How to Become a UI Designer

There are a set of fundamental principles that all Visual Designers rely on—how to use color and lines, shape and texture, images and type, and even layout to create an organized hierarchy of information, engage users visually and intellectually, direct their eye or evoke a feeling. Immerse yourself in design. Study what others are doing and deconstruct what works and what doesn’t. Design is an art, not a science, so there are no “right” answers—which means improving your knowledge of design 

It’s at this stage that you’ll want to begin thinking about taking a course in UI design, with a program tailored to include the tools you’ll be working with as a UI Designer: imaging programs like Photoshop; wireframing applications like Sketch, Illustrator, InVision Studio, Adobe XD, Axure, Figma, or Marvel; and prototyping programs like Proto.io, Principle, Flinto, Framer, and ProtoPie. You won’t necessarily need to learn all these programs, as many of the processes are transferable from one 

Working on your own UI design projects is a great way to practice the digital skills you’ve acquired, try your hand at all the different stages of UI design, and create pieces for your portfolio. Once you’re familiar with a few imaging, wireframing, and prototyping programs, you’re ready to begin building projects that put your skills to use.

Rather than simply reproducing design elements, devise an original project that lets you practice your UI skills at every stage of the process – beginning with research and testing models, and developing the user personas that will guide your design as you proceed with the design phases, conceiving and creating out interactive design elements like menus, search fields, buttons, and page navigation – even entire layouts, color palettes, and interactive media. Make holistic use of your foundation

When you reach the wireframing and prototyping stages, challenge yourself to incorporate various principles of interaction design, innovating novel ways for users to navigate and interact with the content on your site or app.  

As you progress, look for ways to strengthen your soft skills as well. Partnering with others will give you real experience communicating and working with a team – a great asset to any UI Designer. And as you present your projects to others for feedback, be conscious of how intuitive they are to interact with; this will help you develop user empathy, another must-have quality in any good UI Designer.

Your portfolio is your most powerful marketing tool. Make it great! Come up with an idea for a project you’re interested in, then chart your progress from start to finish, making note of your process and the creative solutions you’ve come up with at each step. Then, share it on a public platform like GitHub to gain attention and begin growing your network.

When applying to jobs, carefully tailor the pieces you include in your portfolio to show that you’re a fit for the company you’re applying to 

To start a career in UI design, you’ll want to begin by familiarizing yourself with all the different subfields of design, until you’re confident that UI design really is the path for you. Then, dig deeper into what UI Designers do – talk to working UI Designers to learn about the kind work you’ll be doing, get a handle on the basic ideas that drive UI design, and start collecting good advice.

Once you’re confident a career in UI Design is right for you, it’s time to start building your skill set. Arguably the most effective and efficient way to do that is to enroll in a  course dedicated specifically to UI design – that way, you can be sure your training will cover all the necessary topics, and you’ll avoid time spent pursuing less useful areas. 

A structured learning environment also means you’ll receive constant feedback on your performance during your training, and even career guidance when you’re ready to begin searching for jobs.

The next step is to put your new skills to use. Developing your own practice projects gives you a chance to explore, expand, and hone your UI design skills while simultaneously creating the work that will form the basis for your professional portfolio. 

Together with your resume, your portfolio is your most valuable tool for showing off your skills and connecting with potential employers. Sharing your work on a platform like GitHub lets you present your abilities in an easy-to-read way, illustrating the steps you’ve taken to set clear objectives, identify and define obstacles along the way, and imagine innovative solutions to them.  

Like all creative arts, design can take a lifetime to truly master – there are always new discoveries to make, new innovations to be made. Technology, meanwhile, is always evolving; the tools at a UI Designer’s disposal are virtually endless, and always evolving. What this means is that, as a UI Designer, you can continue to learn throughout your career and will never know it all. For a UI Designer, the excitement of taking on new challenges never ends.