Ever wanted to dive into the world of UX & UI design? This comprehensive guide is your ticket to understanding this dynamic field, including the various ways to learn, free resources, and the types of careers that commonly use UX & UI design skills.
UX & UI design is a career field that combines creative and technical concepts to design digital applications with the optimal user experience in mind. UX & UI Designers get to work with the latest technology and play a significant role in the public’s everyday experiences with digital applications. If you’ve always wanted to learn UX & UI design but can’t figure out how to get started, this guide is for you. Here, you’ll learn more about the various ways to learn UX & UI design, free resources to take advantage of, and the types of careers that commonly use UX & UI design skills.
User interface (UI) design involves the development of a digital application’s interface and how it appears to users. Interface designs need to not only look appealing but also effectively communicate information to audiences. UI Designers create graphic assets and use them to build menus and layouts, among other aspects of a user interface. UI design relies heavily on principles of visual and graphic design.
UI design pairs closely with user experience (UX) design. Rather than building the look of a digital application, UX Designers focus on how an application feels to use. A user’s experience should be simple and engaging in ways that allow them to easily navigate the program. UX Designers conduct focused tests and analyze data to understand their audience’s behaviors.
UX & UI Designers work closely together. The fields also overlap so that it’s not uncommon for one designer to fulfill aspects of each role, particularly at small firms.
Read more about what UX & UI design is and why you should learn it.
There are many skills gained through studying UX & UI design. UX & UI designers learn how to identify and solve problems. They form hypotheses, conduct research, engage with customers, analyze data, and build prototypes. They know how to build a long term project plan, follow through, and iterate. Even if not pursuing UX & UI design as a career, the skills gained through studying the field are useful for Department Managers, Project Managers, and entrepreneurs.
UI design specifically focuses on creating text, images, and graphics and combining them into a digital interface that must be both visually appealing and functional. These skills are essential for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to build websites, social media content, and other digital media.
UX Designers work closely with customers through focus groups, user surveys, and interviews. Many UX Designers spend more time interacting with the public than with their team of designers. Building the skills needed to understand your audience is useful in any field that works closely with people such as hiring, general management, marketing, campaign strategy, and market research, among others.
UX & UI Designers are ultimately responsible for crafting the experiences of the digital products we use in our everyday lives. They work to ensure those experiences are accessible and enjoyable. Choosing to pursue a career in UX & UI Designer can be exciting as these designers play a large role in influencing how the world around us works.
UX & UI Designers can work in a wide variety of industries. Predominantly, UX & UI design is needed in computer, software, and information technology where designers build websites and mobile and desktop applications. In conjunction, UX & UI Designers can work in any industry where websites or applications are needed. These include finance, education, government and military, healthcare, retail, advertising, telecommunications, business, automotive, and entertainment, among others.
Within industries, there’s a variety of positions UX & UI Designers can pursue. They can grow to become leads in their department, such as UX Manager or Director, where they oversee the design team. They can also lead products or projects as Product Manager or Lead Designer. Individuals who would rather not pursue lead positions may specialize in different areas of UX & UI design. UX Architects focus on frameworks and functionality rather than the visual design of experiences. UX Researchers work more with customer research than interface development.
UX & UI Designers can also choose to work for themselves as a Freelancer or Consultant in any industry of interest. UX & UI design is a truly versatile field of study for any creative or technical individual looking to advance their career or skills.
In today’s digital world, a company’s digital presence is paramount for customer outreach. However, possessing a website or mobile app that is unappealing or difficult to use can be worse than having nothing at all. UX & UI Designers are needed across industries to build accessible web applications that create memorable impressions and drive conversions. This makes UX & UI design a lucrative and extremely versatile field for individuals of nearly any interest. Demand for UX & UI Designers continues to grow.
If you’re unsure about pursuing an education in UX & UI, doing so can still aid in honing digital skills applicable to a variety of professions. Graphic and visual design skills learned through UI design are essential for nearly any digital career, such as marketing, digital design, graphic designers, and freelancing. UX design teaches techniques in behavior research, research planning, data analytics, and product testing. These skills are useful for careers in project management, product development, software development, and marketing. Data analysis training in UX design can be a stepping stone to more advanced careers in data science. Learning UI design could lead to a career in more creative graphic design careers. The UX & UI design field is truly versatile and valuable.
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There are a number of ways to learn UX & UI design. The most popular option is learning in live classes, which can be in-person or live online. Live classes offer engagement with an instructor who can answer students’ questions in real time. However, in-person class options are often limited to locations nearest a student. Live online courses can be taken from anywhere with an internet connection and replicate the feel of in-person classrooms. They also don’t feature a commute, which can be time-consuming and costly.
A second option includes on-demand, asynchronous, or self-paced learning courses. This type of learning is best for students who prefer to learn at their own pace or have work or family obligations that prevent them from attending regularly scheduled classes. Students have more freedom to learn as they wish, but they lack an instructor, and self-motivation is required to progress through the material.
Finally, students can choose to learn through free options such as seminars, online tutorials, guides, blog posts, or videos. These options are great for individuals wanting to learn the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite, tools which are commonly used in UI design. However, like other learning options, they don’t feature a proper instructor and will likely not be enough for someone wanting to learn UX & UI design to advance their career. Free tutorials can also be outdated.
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If you’re interested in UX & UI design but aren’t ready to dive into a full course, you can start learning for free online. Some ideal places to start include Noble Desktop’s free Intro to Figma and Intro to UI Design seminars. In these introductory courses, you’ll learn what Figma can do and how its features integrate with UI and UX design. You’ll also learn about UI design, how it relates to UX design, and what the visual design process entails. These courses are perfect for giving you an overview of UX & UI design before deciding to attend a full course.
Free online courses are ideal for beginner learners to start their journey as they often feature overviews of a program. You can find additional free courses through skill-sharing websites such as Youtube, Coursera, or Udemy. While these classes can be valuable and cost-effective for beginners, their main purpose is to provide overviews of a program. Professionals looking to comprehensively learn UX & UI design skills to advance their careers will need to attend more advanced, professional development classes.
Read about more free UX & UI design videos and online tutorials.
{UX & UI design can be fairly simple to start learning but difficult to master. There are a number of UI design tools that are used for creating illustrations, manipulating photos, building prototypes, and designing experiences. UX design requires learning how to collect and analyze data and research user behavior. Each of these skills can be picked up by novices individually. However, mastering all of them collectively to pursue a career in UX & UI design can be rather challenging due to the many different aspects of training required.
There are no upfront costs to begin learning UX & UI design as free resources and seminars are available. However, those who wish to master design concepts to start a new career will need to attend professional classes. Comprehensive courses that teach UX & UI design as combined topics generally cost from $3,000-$5,000. Outside of class, there are a number of tools used by UX & UI Designers. Common tools include Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and Sketch. All of these programs cost money if not provided through your job or school.
There are no required prerequisites to begin learning UX & UI design or attend professional classes other than basic computer comprehension skills. Students who know a little about graphic design principles or basic HTML and JavaScript coding will feel more comfortable when faced with UX & UI design concepts and tools.
Read about how difficult it is to learn UX & UI design.
UI design can be compared to graphic design, and the two fields in fact overlap. Both UI and graphic designers work with a combination of text, images, and graphics to craft a visually appealing product. However, the main goal of a Graphic Designer is to convey a message or establish the look and feel of a brand. A UI Designer uses the same visual tools to craft an interface through which a user can interact with a product.
UI and Graphic Designers use similar tools. Both need experience in graphic design programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. However, a UI Designer also requires knowledge of interface design tools, such as Figma. Due to the tools required and learning the additional aspects of interface design, training as a UI Designer is slightly more expensive than visual design training. However, it is not necessarily more difficult nor does either field require prerequisite training.
UX design can be compared with web design, and the two share a lot of overlap. Both fields involve coding and working with interfaces. In fact, many features of web design can be applied to UX design. However, web design is more coding and visual design focused. Web Designers are concerned with the look and user interface of a website. UX Designers are more customer focused. They are concerned with the user experience and conduct user testing to ensure a user is getting the fullest experience out of a website or other digital product.
UX and web design training can be similar in costs depending on the depth of web design. Both fields involve web development tools and knowledge of user interfaces. Web design can go deeper into additional tools and development areas while UX design digs into user testing techniques. Neither field is particularly difficult to learn nor do they require prerequisite training.
The best way to learn UX & UI design will vary greatly on your individual training needs and why you wish to learn the program. Do you consider yourself a beginner learner? Are you hoping to not spend money on your training? Are you looking for a simple overview of UX & UI design? If you answered yes to these questions, free introductory courses would be best for you. However, these courses are often outdated and don't feature the comprehensive learning necessary to advance a career. They also lack an instructor, so you'll be troubleshooting on your own and relying on self-motivation to progress.
If you want to learn UX & UI design to advance your career, a professional UX & UI design training or a bootcamp contains a comprehensive curriculum. These courses are taught by an experienced instructor and provide a deep dive into UX & UI design aspects and tools. You'll be guided from beginner to advanced skills and learn expert techniques and tips. Some of these courses also offer one-on-one career mentorship or portfolio workshops. Professional training courses and bootcamps are available online and in person and vary in cost depending on the provider and curriculum. If you're looking to pivot to a new career or industry, you’re likely looking to demonstrate mastery of UX & UI design to a potential employer. In this case, you'll want to look for a certificate program. Certification in UX & UI design shows employers your dedication to training and advancing your career.
If you’re interested in learning UX & UI design, Noble Desktop offers several classes for you to choose from. These classes are available both in-person and live online. Classes are small and are taught by instructors who are experts in their fields. Free retake options are also available.
In Noble’s UX & UI Design Certificate program, you’ll learn both UX & UI design concepts, build a professional portfolio, and gain one-on-one job preparation assistance. This is the perfect course to jump start a new career. Additionally, you may wish to enroll in the Figma Bootcamp. While Figma is taught in the UX & UI Design Certificate, the bootcamp dives in depth into the program. You’ll thoroughly learn the leading application for interface design from beginner to advanced techniques applicable to both UX & UI design.
Additional classes can be found through the Visual Design and UX Design categories. The UI Design Certificate teaches graphic and interface design for websites and mobile applications. You’ll also learn essential software used by professionals including Figma, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator. The Digital Design Certificate teaches design techniques for web, print, and mobile. You’ll learn Figma for interface design along with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign for designing digital and print materials. The Visual Design Portfolio Bootcamp teaches interface design through hands-on and multi-project courses. You’ll need to feel comfortable using Figma before enrolling in this course.
Whether you know you want to start a career in UX & UI design or want to explore how UI design principles can be utilized in more graphically inclined careers, Noble Desktop has the classes you are looking for.