Much of the tech sector is about contributing to a team. UX Design is no different.

A great UX Designer has a specific skill set that makes them valuable to a team of people, either creating a website or a product. Those who want to excel beyond being "competent" or "good" at the craft should hone these skills. User experience design goes beyond visual and usability functions—it involves technical skills and soft skills too.

Importance of UX Design

UX Design is a shortened term for user experience design. UX Designers help to create products, websites and experiences that are accessible and friendly to new and experienced users.

Great user experience design makes a product or website accessible to the person who needs to use it.

Without the critical choices made to help the tool's user in the design phase, a product or website's functionality is clunky and convoluted. The customer or client will have trouble using the tool for its intended purpose. Or, they will have difficulty navigating and getting the information they need from the website.

Excellent UX Design makes processes, function, and control of a tool both easy and understandable. Using a product or navigating a website created for a great user experience feels natural and easily comprehendible even if the user is learning how to do something for the first time. Well crafted user experience invites the user back to use the tool again and again.

Skills for Great UX Designer

Skills for great UX designers involve both technical and soft skills. While it may seem like there are too many to master, there are a handful of skills that will make a difference. These skills separate the "good" from the "great."

Empathy

At the core of great UX design is empathy for the user. Designers need to continually put themselves in the shoes of the person who will use or get information from what they are designing. This is how they gain insight as to how the tool will feel natural.

Empathy also extends to people who are creating the product or website alongside the designer. This is a crucial skill for any team. For the UX designer, empathy comes in giving and taking feedback and working with teammate needs.

Communication

Product and the website design are team sports. UX designers create great products and work well with the people they make them with. That means they can present and talk about their ideas and listen to others about theirs.

The UX designer contributes a lot to how and if the product or website works. They need the ability to give their teammates their input, so the product is usable in the end.

Testing

Testing is one crucial habit that UX designers must form. Testing takes the form of testing one's design and having colleagues test the design. Constant testing of different product features and tools helps to ensure that the product functions correctly.

These tests will tell the designer about what needs to be improved for the product. Without constant checking, designers cannot be confident that their website or tool will work the way they intended.

User Research

Great UX Designers use user research to gather data on the users they are designing for. As a part of empathy for UX Designers, user research minimises the risk in design choices because designers can determine which features users like and which ones they don't like. Gathering this information is a crucial step to creating a tool that users feel comfortable with.

Information Architecture

The best UX Designers have a broad understanding of information architecture. Information architecture provides focus, structure, and the identification of the content. The user will use this architecture to understand the information given to them.

Design that uses information architecture successfully will tell the user how to use the tool to achieve their goal. The user can identify how each of the pieces and features fit and works together.

Interaction Design

If information architecture allows the user to understand the information presented to them, interaction design is how easily the user can utilise it to get the job done. UX designers need to create interactions that lead to the results that users want.

Interaction design has to do with the behaviour of the product. Great UX Design involves using the product's behaviour to make human interaction meaningful and desirable. This design answers the questions: is the product easy to use? Is it easy to learn? Can my users accomplish their goals with this product, and do they know how?

Interface Prototyping

Interface prototyping is when a UX Designer creates an initial concept that colleagues test and give feedback about.

The prototype is like the first draft of a final essay. It contains ideas in their rawest functional form so that others can see how and if they work. Essentially, UX Designers submit these prototypes to the criticism of test-users who will tell them about how the concept needs to change before it is ready for the final design.

Technical Writing

The last skill great UX Designers need is technical writing. Within the website or the product, a designer will need to guide the user to work in as few words as possible.

Technical writing has to do with the outlining of procedures and functions. This writing informs the reader about what to do next and when but with the fewest possible words. Within a product or website, long explanations and descriptions will confuse the user. The ability to use clear technical writing will enhance the user experience.

Becoming a UX Designer

Great products and websites come from great UX designers. You can learn the skills of a great UX Designer and more with the design courses on Knoma. Users on Knoma enjoy zero interest and free finance solutions for courses in UX design. Whether reskilling or upskilling, use this class to develop yourself in the tech world by becoming a critical asset to a team.