Lessons for budding entrepreneurs in UI/ UX Design

UX Design represents the total user experience design. It involves all interactions that the customer or user has with a company or brand, its products, its website, or its services. It could range from how easy it is to transact your online banking to the ease of shopping online or even the convenience of the local supermarket. But it is mostly used in a digital connection. The UX design process encompasses the development of the interaction between a user and all facets of the organization.

UI is the user interface and involves the look and feel and is a purely digital experience. Here all aspects of the design elements such as font size, color palette, icons, buttons, spacing, etc. are included. UI design aims to improve the visual process for the user.

The digital assets of the product are displayed to the best advantage. UX Design encompasses the overall experience while UI design is restricted to the look and feel of the interface. Both elements complement each other.

The UX designer starts with the target audience and users and related their needs and pain-points vis-à-vis the product. Then the user's journey is mapped out. This is where the UI designer steps in to address the visual aspects of the user's journey. UX design is the first stage in the product development cycle where the skeleton of the user journey is created. The UI designer provides interactive and visual aspects.

UX Designer Skills

UX Designing is a collaborative process that involves coding, project management, understanding product marketing, and design. Prototyping and wireframing are essential to the UX design process. Prototyping aids in understanding the design functionality.

Prototyping tools for UX include InVision, Adobe XD, Origami Studio, Sketch, Axure, Webflow, Framer, Atomic, and Figma. These tools help in rapid evaluation and iteration of designs. InVision works well for prototyping and collaboration while Sketch can be best used for interface design.

UX Designing is much like storytelling and visual communication is the foremost skill of a UX designer. Usage of Illustrator, JavaScript, CSS, Photoshop, Processing, and Python is essential to transform ideas into solutions. The UX Design has to be built for Agile and lean software development.

At every stage of the UX/UI design development, the user experience and expectations and perceptions have to be borne in mind. The hallmark of a successful UX designer is to incorporate responsive designs that are fluid and modular.

Budding UX designers can study other people's portfolios to gain inspiration and understand the trends. Check out Behance and Dribble portfolio platforms. You can start-off with ready-made templates to get a feel of the UX process. Testing tools include Optimzely, Usabilla, UsabilityHub, and Hotjar.

UI Design skills

A UI designer creates all digital products and services that the user interacts with. The creation of screens, touchscreen, sounds, and lights are part of the UI design process. The UI focus is on the digital experience of the User or customer. The UI designer concentrates on the tangible elements of design. Zeplin, Flinto, Adobe Design Experience, and Balsamiq are valuable tools to the UI development team.

Frontend UI developers can use these tools to quickly convert their designs into platform-related code snippets. The UI Interface library offers a range of design elements that can be dragged and dropped on the wireframe. A vector-based drawing tool like Sketch aids in sharp drawing and resizing. Figma is an in-browser interface design tool that offers UI designers many handy editing tools for designing, prototyping, and gathering feedback.

Final Thoughts

The entire UX/UI process is focused on the objective of improving customer satisfaction. UX/UI designers focus on making the user experience delightful. If you are a budding UI/UX Design entrepreneur, list your company on specific freelancer sites. Make your presence on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook to slowly build your audience and it will surely start getting your projects.

With ample knowledge of UX processes and principles, you can come up with excellent user-centric ideas that will resonate with customers. Your passion, tenacity, and confidence coupled with technical skills will surely take you places.