In the digital world, good user experience makes a website/app stand out and increases sales. That is why an increasing number of companies spend significant effort into hiring good UX designers to enhance the UX of their products.
As a result, UX designer jobs have gradually become one of the hottest positions for job seekers.
Mockplus for Mac is a concise and rapid prototype design tool. Mockplus is very easy to use. Even the novice can quickly make a prototype. Its unique sketch style and low fidelity coincide with the features of the wireframe. To some extent, it’s a free wireframe tool for Mac. Mockplus is offering a time-limited Big Spring Sale on all plans. Sketch Mirror is a companion app for Sketch on the Mac and was built to let you preview designs from the Mac on your iOS devices over Wi-Fi. You can swipe on your device to switch between pages and artboards in your document and zoom to inspect individual pixels. Set team permissions for your design systems to have full control over who can edit or view them. Push and pull changes with one click. Rest assured, everyone on the team will always use the latest version. Design system portal. Keep company design guidelines, assets and components. Look up documentation, and code. Having this in mind, I’ve selected the top 3 healthcare apps with the best UI/UX design that are making the difference in people's lives. Your.MD is a health guide and self-care checker app. This healthcare mobile app provides medical help to the user, by using artificial intelligence through a chatbot. Sketch (Screen Design — Mac) Still the king of design tools from a market share point of view. Starting to feel a little outdated, but still a phenomenal tool with great support and a strong community. Extremely versatile thanks to the best plugin support of any design application. Adobe XD (Screen Design— Windows, Mac).
Are you thinking about seeking a UX design job, but do not know how to become a UX designer step by step?
Here is a detailed guide about why and how to become a UX designer, even if you do not have any experience or an advanced degree.
What is UX design?
User experience design (also known as “UX design”) - is all about enhancing user satisfaction and designing the complete user experience. UX design requires a solid understanding of sociology, psychology as well as design to identify and address real users’ problems.
Also it requires tactical skills, including concept iteration, user research, prototyping and usability testing. One of the most critical skills for UX designers is communication.
What is a UX designer?
UX designer refers to a person who uses the art and science of designing a web/app with better usability and accessibility from the very beginning, enabling users to have a more pleasant experience.
UX designers need to learn the basics of website/app design and development, master common UX design tools (such as Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, Mockplus), and know how to test a web/app design for better UX.
What’s the difference between UI designers and UX designers?
UI design, (also known as “User Interface design”) is all about the visual appearances of a product and is a subset of UX design. However, what UI designers and UX designers really do is different.
In other words, their core concerns, the colors they use, and the design tools they choose for web/app design are different.
Take a food app as an example, UI designers are more concerned about how to arrange UI elements and layouts so that users can pick their desired food and drinks smoothly.
However, UX designers are more concerned about how to offer a pleasant experience while choosing dishes and drinks, including which color scheme can let users feel comfortable, which buttons or UI copies can evoke users’ emotions, which UI or interaction flow can make users feel better, etc.
What’s the difference between a product designer and a UX designer?
A product designer handles the overall function and working process of a product. Whereas, UX designers focus on the user experience of a product, such as the visual and emotional experience of users. Thus, the roles of product designers and UX designers are very different.
Specifically speaking, they have different responsibilities and use different design tools.
For example, product designers are responsible for the overall design of a new product, often need to take part in or supervise the prototype design, organize the team for product development and follow up on product development to ensure adherence to process standards, etc.
On the other hand, UX designers often need to draw user flow charts, make low-fidelity prototypes, define interactive design solutions and deal with interface styles, texts and layouts, etc.
You can read this article to know more details: Product Designer VS UX designer:Which One You Prefer to Be?
What skills a UX designer should have?
Irrespective of whether you have a design degree or experience, these are some skills a UX designer should have:
These are the skills you should master if you want to become a good UX designer.
How to Become a UX Designer Easily in 9 Steps
Do you want to be a UX designer, but don't know where to get started? How to learn? Who to follow? Don’t worry! This is a step-by-step guide for you to learn ux design and land a perfect ux design job:
Step1. Figure out your motivation
Becoming a UX designer requires hard work and determination. However, without firm motivation, it is very easy for a beginner to give up. So, before you get started, it makes sense to ponder over a few questions before planning your strategy.
For example, ask yourself:
Step2. Read books to learn the fundamentals of ux design
To become a great UX designer, you should first learn the basics of UX design and development. Many famous and authoritative UX design books are available to help you along your path.
Here are 5 of the best must-read ux design books:
1) Don’t make me think - by Steve Krug
The author uses simple words to explain how to create a web/app with best UX.
2) The design of everyday things - by Don Norman
Read this best seller to learn how and why some products satisfy customers, while others only frustrate them.
3) A project guide to ux design - Russ Unger
This is a canonical book for beginners in design to systematically learn UX design theories and skills.
4) 101 Design Methods - Vijay Kumar
This is a step-by-step guidebook for UX design newbies to learn different design methods in detail. Every simple design step is paired with examples and explanations.
5) User Experience Elements - Jesse James Garrett This book teaches readers how to transfer design ideas into valid solutions and how to take advantage of user resources to improve a design project. Real UX examples are provided to help explain everything.
Also read 10 mind-blowing best user experience books to find more books.
Step3. Take a UX design course/class
If UX design books aren’t enough, the next step is to take a ux design course or class to gain ux design knowledge, tip and tricks systematically.
Here are 5 of the best free UX design courses you can not miss out:
1) UX design courses on Coursera (7-day free trial)
This website offers UX design courses that cover a wide range of levels. No matter whether you are a beginner or an expert in ux design, you can always find your desired courses. It also supports multiple languages.
2) Guided user experience courses on Treehouse (7-day free trial)
This website is another ideal option for UX design beginners to find a user experience design class to take online. No matter whether you are learning UX design for fun or for a career, you can surely find what you seek here.
3) Learn UX Design on Lynda (one-month free trial)
This website offers rich ux and ui design courses for newbies to learn how to create and design websites, including ux design basics. The personalized course recommendations are of great help in choosing the best course for you.
4)User experience design courses on Udemy (30-Day Money-Back guarantee)
This website includes a special “User Experience” category for users to choose their desired online ux design courses with ease. Most course videos can be downloaded and are easy to understand.
5)Free HTML, CSS & JavaScript Courses on W3School (free)
If you’re planing to learn the basics of web development, this website is a good place to start. It offers free courses which explain the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript with ease.
Read 30 best online course websites to learn ux to check out more ux design courses
In short, taking at least one online ux design course will help you learn the basics as well as obtain advice from professionals.
Step4. Learn and master some basic design tools
To become a gorgeous ux designer, learning and mastering some commonly-used design tools are also essential.
Here are 5 of the must-have UX design tools you should master:
1) Sketch - a basic web/app design tool for UX design beginners to draw their design drafts with a broad set of expressive drawing tools.
2) Photoshop – a photo editing tool for UX design newbies to draw and iterate their design drafts with ease.
3) Illustrator- a vector graphics editor for design beginners to create designed logos, icons, typography and illustrations easily.
4) Mockplus - a rapid web/app prototyping tool for UX designers to translate design ideas into interactive prototypes, test, share, iterate and demonstrate it with ease.
5) Mockplus iDoc - an all-in-one design collaboration & handoff tool for designers to collaborate and handoff a design to other designers, developers and product managers effortlessly.
In short, a good design tool not only help you visualize your designs, but also speed up the entire design process. So, remember to learn and master some basic design tools.
Step5. Practice and improve UX design skills through actual projects
After mastering basic design knowledge and tools, the next step for you is to find some real work to practice and improve your UX design skills.
Here are several ideas for you to practice and improve your design skills:
In short, just grab every possible opportunity to practice your design skills.
Step6. Create social media accounts and follow the best ux design blogs/websites
In this technological era, social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Medium, etc, benefit UX designers a lot:
For a ux design newbie, it is necessary for you to create at least one account for all of these mentioned social media to share your own designs and browse the creative ux design works of other designers.
Sometimes, these social media can even bring you good design jobs.
Do not forget to follow some UX design blogs and websites to learn more and keep your design ideas fresh:
You can also follow 20 best ux design blogs to read more.
If necessary, also find some ux design experts to be your mentors.
Step7. Create portfolios/resumes online
When searching for a ux design position online, a well-designed portfolio always works better than a resume. So, be sure to build a creative portfolio demonstrating your design talents. Of course, always display your best ux design projects there.
But, as a ux design newbie, how do you go about creating a ux design portfolio?
This tutorial: Top 10 free online portfolio websites to create perfect ux design portfolios can surely help you out.
Also do not forget to create ux designer resumes for later job interviews.
Step8. Search a UX designer job and prepare for an interview
Finally, it is the time to land a UX designer job.
Here are 5 of the best online job sites for you to search and apply for good UX designer jobs:
1) Indeed.com
As the world’s largest job site, Indeed.com can help you search and apply for UX designer positions offered by companies from different countries and regions around the world.
2) LinkedIn.com
As one of the largest social networking sites in America, Linkedin.com can not only help you find jobs, but also allows you to connect with other UX designers registered there.
3) Meetup.com
As a website that allows users to create different groups and meet people nearby, Meetup.com can help you join professional UX design groups and meet more UX design experts. It may also provide opportunities to find a good UX design job there.
4) Upwork.com
As the world’s largest online workplace for freelancers, Upwork.com is also a good site for you if you also want to be a freelancer in UX design.
5) UXdesignerjobs.com
As an online site made for UX designers, you can search and apply for different UX designer jobs there based on your own qualifications and requirements.
Finally, also do not forget to prepare essential ux design questions for the later interview.
Step9. Never stop learning and practicing
Learning ux design from scratch is not as easy as one might think. But, as the old saying goes:“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. You should always keep learning and practicing to improve your ux design skills, if you really want to be a great ux designer.
We hope that this step-by-step guide on how to become a ux designer is helpful for you.
6 Tips to become a better UX designer
1. Good UX Designers Never Feel Satisfied
The truly outstanding UX designers, who have created many beautiful designs do not stop to appreciate their own works, since they are too busy with catching up with the constantly changing customers’ demands. As their product is never“finished”, they cannot display their designs for people to admire.
2. Good UX Designer Always Have a Plan B, C, even D…
Everyone can have different expectations from a product, that is why multiple plans and solutions are necessary for user experience designers to meet the needs of different people. There is the possibility that product managers, operational staffs, investors and developers will question your designs from their own perspective. So, to communicate with them better, it is always good to have a plan B, C and even D for your new product.
3. Good UX Designers Hold a Strong Holistic View
An excellent UX designer should have a global view. This does not mean that they should have control over everything, but they need to have the ability and sense of responsibility to take the whole product flow into consideration. For example, how to cooperate with the upstream and downstream departments during the different stages of the design & development of a product? How to get support from them? Thus, UX designers need to have a holistic view.
Product Design & Development Flow:
User study > figure design > demand analysis > sketch > prototype > usability testing > develop > launch
Clear objectives and steps at different stages help designers to have a good control on process & build a holistic view.
4. Multiple Methods of Doing Customer Research
For a user experience designer, as the name suggests: it is users and their experience which matters the most. There are many ways to do customer research. For example,visiting users directly, focus group interviews, contextual inquiry and so on. Regardless of which method you choose, raw uninfluenced customer feedback is the goal.
5. Good UX Designers Do not Rely On Their Own Judgments
As we all know, design is different from art. The focus of art is to express, so artists do not have to care about others’ opinions. However, the best UX designers should be materialistic: they not only examine their designs by themselves, but also like to ask for advice from others. Emil Lamprecht, a writer on the famous design site UX Mastery, mentions an example in daily life while explaining this idea: you are preparing for a date with a beautiful girl. The haircut is perfect, but you are unaware that the fly is wide open. This example, somewhat exaggerated, speaks volumes of the point that UX Designers are not able to find out all the problems in product design by themselves. When the product is launched, no flaw or shortcoming can escape the users’ eyes.
Therefore, the best user experience designers are those who listen to others’ advice and take preventive measures to avoid unexpected outcomes.
6. Test functionality and efficiency!
It seems almost unnecessary to point out: to test repeatedly whether links and switch-offs can work. It is frustrating and annoying for a user to click dead on links and other visual elements that simply do not react.Fabian advises on early testing, just of unfinished artifacts. “If an app loses all its non-persistent user data after the reload, addressing that aspect should take precedence over send transitions or funny illustrations.”
FAQ:1. Is UX Design a Good Career?
Yes, UX designing is 100% a good career option for job seekers. These are the main reasons why you should choose to be a UX designer:
According to Glassdoor, the average salary of ux designers is about $107,880 per year. Needlessly to say, a senior ux designer gets paid much more than this each year.
Nowadays, an increasing number of companies have realized the importance of quality ux design and are investing a lot of effort into finding good ux designers with all their efforts, making the position of UX designer as one of the most promising job positions.
Compared to traditional jobs, like office workers, UX designers can often work with a more open schedule. Especially when ux design newbies become experts in UX design after several years’ learning and practicing, they can even choose to be freelancers and accept ux design projects based on their own needs.
In fact, the reasons people choose to be ux designers vary from person to person. However, no matter what the reason is, the fact that ux designing is a good career is certainly one of them.
2. Do you need to code to be a UX designer?
The answer is absolutely “No”. As a UX designer, you do not have to code. But, If you get enough time and want to expand your design knowledge, it is good to learn about coding things. Learning how to code an interface or a new product helps broaden your minds, successfully creating a web/app design for easier and better development.
3. Can a graphic designer become a UX designer?
Of course, yes! With basic design knowledge and skills, it is much easier and faster for graphic designers to learn UX design and land a UX design job. You can follow this guidance to change from graphic designer to UX designer with ease.
4. How long does it take to become a ux designer?
There is no sure answer. In one aspect, it depends on your own time and personal conditions. Everyone gets different times to learn one thing. When it comes to UX design, the time also varies.
But, if you take a UX design course, especially an online UX design course, with the guidance of an expert designer, you can spend less time learning UX design and becoming an UX designer quickly.
Conclusion:
Becoming a ux designer is not a task that can be done in one day. It requires time, hard work and determination. Especially for someone with no any design experience or related design degree, it can be quite difficult. However, this does not mean it is impossible.
Following the 9 simple steps mentioned previously can help you in your goals, making it much easier for you to become a brilliant ux designer.
Work hard and never give up! Follow these steps to learn ux design and find a ux designer job with ease.
Good luck!
You May Also Like:
Get Started for Free
A good prototyping tool can not only bring your design idea into life with ease. It also helps you to test, demonstrate, iterate and share your design ideas with your teams and stakeholders effortlessly.
However, there are so many prototyping tools out there with different levels of functions. To find the most suitable prototyping tool can be time-consuming.
To help you out, we will introduce 12 of the best free prototyping tools in 2020, including their pros and cons, prices, and compatible platforms, for you and your team to choose the perfect prototyping tool with ease.
First, how to choose the right prototyping tool?
Before getting started to evaluate prototyping tools on the market one by one, you should firstly know how to choose the right prototyping tool.
Here are key factors that you should consider while choosing a UX/UI prototyping tool:
1. Figure out what you or your team need
Which tool you will finally choose often depends on what you or your team really need. So, the first thing for you now is to figure out your purpose for choosing a prototyping tool.
For example, if you merely want to draw out your design ideas and iterate on your own, you only need a free prototyping tool with simple UI elements and basic prototyping features.
But, if you want to make a high-fidelity prototype to test your final product and iterate with your whole team, a high-fidelity prototyping tool with a powerful collaboration feature is exactly what you need.
So, before checking different prototyping tools on the market, it is better for you to make a list of all your or your team’s needs.
2. What key features will it offer?
While choosing from various prototyping tools, you should remember to check their key features carefully based on your requirement list. If one or two of them can meet your needs perfectly, it would be great. If not, also don’t be sad. You still have other factors to consider yet.
3. Will you need to collaborate with your team?
Team collaboration is essential for product teams to create a brilliant web/app prototype these days. So, while choosing a prototyping tool, you should also check whether it supports team collaboration and management.
A good prototyping tool often makes it easy to share a project and get feedback quickly. Any changes about the projects sometimes will also be synced to the whole team instantly.
4. How long will it take to learn and use the tool?
The learning curve of a prototyping tool also matters. A tool with an easier learning curve is a better choice for you and your team to get started quickly.
So, before making a decision, it is best for you to download and give the tool a try for checking its learning curve.
Ux Design App Mac Download5. How much will it cost?
The cost is the most important factor you should take into consideration. No matter whether you will choose a monthly, yearly or perpetual payment plan, the tool that suits your best is the right one for you. You should always compare prices of different tools and never be blinded by their features or prices.
6. Does it provide instant after-sale service?
While using a prototyping tool, it is quite possible to encounter some usage problems or bugs. These days, the after-sale support becomes very important. So, before making a decision, you should consult about the after-sale support service clearly.
Overall, we hope these main factors will help you choose a perfect prototyping tool quickly. Macos verfify dmg app.
12 Best free UX/UI prototyping tools you should know in 20201. Sketch – Create high-fidelity prototypes with super details on Mac
Price: 30-day free trial; 99$ for a one-year license
Platform: Mac Make prototypes for: Websites & iOS/Android apps
Sketch is a vector-based design tool that allows you to create high-fidelity web/app prototypes and polish the interface details with ease. With simple geometric elements, color tools, Mac-like toolbar, you can learn it fast even when you’ve never used it before.
Moreover, as one of the most widely-used design tools for UI/UX designers, there are also many plugins created to improve your prototypes and streamline your design process.
For example, with iDoc plugin for Sketch, you can easily export your web/app designs and assets to iDoc for online previewing, commenting, collaborating and handoff.
Pros:
Cons:
So, it is good to create high-fidelity prototypes with simple animations at the very early design stage.
2. PS – Create static prototypes with super details on Windows
Price: 7-day free trial; 239.88$ for a one-year license
Platform: Windows Make prototypes for: Websites & iOS/Android apps
Adobe Photoshop, a professional pixel-based photo editing tool, is also another widely-used design tool for UI/UX designers to build web/app prototypes with super details. It offers many photo, video and photography editing tools, allowing you to draw out your web/app interface from very tiny layers.
Pros:
Cons:
So, at the very early design stage, PS is perfect for you to create static prototypes, and present your design ideas to other team members, clients and stockholders.
3. Adobe XD – Create simple, animated prototypes for webs/apps
Price: Free version(1 project, 2GB Cloud storage); $9.98 per month
Platform: Windows & Mac Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Adobe XD is a UX prototyping tool that allows you to quickly create designs for your websites, mobile apps and voice interfaces without codes. It also supports collaborating with files and sharing in a view-only mode.
Pros:
Cons:
So, it is best for you to create a simple, animated mobile app prototype for better design collaboration.
4. Balsamiq – Create simple wireframes and prototypes with clicks
Price: 30-day free trial; $9 per month
Platform: Windows & Mac Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Balsamiq is a rapid wireframing tool that allows you to create web/app wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes with simple clicks. It reproduces the experience of sketching everything on a notepad or whiteboard by using a computer.
Pros:
Cons:
So, it is good to visualize and iterate your design ideas quickly on your own at the very early design stage.
Of course, if you love the feeling of drawing everything out on a notepad or whiteboard, this tool is also perfect for you.
5. Mockplus – Create fully interactive web/app prototypes easier and faster
Price: 7-day free trial; $199 for a one-year license
Platform: Windows & Mac Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Mockplus is a rapid prototyping tool that allows you to translate your design ideas into fully interactive prototypes, test, share and iterate within minutes. It offers both personal and collaboration projects to create all possible web/app prototypes based on different purposes.
Graphic Design Apps For Mac
My favorite aspect of this tool is its easy-to-use interface. Everything can be done with simple clicks or drag-and-drop.
Pros:
Cons:
If you want to visualize your design ideas quickly and work with your team to test, share, get feedback and iterate in one tool, Mockplus is ideal for you to streamline your entire prototyping process.
6. Flinto – Create clickable prototypes on Mac
Price: 14-day free trial; $99 for a one-year license
Platform: Mac Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Flinto is a Mac app that allows designers to create animated and clickable web/app prototypes quickly. With rich transitions, animations, gestures, it is good to create a fully interactive prototype.
Pros:
Cons:
Design App For Mac7. Framer x – Create interactive, high-fidelity prototypes on Mac
Price: 14-day free trial; $12 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Framer x is a new prototyping tool that allows you to bring ideas into life. Prototyping and creating interactions are super easy. Moreover, what makes this tool special is that it allows you to write React components. So, if you are React fans, this tool is a good option.
Pros:
Cons:
8. MockFlow – Create rough wireframes or sitemaps quickly onlinePrice: Free version: (1 project, 2 reviewers per project) ; $14 for a one-month license Platform: Mac & Windows Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
MockFlow is an online wireframing tool that allows you to design and collaborate user interfaces and user flows easily. You can get access to thousands of pre-built components and layouts to make any web/app UIs quickly. It is ideal to create a raw sitemap or main structures of your web/app at the brainstorming stage.
Pros: Movies anywhere app mac.
Cons:
9. Moqups – Create wireframe, diagrams and prototypes online
Price: 30-day free trial; $20 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Moqups is a web-based prototyping tool that helps you create wireframes, mockups, diagrams and prototypes, share and collaborate with your team in real-time.
Pros:
Cons:
10.Axure – Create professional and real-life prototypes
Price: 30-day free trial; $29 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Axure is used by most UI/UX designers to create professional and real-life prototypes. It offers powerful and comprehensive features to create dynamic contents, conditional flows, animations, adaptive view and more. Product team can also comment and collaborate designs online.
Pros:
Cons:
11. InVision – Import images and create prototypes collaboratively online
Price: Free version (1 prototype); $15 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
InVision is a popular prototyping tool that focuses more on design collaboration. While using, you can easily import your designs from Sketch or PS, and add transitions/animations to create interactive prototypes. And then, other team members can comment on screens and leave feedback.
Pros:
Cons:
12. Zeplin – Create interactions, collaborate and handoff online
Price: Free version (1 prototype); $17 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Zeplin is a design tool that allows you to upload web/app designs, add simple interactions, collaborate and handoff designs online with your team. In comparison with the above mentioned prototyping tools, Zeplin focuses more on design collaboration and handoff process between designers and developers.
So, if you or your team mean to create prototypes, iterate, test, collaborate and handoff them to developers online, this tool is ideal for you.
Pros:
Cons:
Wrap Up
Those are 12 of the best free prototyping tools in 2020 that you should try. We hope they can simplify your design process and help you create a great product smoothly.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |