as soon as you can. Roman Jaster, a visiting faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts, emphasizes that while student projects are helpful for learning, working on real projects allows you to engage with actual users, which is essential for understanding user experience (UX).
You don't have to wait until you get hired to start gaining experience. Begin by designing your own website, or see if any friends or family need help redesigning their websites or apps. Pay attention to the designs of the pages or apps you use regularly and think about how you could improve their UI.
If you're pursuing a degree, check with your school’s career services for internship opportunities. You can also volunteer your design skills for local schools or non-profit organizations.
As you gain experience, focus on learning the software commonly used in UI design. “Being proficient in tools like Figma can help you visualize your ideas and fit into a work environment,” says Michael Worthington. However, remember that the software is just a tool. Your expertise in using the tool, along with graphic design skills, creative thinking, and imagination, is what really matters.
3.Build Your Portfolio:
Your portfolio is one of the most important factors when applying for UI jobs. It showcases your work and demonstrates your skills to potential employers. You don’t need your own website to create a portfolio; you can use online platforms like Dribbble, Behance, or Coroflot to easily showcase your designs.
As you gain experience, make sure to update your portfolio with your latest and best work.
4. Expand Your Network:
While many designers find job openings through public job boards, you can also discover opportunities through your network. Start building relationships with other professionals in project development, such as UX designers and web developers, by attending industry events or engaging with them online. You never know who you might meet or what opportunities those connections might lead to.
