Are UI/UX Designers Necessary for Web Design?

Builders of applications could provide top-notch products to the clientele. There is however an element of app and/or web design that should be discussed before making the final decision.

App builders would be able to provide quality apps of course, but UI/UX designers play a big role as well.

In any app development team, in any particular programming language and framework, such as Angular, React JS, and more, experience in UI/UX DESIGN is paramount. Designers of User Experience and User Interface ensure that the human element is taken into account when websites and apps are designed. Organizations looking to hire an Angular developer or a React JS development company for instance should be knowledgeable about UX and UI related issues.

Because a website now plays a critical role in almost all business organizations, as more and more industries are moving their processes over the web. A great website does not only mean having a terrific application, but it also means a site that has a great UI/UX design. Thus, for any website design, UI/UX designers play a critical role.

Before we dwell on the important role of these designers, let us review what UI/UX really means, and why a website could not live without both.

What UI/UX Means, and Why It Matters

UI of course stands for User Interface that includes the screens, pages, buttons, and other visual elements to help a user interact with a device or a website. UI designers focus on User Experience through designing software that’s easy to navigate, for all kinds of digital products, including apps, websites, and other interactive devices.

UX refers to the User Experience design, which includes the overall experience a user has as they interact with a site. This could include the UI but could incorporate a whole lot more. It’s all about having someone from point A to B in a relatively seamless process on the side of the user.

Some concepts involving the user experience include:

  • The process they underwent to discover your brand’s product
  • Thoughts that come up as they attempt to accomplish their task
  • The sequence of actions as users interact with the interface
  • The overall impressions from the interaction as a whole

In the fast-paced world these days, websites, and apps that respond efficiently and quickly are the most successful. Because the user experience is now all about the consumer, software, and design now is based heavily on it. A website that takes fifteen seconds longer to find a product compared to other websites, you can bet it would show in the reports.

Users often search the web to know in general just what they want to find. Even if they’re just browsing, it’s up to the UI/UX designers to navigate them through the website in the most efficient way to get the product or service they need.

The Critical Role of UI/UX Designers

In Angular web development, or for any web development using different frameworks and languages for that matter, UI/UX designers have specific duties and responsibilities.

UI/UX Designer Responsibilities
  • Gathering of user requirements
  • Designing graphic elements
  • Creating navigation components

A successful designer should have experience with designing software and wireframe tools. It’s also important to have a portfolio of professional design projects, which include work with mobile/web apps.

These are the responsibilities of a UI/UX Designer.

  • Gathering and evaluating user requirements in collaboration with engineers and product managers
  • Designing graphic user interface elements, such as tabs, menus, and widgets
  • Illustrating design ideas with the use of process flows, storyboards, and sitemaps
  • Develop UI prototypes and mockups, which illustrate clearly how websites look and function
  • Create page navigation buttons and search fields
  • Preparing and presenting rough drafts to key stakeholders and internal teams
  • Build original graphic designs, such as sketches, images, and tables
  • Perform layout adjustments based on user feedback
  • Distinguish and troubleshoot UX issues, like responsiveness for instance
  • Adhering to style standards on colors, images, and fonts

Requirements to become a UI/UX Designer.

  • Degree in Computer Science, Design or any relevant field
  • Design projects portfolio
  • Proven work experience as a UI/UX designer or a similar role
  • Wireframe tools knowledge, such as InVision and Wireframe.cc
  • Update knowledge of design software, including Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator
  • Team spirit; must have strong communication skills to coordinate with different stakeholders
  • Good skills in time-management

Becoming A UI/UX Designer, How To?

Becoming A UI/UX Designer

Today, there are many people joining or trying to join the UX and UI designer field. From fresh college graduates with a passion for the digital and tech world, creative people with jobs not related to technology, and graphic designers looking for a career change, they all get into the technology game through a creative position. Take for instance the scenario in a React JS development company, many want to take the role of becoming a UI/UX designer.

Fortunately, the demand for UI/UX designers right now is extremely high. Nevertheless, it could be tough if you are trying to land a designer job even on an entry-level with little and even no experience. Even organizations desperate for designers would be willing to wait to find someone with a proven track record.

Simply, in order to land your first job, you would of course need experience as a User Experience Designer. There are numerous areas in designing, including interaction designers, the UI and UX of course, product designers, information architects, graphic designers, so on, and so forth. For now, let’s concentrate on the most common; the UI/UX designer job.

Want to join the UI/UX designer field? Check these out:

1. UI principles Familiarity

First and foremost, before you practice design, learning several design principles is critical. From there, you could join the design world and start to ‘creatively’ think. You get to learn all about the psychological aspects of designing, why it could look terrific, and the reason why it could fail.

Basic principles.

  • Color – color fundamentals, vocabulary, and the psychology of colors
  • Balance –asymmetry, and symmetry
  • Contrast – the use of contrast for information organization, create hierarchy and build focus
  • Typography – selecting fonts and creating text that’s readable
  • Consistency – making usable and intuitive designs
2. Develop your eye for design

Of course, learning about design principles is great. There are however instances when it’s not enough. Train your eye to see both good and bad design, and find out the pros and cons of designs. The most effective way to train your eye is through inspiration.

Prior to opening a blank canvas and looking at it for several minutes, be aware that the only way to be creative is via doing research. There are instances when the mind could not create ideas on its own, you should look at other designs first to begin making your own, particularly when you’re a novice.

3. Learning the creative process of UX design

The next thing for you to do is to understand the creative process. Remember that the process of designing UI/UX involves specific stages that should be undergone by every creative person. The process is grouped into four particular stages, which include discovering, defining, developing, and delivering.

  • Discover – the start of the project wherein designers begin to research, get inspiration, and gather ideas.
  • Define – the phase in which designers will define an idea extricated from the Discover phase. A clear creative brief is crafted from this.
  • Develop – the stage where concepts or solutions are built, prototyped, tested, and iterated. The trial and error process helps designers boost and refine their ideas.
  • Delivery – the final stage in which the final project is finalized, produced, and then launched.
4. Everyday reading of design articles

The best way for you to become familiar with the design is to read several articles on a daily basis. Make it a habit to read design blogs and news every day. There are millions of articles online for you to discover new trends, tutorials, and use instances. All it takes for you to find them. There’s nothing better than to learn from the experiences of other people.

Why not start your day by having a cup of coffee and a few inspirational articles available both online and offline. Learning new things early on in the day broadens your mind. It also makes room for creativity. Every now and then during the day, take breaks and read some more.

To be more creative, taking breaks is paramount, particularly when you are stuck and feel that you’re becoming unproductive. You could bookmark the website as your browser homepage, or you could subscribe to a design newsletter as well.

5. Designing fake projects

Practice definitely makes perfect, and, of course, you are aware that you can’t land a job without experience. Why not build fake projects for fun? Take time to choose an app or a website you use already and redesign it.

It can be anything that you think you could do better. Moreover, you could design your own app idea as well. From there, you could create a design portfolio and practice design.

6. Knowing the latest tools for web designing

You can find tons of design tools available, but you need not know them all. The key is to only know the best ones, select your favorite tools, and stay updated on the newest trends and features. Some of the current tools you could use in the design process are the following:

  • Figma for a collaborative interface design
  • Sketch for interface design
  • Adobe XD for interface prototyping and design
  • Marvel for building mockups interactive
  • InvisionApp for collaboration and prototyping
  • Balsamiq for low fidelity wire-framing
7. Try mentoring and be mentored

Another great way to learn design is to find a design mentor or a friend who’s a designer willing to help you along. This significantly hastens the learning process. The designer could check out your work and provide comments, and feedback when possible.

They could furthermore give tips and tricks they learned from their experience in UI/UX designing. Thus, go ahead, ask questions, email a designer or designers, and raise your concerns. When you’re ready to begin talking about design with others, you could educate or mentor someone about UI/UX design.

You could see it from a different viewpoint, and you get feedback and queries that you never thought of before. Each time you talk about design with others, you would be in a ‘brainstorm’ mode all the time, and you’ll find yourself getting more and more interested in design.

UI/UX Development is Critical for the Growth of any Business

UI/UX Development is Critical

Because User Interface and User Experience Development focus greatly on the satisfaction and pleasure of users, it plays a critical role in the success of any business. From the viewpoint of a business organization, emphasizing the satisfaction of users to build brand value and reputation is paramount.

With Information Technology being a highly competitive industry, the need for UI/UX designs to catch the attention of consumers and to get revenue from the products of the brand is vital. If users surf and browse your site or use your apps, it is the company’s responsibility and the developer’s responsibility to efficiently navigate them into their predetermined target. Thus, UI and UX development have become a critical part of web development these days.

The Business Benefits of UI/UX Design

Every UI/UX designer should look beyond simply creating usable products. They should also take into consideration the enjoyment and pleasure of users in acquiring and using the product. So, how do UI/UX design benefit a business? Find out here.

Inspires interaction

Making content is not enough. You should build content that people would want to interact with. This includes the written content, ads, images, and calls to action. Moreover, it also includes techniques that encourage user interaction.

The techniques furthermore include creating content that’s appealing to the target audience. Designers also look at consistency all throughout the website or the app. Comfortable and predictable software is one that people would want to use.

Initiates loyalty

Great experiences create customer loyalty. An app or website that’s easy to use and backed by terrific service encourages a user to use it again and again. To be able to do this, the designer needs to build a customer journey map, which maps the entire journey of a user through the app or the website.

The journey would be tested thoroughly to make sure that the user interaction with the product is trouble-free and smooth. It is putting the UI/UX design team in the shoes of users.

Give rise to recommendations

Good design in a business website gives rise to the word of mouth recommendations. Ease of a well-designed app or website and its usefulness would encourage people to tell others about the product.

A part of User Experience is to streamline sharing. A free recommendation from a user is by far more potent compared to a paid ad.

Lowers development expenses

It keeps a project within the budget, as well as lowers the cost of development, which include prototyping, extensive user research, and usability testing. This ensures that the time of development is targeted on functionality areas that matter. The focused approach means better specs in the initial design, more relevant content, and less feature creep risk.

Minimizes internal costs

From the outset, UX design is focused on the end-user. This concentrates design and development effort on the wants and needs of users, instead of what developers think that they want. Aside from saving on the costs of development, it prevents organizations from wasting internal resources.

For instance, the design helps identify the products that people want, enabling the marketing and sales efforts to be concentrated on profitable products.

Conclusion

Today, businesses have moved and are moving online, and a website has become an indispensable part of any business organization, big or small. Moreover, in the field of Information Technology, there is more room for professionals to enter their massive portal. One of the most sought-after and in-demand roles in the IT realm is the UI/UX Designer jobs.

For a website to stay on the competitive edge and to stand out from the competition, having a great UI/UX design is paramount. For what good would having a great app do if the User Interface Design and User Experience design is inferior? It will just drive away users and propel them to go look for other company websites that offer the same kind of products and/or services.

Today, UI/UX designers play a big role, and needless to say, UI/UX designers truly are necessary for web design. The IT world has opened up vast opportunities for people all over the world, providing them a chance to showcase their knowledge, skills, and talents by building highly interactive and effective solutions that adapt to the changing and evolving requirements, not just of business organizations, but individuals as well. Indeed, UI/UX design has become a necessity.

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One Comment

  1. Yes!! UI/UX design is compulsory for web design because through design you have a clear pathway towards a complete product. UI/Ux designs are like prototype which guide a designer to design a website.

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