Transitioning from Digital Design to UI/UX
Hi.
I started my career as a Web Designer and then swapped between Web & Print throughout my career.
I'm interested in UI/UX opportunities but when talking with recruiters or reading job descriptions they either ask for experience using UX software, for which I feel like I have none.
Another thing I noticed from not really looking was recruiters asking if I can use Sketch, Figma, or Zeppelin.
My main experience is with using Balsamiq for basic wireframing/Mockflow and then moving onto using Adobe Illustrator/XD.
My last real UI based role was when I was working with a startup on a web app with 17 Developers. Working with the Producer, Developers, QA team and then getting feedback from the sales/accounts team on what users liked/disliked, and then working on ways to make the overall UI/UX better.
I just wonder if I should aim at roles that are of a Junior level to get more UX experience, or to aim at Mid/Senior positions?
Thanks for any advice :).
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Replies14
- @Daniel Lingham Thanks, Daniel. Yeah, I agree but I also see many other software apps appearing such as Affinity, but I think they will also be easy to use with experience of other apps that are similar.
- @Geraldine Lee Thank you, Geraldine. Thanks for recomending the software apps and your feedback
- @Mark Woodland Thank you, Mark. I hope it will be, but Recruiters don't usually help when applying when they don't understand the industry.
- I've only ever worked with XD, sorry :(
- @Keith Morrell No worries! I'm from Adobe background too and I find Figma and Sketch much easier for doing UI design compared to Adobe. You won't have problem picking either up :)
- @Mark Woodland XD was/is an almost identical copy of Sketch - Sketch is not cross platform and if you need to share your files with other agencies they are much more likely to have an Adobe suite.
- Your digital design experience is useful when you transit over to UI/UX. Try Figma as it's free and get yourself familiar with it. As digital tools are always evolving, be open to pick up new ones. I have recently migrate the team out of Sketch/InVision as we wanted a more collaborative tool and have version control for multiple desigerns to work on a same file. You can even do UX flow and wireframing on Miro. It's the thinking behind that you are trying to covey to your stakeholders not the tool. Able to use data to inform the whys behind your design. There are lots of resources you can try and read up that might help you.
- I am no expert here as I'm trying to get more into UI/UX myself. However, I am learning Adobe XD and from what I can tell, Sketch is quite similar so you would probably pick it up quickly. I believe you can even open the same files in either program.I think it's your ability to work within the UI/UX design process that's most important here as the software is just the tool and can be learned very quickly.
- @Cristy Ball Thanks, Cristy.I've looked into the Interaction Design Foundation previously, so I will look at doing one of the courses.Thanks for your advice. I always see recruiters aiming for people to fill a role that they might have who have used FIgma, Sketch etc which worried me slightly as I've used Sketch before, but I'm mainly from Adobe background.
- @Alan Docherty Thank you, Alan for your response. I will try this approach as I feel you're correct about most recruiters.
- Hi Keith! I started my career as a Web Designer too and in the past few years transitioned to UI then UX/UI roles. I've manged to stay on in senior roles during the change as the companies I worked for were able to see the similarity in experience as a Web designer.I found it hugely benefical to take up UX courses from Interaction Design Foundation and take on smaller UX tasks whilst in UI roles both for the experience and portfolio. There are lots of other UX courses around but they're mostly quite pricey compared to Interaction Design Foundation.Sketch and Figma are gaining popularity and are great tools for collaboration. They are quite easy to pick up and there's lots of free tutorials online. It'll be good to know at least one of them I feel. Figma is free to try. Miro is another good tool to know for collaborative brainstorming sessions. I used to only use Sketch but that didn't put companies or recruiters off if they use Figma.It is a shift in your focus moving to UX roles as it's about how users experience your product whilst keeping in mind the company's objectives. Collaboration is very important to help you understand needs and painpoints both from users and stakholders. I'd recommend doing lots of reading on UX.
- Sounds like you aleady have smarts in this. Why not offer to work for free for one day to earn some experince?Recruiters these days are very narrow in their frocus, most of them aren't designers and a good proportion of them don't know our craft intimately.So, I'd approach digital, design or ad agencies directly.
- @Brian Grant Thank you very much for your reply and the information :).
- Hello Keith,UX or user experience is a relatively new field, so there is a lot of confusion still in the field. One of the confusing aspects is that in many respects a user experience designer is not designing aesthetic projects.Experiences are often subjective and user experience designers come from a number of varying fields such as research, psychology, information architecture, usability, graphic design, human interaction design, and so on. These fields are all distinct and the UX category kind of lumps them into one field, which causes confusion.In terms of someone coming from a design background, a key thing to focus on is to create a “user-centred experience” that focuses on what the user experiences and makes that a priority.UX = deals with experiences, feelings, goals, etc. of the user.UI = deals with the aesthetic elements and visual interactions of the user.So when dealing with agents in order to get gigs you have to demonstrate that you will be able to understand how the user feels before you actually design anything. So there may be a need to conduct research, tests, interviews, focus groups, etc. in order to gather information.The new software is easy to use and can be learnt in a matter of weeks to a sufficient level to produce professional projects and many of them use similar shortcuts and types of layout as more established applications.It is indeed a good idea to get in at a junior level and create successful projects to build your reputation.It is important to note that different companies will approach projects in different ways and there are no real set established rules to follow.If you can grasp the principle of creating user-centred projects then you will be fine and do well.There are lots of books and courses on the field, although they all differ for the reasons mentioned above, so really it comes down to your ability to solve problems for the user and make it easy for them to achieve their goals.Good luck and if you need anything else then give me a shout.
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