There is no dedicated path to entering the field of User Experience (UX) design. While a degree or certification can be helpful, it isn’t necessary. If you prefer, you can certainly become a self-taught UX designer – it just takes some time and dedication. We’ve compiled 3 main areas to study for those of you who are interested in learning more about UX.
Before jumping into UX design, you need to understand the basics of visual and web design; these skills will be carried over to the UX field. Having a solid understanding of color theory, typography, color, and balance is absolutely essential to becoming a skilled UX designer. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources for learning about these areas. We highly recommend reading Smashing Magazine; they produce high-quality content for their community of designers. Their series on color theory is an excellent place to begin.
A crucial aspect to becoming a UX designer is understanding the philosophy, methods, and process inherent to UX. While the process is flexible (there is no order of phases to adhere to), these are the general steps of “Design Thinking”:
Take inspiration from more experienced UX designers. Not everybody has a mentor to help them learn about UX design, but there is a wealth of sites to learn from. Rather than blindly copying UX designs, you should carefully study these components of a web system:
Focus on these smaller details and try to understand how they come together to form the bigger UX picture. Studying top UX designers will help you develop excellent taste. To make this task easier, we recommend checking out UX Planet’s Inspiration series. Every week, the online publication releases their top UX design picks. Another excellent option is Dribbble.
Becoming a UX designer is all about dedication, patience, and lots of practice. You need to work hard every day in order to improve. If you want practical experience with UX planning and collaboration, check out the feature-rich UX FlowMapp platform.