Career as User Experience (UX) Designer

Last Updated By Ankita Jha on 30 Sep, 2022

How to Become a User Experience (UX) Designer

About User Experience (UX) Designer

User experience (UX) designing is a process used by the design team to create products that offer relevant and meaningful experiences to the users. The duty of User experience (UX) designer is to design the whole process of integrating and acquiring the product that involves vivid aspects such as design, branding, function and usability. User experience designers are expected to have a wider understanding of the UCD (user-centred design), have empathy for the user and strong analytical abilities. A good user experience designer must comprehend the technical limitations along with the goals, strategies and business requirements. They also need to be equipped with sound knowledge of technologies.

A UX designer regularly conducts user interviews, research and surveys and uses the conclusions drawn from them for formulating customer journey maps, sitemaps, prototypes and wireframes. Candidates are not required to have a college degree to break into the career of User experience (UX) designer. Although by pursuing any User experience (UX) design degree an aspirant can fetch in-depth knowledge of the field and better opportunities await them.

Roles and Responsibilities of User Experience (UX) Designer 

The candidates need to know the roles and responsibilities of a User Experience (UX) Designer if they opt career in this.

  • They need to check competitor research survey
  • They must understand the users need and demand
  • Thave to create product prototypes 
  • Develop and need to test products
  • UI prototyping
  • They are responsible for building the site  and app navigation system
  • They need to understand the system flow
  • User Testing is done by them
  • Install the system shortcuts
  • They need to design the pages and screen for the user interaction
  • They translate UX designer guidelines through the right screen elements  
  • Creating mood boards
  • Conduct research, surveys, and questionnaires
  • Conduct user interviews
  • Perform competitor analysis
  • Create a user journey
  • Perform usability tests
  • Drafting pixel-perfect designs  
  • Aesthetics designing through beautiful elements, icons, controls, and visual
  • They create product motion prototypes
  • They make motion graphics, moving elements and animations
  • Testing animations and ensuring smooth performance 

Eligibility to become User Experience (UX) Designer

For becoming a successful user experience designer it is essential to satisfy some of the eligibility requirements of the field. Check out the mentioned pointers discussing the eligibility to become UX designer.

  • User experience design demands for mastery in the field with sound knowledge and sufficient experience. A candidate can opt for a career in UX design even without a degree, the only requirement that he/she must possess is a deep experience and deeper understanding of the domain.
  • For pursuing an undergraduate degree in UX design from a desired college or university a candidate must have qualified class 12th or intermediate in any stream, from a recognised educational board.
  • To pursue a UX design postgraduate degree, you must have cleared your graduation from a recognized university or college.
  • Each college has a separate set of eligibility criteria. Before applying for admission to a college, make sure that you are following all the minimum eligibility parameters set up by the college.

How to Become a User Experience (UX) Designer?

Step 1: Clear 10+2

The candidates must complete 12th boards in computer science, math, physics, chemistry, etc with minimum 50% marks from a recognised board.

Step 2: Entrance Exam

There are many colleges and universities that grant admission through the entrance exam. The candidates are required to appear for the entrance exam for the courses like BE (Bachelor of Engineering), BTech (Bachelors of technology),  BSc (bachelors of Science) or any related course in the top colleges. The admissions are conducted on the merit basis. The candidates need to perform well in the entrance exam inorder to be eligible for the admission. There are many colleges who give admission on the basis of 12th marks as well. The candidates can check the popular entrance exam for User Experience (UX) Designer course mentioned below.

Top Entrance Exam for User Experience (UX) Designer

 Listed below are the list of entrance exam for User Experience (UX) Designer:

  • JEE Main
  • JEE Advance
  • KEAM EE
  • VITEEE
  • IPU CET
  • SRM JEE
  • AMU EE
  • BIT SAT

Step 3: Pursue Bachelor's Degree

The candidate after doing 12th needs to pursue graduation in the related field that is required to become a User Experience (UX) Designer. There are many computer science courses that a candidate can pursue for choosing a career as User Experience (UX) Designer. The candidates can check the list of courses available in computer science that will help them to select the proper course for making their career as a UX designer.

UG Courses for  User Experience (UX) Designer 

Listed below are the popular User Experience (UX) Designer UG courses.

  • BSc CS (Computer Science)
  • BE CS (Computer Science)
  • BTech CS (Computer Science)
  • BCA

Step 4: Pursue Post Graduation

There are several options one can choose after completing their graduation. However,  Post graduation should be the first priority as if they want to make their career in the respective field they must have a proper knowledge about that particular subject. Thus it is very important to specialize in that subject.  For User Experience (UX) Designer,  there are many courses available in the masters. The candidates can check the list below.

PG Courses for  User Experience (UX) Designer 

Listed below are the popular User Experience (UX) Designer PG courses.

  • MCA (Master of Computer Applications)
  • MTech (Master of Technology)
  • MSc (Master of Science)
  • ME (Master of Engineering)

Step 5: Job

The candidates after pursuing UG and PG can also apply for jobs and start earning money. The demand for User Experience (UX) Designer  is growing at a rapid pace. There are a lot of recruiters as well who offer jobs to candidates after graduation.

 

Skills Required to Become a User Experience (UX) Designer 

There are a lot of skills that are required for choosing a career as User Experience (UX) Designer as it requires both creative and technical skills. When we choose a career in any field we must know what are the skills that are required in that particular job and we prepare ourselves for that. So, one must know that there are several skills a candidate must possess inorder to be a perfect User Experience (UX) Designer. So listed below are the skills required in making a career as User Experience (UX) Designer.

 Designing skills: Designing skills is a skill that is the key to success for a  User Experience (UX) Designer They require learning modular designs, sketching and switching prototyping, Sensitive Designs, dynamic designs, etc. They must keenly learn and understand content of design and produce the content effectively. 

Communication skills: One of the most important skills is visual communication that is required by designers.  Designers need to be a storyteller, as well. They have to be very expressive and communicative, descriptive in terms of explaining reasons for selecting a specific design. 

Rapid Prototyping: As per the advancement of the technical field, now everything is done in a quick span of time be it creating a new version of the program or creating a software. Earlier it used to take a lot of time to create anything in technical terms.  Without a specification it is very difficult to parallelize a design so here the skill required is rapid prototyping as it mainly reduces product manufacturing costs. They prefer using the same CAD and printing machinery which reduces the employee costs. 

Software Development: The increasing demand of technologies has created a tremendous pressure on UX designers as they have to work amid the difficulties and have to get adapted to any environment because they have to meet the competitive market demand . Software development is a must skill for a UX designer as without it nothing is possible. Software developments  conduct work more accurately and efficiently. 

Persuasion: Making easy applications and using it cannot fulfill the criteria as in the current scenario we require convincing design specialists so persuasive skill is required. One needs to influence the workforce that would contribute in  improving the  performance. 

 Adaptability: Adaptability is also a very important skill for a  User Experience (UX) Designer as we have to meet the demand and adopt the changes that are taking place according to the environment. Receiving  feedback and evaluating the concepts is the core job of a designer. In an office, we need to be versatile enough to improve, change and modify designs as per the demand. Adaptability makes things easy to manage, and gives solutions to the problem.

Business sense: Nowadays it is very crucial and important to have a business sense to stand in the competitive world. So, one should engage themselves in business development meetings, keeping track of current trends in the market, note the points, give presentations, find out the technical solutions and then can say that they have a business sense.

Types of Job Roles User Experience (UX) Designer

A UX designer holds an eye for details and an adequate technical understanding. Also, through a sufficient amount of knowledge of software, programming languages, visualisation skills and creativity anyone can carve a successful career path in User experience (UX) design. Enlisted below are the type of role aspirants are offered in UX design.

UX Designer: The responsibilities of a UX designer is to conduct research of the users, write UX copy, design, validate with the users, sell the design solution to lubricate the business.

Information Architect: The key function is to make the information appealing and accessible to the audience. It consists of technical writing, web development, graphic design and written format creation.

Researcher/Analyst: The duty of a researcher is to conduct research using UX designing elements followed by analysing and interpreting trends and patterns.

Content Strategist: A content strategist tends to create as well as manage campaigns on social media. They also manage marketing campaigns, build strategic partnerships and monitor engagement.

UX Design Manager: A good UX design manager coordinates with a team of designers and manages workstreams and staffing resources. They manage the team and their work.

Employment Sector/Industry for User Experience (UX) Designer

UX designing is a burgeoning field and multiple sectors are willing to employ a skilled User experience (UX) Designer. Captured below are few of the popular opportunities for a User experience designer.

  • Manufacturing companies
  • Banks
  • Financial services organisations
  • Educational institutions
  • Consulting firms
  • Specialist software development companies
  • Self-employment
  • Telecommunications companies
  • Public sector organisations

Top Recruiting Companies for a User Experience (UX) Designer

With the ever-evolving market of UX design, zillions of companies are recruiting UX designers. Enlisted below are few of the leading companies for a User experience (UX) designer.

  • Lollypop
  • Koru Technologies
  • Yellow Slice
  • The AntiAlias
  • Lazyeight
  • Prismic Reflections
  • Redd
  • Parallel Labs
  • Seventeen seven
  • Beard Design

Planning to choose User Experience (UX) Designer as your career?

Pay Scale/Salary of User Experience (UX) Designer

UX design is a vast field and it has multiple job profiles within it. Pay structure and possible growth opportunities in each of them varies from profile to profile. Tabulated below are the pay Scale/Salary of User experience (UX) designer in multiple possible profiles.

Job Profile

Starting Salary per annum (in INR)

Mid Level Salary per annum (in INR)

Senior Level Salary per annum (in INR)

UX Designer

3,00,000

10,00,000-13,00,000

20,00,000

Information Architect

4,00,000

12,00,000-14,00,000

30,00,000

Researcher/Analyst

3,00,000

9,00,000-12,00,000

20,00,000

Content Strategist

2,54,000

10,00,000-13,00,000

20,00,000

UX Design Manager

8,11,000

19,00,000-22,00,000

40,00,000

Career Path of a User Experience (UX) Designer

The career path of UX designers is very bright as there are a lot of options one can choose in the User Experience (UX) Designer career. The technical path is one of them and the other is the managerial path. It depends upon the candidate's choice and on their job satisfaction. There is a lot of flexibility and satisfaction in the User Experience (UX) Designer career.

Technical Career 

The candidates who are interested in technical career progression must gain experience in that domain only. They have to choose fields like GUI designers, graphic artists or interaction designers that are all related to technical fields. It is just that you have to be passionate about that particular job and keen on learning and welcoming the challenges in web technologies and you need to be dabbling in CSS, HTML and Java script. The candidates can also go for front-end web developer as it is also a flourishing job in User Experience (UX) Designer career. One can learn languages like Ruby, PHP for full stack developers, Python, etc. The mobile has become a core part of everyone's life in recent times. So, one can also consider choosing mobile development techniques by creating app design for mobiles, video games, software, etc.

Managerial Career 

In many cases candidates are good at managing things, people are suitable to adjust in any environment, so for them managerial posts are best. Candidates can work  to lead teams or can say managing a team. You can become a manager, then director and the leading post vice president of an office. For a managerial career candidates can involve themselves in business orientated roles and recruit people, resource allocation and be a team motivation person. This will make a person a perfect leader and manager. 

Work Environment of a User Experience (UX) Designer 

The work environment for a person who is working as User Experience (UX) Designer represents the company they work for. It is expected that the environment should be cool as it is the most creative department in such organizations where user interface is being developed. The employees should have the freedom to wear dresses of their choice and not follow a pacific dress code. There should be an option of flexible hours. The organization should also consider working from home if that suffices the need. 

Is there a need to travel for UI Designer?

UI designers may not have to travel much as they have to mostly work from the office and develop interfaces with the help of computers. They might have to travel in case there is a meeting with the clients who are settled at different places. However, they can always get the feedback and requirements over phone or through online meetings. 

Working Hours

As far as timing and working of  User Interface (UI) designers are concerned, they have to make sure that they are available as per the requirement and availability of the clients. Even though some of the organizations hire employees for full time who work for fixed hours, there are many organizations where employees work for part time. The individuals who work on their own also charge on hourly basis. Many organizations allow their employees to work from home.  Most designers of User Interface (UI) work full time, but schedules differ depending on the workload and deadlines.

Employment Nature (Contractual, Permanent)

UI designers have multiple choices to engage themselves with the organizations. They can work either on a permanent basis or can be a contractual employee who works for a particular project. They can also work independently and tie up with people working for professional User Interface (UI) agencies.  They can also set up an office as per their choice like a living room. Such individuals may be ready to travel places to meet clients and understand their requirements. 

Books & Study Material to Become User Experience (UX) Designer

A UX designer needs to be fully equipped with technical skills and knowledge in order to build a successful career in the field. Mentioned below are some of the books that candidates can refer to in order to broaden their knowledge and enhance their skills.

  • Smashing UX Design by Jesmond Allen and James Chudley
  • Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions and Answers by Artiom Dashinsky
  • The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide — Leah Buley
  • 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People — Susan Weinschenk
  • About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design — Alan Cooper
  • Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work — Indi Young

Pros of becoming a User Experience (UX) Designer

  • With apt skills and broad knowledge of UX design, you get great growth opportunities and salary benefits. It is one of the best-remunerated jobs in the technical and design industry.
  • You are in control of your software and work. It also boosts your creative and technical skills, which leave you satisfied at the end of the day.
  • UX designers get a range of opportunities not only in startups but also in stable companies. 
  • As long as the product exists, UX exists too. It is a reliable job that leads to both personal and professional development.

Cons of becoming a User Experience (UX) Designer

  • UX designers must have a strong hand in technology. Code-ignorant individuals find it hard to create designs.
  • It requires multiple hours of dedicated hard work. You will have to sacrifice on your personal time for creating UX designs.
  • UX design is a very abstract field. Lack of discipline and knowledge can exhaust you mentally.
  • Repeating the same things over with the same program often gets monotonous. It is essential to learn new skills every now and then to stay ahead in the game.

Do you think this is the right career choice for you?

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FAQs about User Experience (UX) Designer

Who is a User Experience Designer?

User Experience or UX Designers make products and technology usable, enjoyable, and accessible for peopke. UX designers tend to work as part of a wider product team, and will often find themselves bridging the gap between the user, the development team, and key business stakeholders.

What does a User Experience (UX) Designer do?

The job roles of a UX Designer are diverse.They have to advocate the product for the end user or customer. Whether they are designing a brand new product, coming up with a new feature, or making changes to an existing product or service - the UX Designer has to consider what is best for the user and the overall user experience. At the same time, they are also responsible for making sure that the product or service meets the needs of the business.

How can I become a UX Designer?

In order to become a User Experience Designer, you must have certain educational qualifications and skills that make you apt for the job. The role of a User Experience Designer demands for expertise in the field with sound knowledge and sufficient experience. A candidate can opt for a career in UX design even without a relevant degree in design. However, he/ she must possess a deep understanding of the domain and should know the basics.

What is the starting salary of a UX Designer?

The starting salary of a User Experience Designer is between Rs. 3 LPA to Rs. 8.5 LPA. It depends entirely upon the company and job profile of the candidate.

Which are the best books for becoming a User Experience Designer?

Some of the best books for User Experience Designers are 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk, About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper, and Smashing UX Design by Jesmond Allen and James Chudley.

Which are the top recruiting companies of User Experience (UX) Designers?

A few of the leading companies that hire UX Designers are Lazyeight, Lollypop, Koru Technologies, Redd, The AntiAlias, Yellow Slice, Parallel Labs, etc.

How much salary is offered to a senior level UX Designer?

A senior level UX Designer is paid in the range of Rs. 20 LPA to Rs. 40 LPA.

Is it mandatory to have a degree in design in order to become a UX Designer?

It is not mandatory to have a degree in design if you seek to become a UX Designer. However, some companies may give preference to those who have a relevant UG/PG specialisation.

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