Changing careers is sometimes hard, but sometimes, it’s not as hard as it is made out to be. The latter works when people have the right resources to help them make the change. Web designers can switch to UI/UX design. They should fulfill all requirements. Their careers will change, and the monetary rewards will increase.
What Do Market Conditions Indicate?
The market conditions reveal that web designers in the United States earn $46,000 per year. Whereas, UI/UX designers in the United States earn around $74,000 annually. Career opportunities for UI/UX designers are on the rise. Research indicates that approximately 3.5 million jobs relevant to UI/UX design and development will be added to the U.S Job Market in the next decade.
Are UI/UX Design and Development Fulfilling Work?
Moreover, UI/UX design is meaningful work.
Two reasons:
1. Professionals get to work on products inside out
2. UI/UX design has a positive impact on businesses.
UI/UX design-driven companies do quite well on the S&P index. They outpace other companies by 228%. Now, let us read about how web designers can switch careers toward UI/UX design.
Understanding User Interface and Experience (UI/UX) Plus Their Design?
Each product has a user. The user experience (UX) is something users receive from using a product. UI/UX Design is the art of designing products in a way that they provide the best possible experience to users. UX itself has a wider description thanks to its diverse nature.
Creating the optimum User Experience (UX) covers an understanding of many disciplines despite being an iterative problem-solving process, especially:
- Human Psychology.
- Design of Interaction.
- User Research.
User experience can be further divided into three key components namely:
- Look.
- Feel.
- Usability.
The Product’s look is about using visuals to make harmony with the user’s values. This creates credibility and trust with the user. Product development is about making a product that looks beautiful and feels right as well.
The product’s feeling involves creating a user experience pleasant to a higher degree. It is created by crafting interactions between products and their users. It also involves the reactions they have during the product’s usage and post-usage.
Finally, usability underscores the user experience. If a product is not usable, it cannot be saved by good looks. Users will be angry and frustrated because of a bad product. This is why products should be personalized as per users’ needs. Functionality should also be delivered predictably.
Differences Between Web Designers and UI/UX Designers
The job title of a web designer has numerous definitions. Their tasks depend on what clients/projects require. Some of them create visual designs or high-end interactive prototypes of websites. Front-end and back-end web developers work on the website’s code.
A vast majority of web designers can sometimes be involved with both web design and development. They work on the front end of web development. Some designers can even conduct user research and testing. This can help make the transition into UI/UX Design.
No doubt UI/UX design will be a good career in the coming days. Let us now understand the similarities between it and web design:
Both have Strong Problem-solving Skills
Web designers solve problems for clients. They work with a problem-solving process by looking for problems clients have and then designing a solution. Then they develop and test it before releasing it. Web designers are also involved after a website’s launch in providing services and maintenance by collecting users’ feedback.
UI/UX designers solve them for users. They start with proper user research. This helps them understand a product’s users and determine their issues. They also look for solutions and ways to make users desire that solution. A top-notch responsive web design company conducts user research via the following methods:
- Interviews with users.
- Demographic studies.
- Observing users’ behavior.
- Drafting users’ personas and stories.
Both Understand Emotional Design
Web designers use color schemes, fonts, and layouts in web design to shape users’ emotions. This helps create a sense of credibility. How so? By using darker colors and sans-serif fonts. They can make a sense of leisure using colorful images and playful fonts. Web designers understand emotional design quite well. They create designs that can evoke users’ emotions.
UI/UX designers also know emotional design but on a wider scale. They are concerned with evoking a wider audience’s emotions during their product experience. For this purpose, they work with the following aspects:
- Fonts.
- Colors.
- Human Psychology.
- Motion Design.
- Curating Content.
- Understanding Information Architecture
Both Professions Use a Multi-disciplinary Approach
Web design uses a multi-disciplinary approach. Web designers know both web design and development. Knowledge of colors, fonts, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript is necessary. Some are involved in designing interaction when they use code for animations and interactions via CSS/JavaScript.
UX design is also multi-disciplinary. It is however more dense in this regard. UI/UX Designers make use of their knowledge of the following areas in making the best User Experience (UX) for their products:
- Psychology.
- User Research.
- Visual Design.
- Business and Management.
What are the Differences Between Web Design and UI/UX Design?
Web design and UI/UX design have differences. We will explore them briefly:
User-Centric vs. Tech-Centric
Web designers are more focused on technology. They often learn about the latest in CSS, HTML, and Coding languages. They evolve at quite a pace. UI/UX Design is more focused on serving users. Technology for them is a bridge. They research to determine who their users are, what needs they have, and whether will they pay for the solution.
UX is More Than Just the Internet
UI/UX design does not depend on any platform. Its processes and rules are applicable in a wide array of areas outside of web browsers i.e.
- Mobile apps.
- Computer software.
- Hardware products.
- Retail Spaces.
Web design is dependent on the internet. UI/UX designers can easily work in startups and in stable industries too. The latter are more product-oriented.
How Can Web Designers Jump into the Field of UI/UX Design?
Moving from web design to UI/UX design isn’t complicated. This is possible if web designers have done their research. For some, there is nothing to worry about especially if they have worked on some aspects of UI/UX Design. This means they have studied UX and polished their skills in it.
Experts from Branex have determined some ways that web designers can use to enter the field of UI/UX design:
- Online courses and certifications in UI/UX design.
- Classroom courses of Universities and renowned institutions.
- Networking with professionals.
- Mentoring under experienced professionals.
- Feedback.
Conclusion
Web designers can become UI/UX designers. They must fulfill certain prerequisites that can help them understand the field and some of its tasks. Some Web designers are already working on certain UI/UX Design and Development tasks. That experience plus knowledge from online portals can help them make a seamless transition.
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