What Does a (Good) UX Designer Do?
The UX designer role doesn't even exist in the standards – and yet it's very real. Here's what the job involves and which skills really matter.
Let's start with a controversy: if we look at ISO 9241-201 and the curriculum of the UXQB (Usability and User Experience Qualification Board), we find that the role of UX designer doesn't actually exist. In this article, you'll learn why the job title UX designer is still accurate – and what you need to do to become a good UX designer.
UX designers are generalists
As I already gave away in the intro: the role of UX designer doesn't actually exist. Instead, the standards distinguish between different roles within the user-centered design process:
- Usability engineer
- User requirements
- Usability tester
- Information architect
- Interaction designer
- User interface designer
Each of these roles has different deliverables. While the usability engineer handles planning, the user requirements engineer takes care of user research (describing the context of use, creating personas, reporting on user needs and requirements, specifying user requirements). Next, the information architect takes care of the information architecture. Based on it, the user interface designer develops a low-fidelity prototype. The interaction designer then delivers the style guide in an iteration before a high-fidelity prototype is developed. At the end of the process, the usability tester evaluates the prototype.
That's quite a lot of people working on one project. But companies are usually looking for generalists who are specialists in several areas. Especially where teams work with agile models (Agile, Lean UX), just a few people usually cover several areas of expertise.
Since that explanation isn't very intuitive and is pretty theoretical, let's look together at what a UX designer actually does day to day.
What does a UX designer actually do?
A UX designer
1. Analyzes target audiences and the competition
- User types and groups*
- User goals and behavior*
- Motivation
- Best practices and competitors
- Potential for improvement
*e.g., based on existing data (tracked with tools such as Analytics or Piwik)
2. Develops a strategy:
- Product and business goals
- Tasks, scope, and requirements
- Methods
- Content and features
- Project planning
3. Builds an architecture
- Structuring content and features
- Defining levels and hierarchies
- Developing the navigation
- Deciding on search, sorting, and filters
- Defining the content of individual screens
- Mapping out the paths through the application
4. Sketches wireframes
- Defining the content structure and features
- Positioning individual elements (including navigation and interactions)
- Developing the responsive views
After that, the visual designers and developers take over the project and implement it accordingly.
Now we have a better idea of what a UX designer actually does day to day. As you've probably noticed, not every role in the user-centered design process is covered here. I've listed what I consider the most important and most common areas of responsibility for a UX designer
Why does the UX designer's work (described above) even matter?
Design isn't the same as art. Design – and therefore UX design – solves problems: users find the information they're looking for right away. They find their way around and feel comfortable using the product. Their expectations are met, and they remember the application fondly. In short, their user experience is positive from start to finish. That in turn builds trust and a connection to the brand, and leads to purchases, recommendations, and positive reviews.
So how do I become a good UX designer?
Skills, skills, skills!
If you want to become a UX designer, you need to be aware that you'll be learning for the rest of your life. UX design is a relatively new profession and constantly changing. Just 30 years ago, people mainly interacted with computers through the command line – today we talk to Siri and Alexa. Voice user interfaces are the current trend. Nobody can say what will be trending in five years. That's why a good UX designer has to keep expanding and training their knowledge and skills.
There are several ways to do that:
- Continuing education through seminars and courses from the IHK (German Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and other providers
- Online courses such as:
- Interaction Design Foundation (affiliate link: https://www.interaction-design.org/invite?r=dennis-wagner)
- Udemy
- YouTube
- Books (you can find a list of books I've found useful here: Book Corner
- Practice, practice, practice!
3 requirements good UX designers (absolutely) have to meet
Analytical and systems thinking
If you want to become a UX designer, you should be able to think very analytically and systemically. That's necessary to understand and break down processes and structures. Only then can you, as a UX designer, dig into touchpoints and interfaces. The prerequisite, though, is that you have a genuine interest in the subject, because you'll have to go very deep into it
Persistence & stamina
You need persistence and stamina. UX design gets especially interesting when the task is to develop a digital product design. That's not always the case, but it's becoming more and more common. Product design – or rather, the road to it – isn't a quick job; it's a longer process. You should have staying power and a thick skin, and be able to handle criticism well. You should enjoy fighting for your ideas and be able to stand your ground with clients and your team. A good UX designer keeps their eyes on the finished product, not the paycheck.
Be open and come up with your own ideas
The phrase "think outside the box" is a total cliché, and yet it couldn't be more fitting here. Frameworks, templates, and models are great for learning and practicing. But after that, you should be open, think laterally, and give your own ideas a platform. As a UX designer, your job is to design experiences and emotions, and in most cases that works best with your own ideas. Start with a basic idea. Then, ideally, go straight to sketches, wireframes, and prototypes. At the end, you can refine and improve. If you tend to linger in theory for too long, UX design isn't your calling.
Conclusion
A good UX designer is a generalist who masters the various roles within the user-centered design process. They're hungry and want to keep learning new things throughout their life. They're empathetic, able to put themselves in other people's shoes, and they have persistence and stamina. They keep up with continuing education and follow a range of blogs and magazines.