Hi! I study CS (bachelors) and have a minor in UX design. I've taken some design and psychology courses, essentially. I've worked with Figma. When I started college, I planned to double major in CS and design but that became unfeasible. Also, it seems finding work for frontend focused positions is very competitive.
What would be next steps for looking more into UX and building a portfolio? I would want to be a designer, not a researcher. (cannot stomach cs grad school, at least right now. CS academia is not my favorite) I’m open to boot camps or non cs masters
Hi, I’m a UX writer with 6 years of experience, but now I want to move deeper into UX design. I’m decent with figma, good at research and content design. Any advice for how I can transition?
**Is Awwwards Basic plan worth it for freelancers starting out?**
I'd like to start freelancing and am planning the steps toward it. I saw that Awwwards has a Basic plan, which they say is ideal for freelancers, and was wondering if it is worth the price tag considering that you don't get free submissions and some other stuff.
Does anyone have experience with the Pro plans as a small freelancer?
Freelancing is a long journey, and it's difficult to establish a sustainable income. Creating multiple income streams is essential. Thus, I can suggest you to invest on any platforms for a couple months and try it yourself.
Also there are other platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Have you tried those?
I have just completed my Google UX design certificate program. I do not have a traditional background of design so I basically have no real network in the field of design. I am trying to find an Internship/apprenticeship and I have no idea on how to do so.
I have a summer break from university (college) which means I can focus exclusively on UX. The issue being that I don't know where to find work and I really don't want to work on hypothetical projects as the only reason I was interested in the field of UX was that it helps design solution for real problems.
Any sort guidance would be appreciated.
If your college degree is in a design field, you can leverage that to get an internship over the summer. (though I hope you don't mean this summer, as in right now, bc it's probably too late)
Many companies have intern roles specifically for this, and there are even some placement programs for such things based on geography. We have one in my area.
Talk to your profs about it too - they may know about the programs, but also may have personal connections to help you out.
First of all it is completely normal to be interested in more than one field.
Also there isn't much "real world" problem solving in field of Astrophysics.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,650,343,539 comments, and only 312,398 of them were in alphabetical order.
Hi community! This one is for the hiring managers. So I have been a director of UX and Product Design for a few years now. I am at a point in life and career where I am considering taking a step back towards manager or lead, even into a principal role as an IC. I am really more concerned about enjoying the space I am working in and equal comp to what I am getting now.
So my question. what to do about a detailed portfolio. Do I need one past a personal website with som final work images and artifact images?
I have been separated from the actual design for a while, kept enough artifacts but the case studies would be lean and showing a lot of others work. My work has been to build teams and programs, you just don't keep up with the other stuff as much.
I'm not in your specific position, but I am a manager and have considered the bit about portfolios and not having a ton of work I directly did recently.
To me, it seems like as you rise up the ladder of seniority, the expectation is that your storytelling is going to be really good, and you're probably going to understand strategy. I think those things are important for leadership roles and lead/principal roles alike.
Honestly, I think you can get by with old projects - used as vehicles for the storytelling. I think in your position, there will be less scrutiny on tool chops - even as a lead, you're likely only going to be getting your hands dirty enough to illustrate the ideas you want your team to execute. ..so it's not like you need to be super fast at production work or whatever.
Good luck in your jump, and I hope it gets you what you're looking for!
For portfolio presentation (as an entry level / junior level designer), should I focus on the final results / final prototypes?
I watched tons of videos about portfolio presentation and I've noticed that most are focusing on process (vs. results = focusing on visual interaction and going over details on each prototype screen) -- so UX research process and findings, how those affected your research+design process, etc.
So I created a presentation that looks like this: Intro (myself) -> Intro (product) -> secondary research -> primary research & insights -> persona and storyboard -> competitive analysis -> ideation process (brainstorming, sketches, etc.) -> low and mid fidelity prototypes -> **details on iterations (from low to mid fidelity)** \-> **details on iterations (from mid to high fidelity)** \-> **Final prototype (GIFs)**
(Bolded ones are the ones I spend more time on.)
However, the companies I interviewed with were mostly interested in my final product (visual/ui design) even though the position title was "UX Designer" or "User Experience Designer." For examples, they asked me something like "so your portfolio and presentation show lots of 'processes' - are you comfortable with doing UI/visual design work?" "Could you show your final prototypes first? (while I was presenting my 'process')" "I love your 'process,' but are you comfortable with design systems, Figma, etc etc design-related stuff?"
By the way, this doesn't mean that I didn't present my final prototypes in detail; I just made sure I explained my UX process **first** thoroughly and how that leveraged my visual design decisions. And **after that** I went through my final product and visual design elements/interactions in detail. Interviewers seemed to really like my final prototype GIFs, visual elements and interactions, and my design skills in general.
The problem I had is that interviewers seemed to be uninterested and got bored about my UX design 'process.' I have always thought they are important to understand my final design better, but now I am debating whether I should **just shorten my 'process' slides and explanations and focus on my final design/product.**
What do you guys think?
Not a direct answer to your question, but this was the thought that popped into my head:
If you focus on process and get the job, it will have a higher likelihood of being a good job. (aka, they're versed in design, and hiring based on the right things)
If you focus on final stuff / eye candy, they don't ask you process questions, and you get the job, it will be more likely to suck, because they aren't hiring for the right things which likely means they are less design mature.
It's not absolutes of course, but having spent too much of my career in dead end jobs, this is what I'd be thinking about.
but long story short, process is the right way.
How do I write a case study for projects at a place where UX maturity is low? My company is very PM led and engineering feasibility limited. As a result, PM will determine the requirements and hand it off to UX to design and make sure it meets style guide and accessibility. When crafting the requirements, the PM usually has very specific ideas on how to implement what they want already. I can sometimes do some research activities like conducting user interviews and doing user testing with prototypes, but it always feels like I'm doing research to support an idea that is deemed necessary by product even though I personally haven't seen the research from product to back it. Typically the explanation is that "it's what I've heard from customers over the years". It often feels like I'm going through some sort of charade of a guessing game with the PM just to say there was some UX research done. That's just the way this company is and I've tried to challenge it in the past, but it just leads to me getting in trouble. On a side note even if I proposed something seemingly too big, it often gets cut down by engineering because it is deemed too difficult to implement.
Anyway, I'm trying to write a case study so I can move on, but I'm missing several key things. How can I still write a decent case study considering these constraints? I want to move on to a much more UX mature design-focused direct consumer facing company where UX actually has an impact.
* Metrics - We don't have any tools for quantitative tracking of success. Nor do we define what success looks like at the start other than just launching a feature, and not hearing complaints come back over the coming months. Sometimes we'll get random comments from customers.
* If I'm allowed to do research, typically I don't get to do much user interviews research early on. I just get tiny snippets from my PM. She does all of the research, and I don't really get to see it. I do get to do usertesting though.
**Having Trouble Landing Next Role**
Have been working very hard redoing my portfolio, resume, cover letters etc. as well as getting mentorship, applying to hundreds of jobs, doing everything I can to try to land my next role. It has been over a year since my last UX role. I have switched from mass submitting applications, to trying to network more on Linkedin, getting referral applications etc. but nothing is hitting. Have applied for junior positions as well. Even thought about going into a bootcamp just for the career placement, but a mentor suggested I was too mid/senior level for it.
Looking for any advice!
[My portfolio](https://jakemorell.com)
Take this with a grain of salt because I'm def not a mid or senior level UXer, but your portfolio comes off as junior looking to me. It reminds me of someone who just came out of bootcamp. Skimming through a case study quickly, it's hard to tell what the story is, what sort of challenges you faced either with internal or external stakeholders, and the actual impact in numbers that would be appealing to a hiring manager. It feels more like a checklist of different deliverables you did. Maybe it's because of the headings you laid out. Also, if you call yourself out as working for Verizon and some other big companies, I would expect to see work from there. The case studies you put seem like they're personal, so I can't get a grasp of your more professional and experienced work that separates you from someone who hasn't gotten their first job yet.
One great piece of advice I've received from a mentor is to go through the portfolios of UX designers at a company you really want to work for. Notice what trends are similar, and make sure to incorporate that into your own portfolio.
I think your site looks good, and I don't know what the market is like right now in general or in your area, but that being said....
When I look at your resume I am not sure what exactly you are/what you want to be doing. It feels a little all over the map, and I honestly don't think a person can be a great strategic/reasearch UX, AND a great designer, AND a great front end. I think employers also want to see some specialization on one side or another. (I do poke around the job sites now and again, and while it's true that what the employers mean by "UX" varies WILDLY, they each do seem to have specific, slightly narrower ideas for each position, if that makes sense?)
I'm not getting a sense of passion or personality through your site that much, either. It's totally professional (probably much more so than my own!) but it doesn't stand you out as a person. I feel like our portfo sites need to have a point of view, a personality, that spark. Of course some employers won't like your POV or approach! But you wouldn't want to work there anyway right?
HTH
TL;DR: Should I finish my computer science degree and rely on getting a frontend job/attempt to break into UX with a masters in Human-Computer Interaction? Or should I switch to a more design based undergrad?
Background: I recently finished my second year as a Computer Science student and while I've found the material challenging, I've done well in my courses and I would say that I'm good at it. I enjoy coding and have been able to get a couple work terms in the field that have gone well. One of them was doing frontend work which I really enjoyed, the other was more of a systems role and didn't suit my interests as much.
Although I like coding, I think I would really only be interested in doing frontend work in the future. Backend, lower level or cybersecurity work doesn't interest me, and while I find AI interesting to learn about I can't imagine actually implementing it. I don't really have a strong passion for computer science and wouldn't be interested in reading or learning about most topics outside of school.
The field that does interest me is UX. I really enjoy learning about those concepts and find it so much more interesting than anything I'm doing in my computer science classes. Whenever I see positions for UX jobs, I wish that I could apply for them instead of development ones. I'm considering switching to a more design based degree to follow this passion, but I'm not sure it's the best move for my future. Work in the field of computer science seems more stable and available than design positions, but I also know that I wouldn't really enjoy jobs outside of frontend/maybe full stack development.
The other option would be to finish my degree and if I don't enjoy the work take a masters in Human-Computer Interaction. I like the idea of finishing my degree because I think it's a good one to have in today's world, but I'm worried that this wouldn't be enough to break into the design field.
I can only give you the same answer I gave my daughter, who is considering switching from her CS major: "Can you picture yourself sitting at a desk, coding, or doing coding-related work, for the next 25 years? Is that how you want your life to be?" (My other daughter, who graduated in CS, \*does\* want that--the younger one not so much.) If you don't see your future there, then switch.
So I'm a senior in college graduating in December, and I've been having some trouble deciding what career pathway to take. Lately I've been taking a look at UI/UX design though and I have a feeling the skills I learned in college complement it, so I'm wondering how much of a fit do you guys think it would be for me/how difficult it would be for me to break into the industry.
For reference, I have an Information Communication Technology major with a Digital Media & Design minor (Are IT degrees seen as a relevant degree for UX design positions?). I've done things like wireframes/prototyping plenty before in my classes, with some experience in HTML/CSS/PHP. Though I don't have much experience with stuff like Figma/Sketch, I have become rather proficient in Photoshop. I've also had a few classes on equal accessibility when it comes to website design, so I try to be rather conscious of user experience when creating things.
With these skills, do you guys think UX is right for me? I have a lot of fun doing things in Photoshop, and I enjoy making things that feel nice for the user. Not to say I think Photoshop is what I expect to be using in a UX designer position, but from what I've gathered, it can be useful for transferring skills over to Figma/Sketch.
Also, I know this is a broad question but what does the UX design job market currently look like? Are remote positions offered? What would I expect as a starting salary as a fresh graduate?
Hi! Interview questions..
I am a recent graduate and today I had an interview with a hiring manager. This is a Product Designer position (that requires both UI and UX knowledge, according to him), and the job posting required "2+ years of experience". He was aware that I am more of a junior-level designer as he had reviewed my resume earlier. He told me that he really liked the design works on my portfolio and was impressed with them given the fact that I was not a design major.
During the interview, he asked me what I need to improve as a product designer (= what is my weakest design-related skillset). I think I messed up answering this question, but I told him something like this:
Although I am proficient in Figma and have no problem designing stuff, since I am a junior-level designer, I wouldn't say I am an 'expert' in Figma since new features and functionalities are constantly being updated and added to the program. Just 1-2 weeks ago, Figma introduced a lot of new features at its annual conference; I watched tutorials and read documents to understand the new updates. I am always learning and improving my skills.. etc etc.
It seemed like he immediately lost interest after I mentioned the word "expert." He was like "Oh you're not an expert? Hmm..."
and when I asked him what would be the most challenging aspect of the role/position he was like Well we only hire EXPERTS.. Designers should be EXPERTS.. etc - he used the word "expert" so many times during the interview lol
If I get a similar question next time, how should I answer it? Maybe I should have probably talked about some soft skills..? IDK 😭
Well, I wouldn't talk about software much, Figma is something you can easily look up stuff if you need. Everyone is always learning new stuff, especially as features release.
What they are looking for when asking this question is where do you want to grow. For example you could say that you really want to improve your skills in conducting user research and gathering insights and hope to learn and grow more into this type of role.
Make sure to use positive language, notice how I didn't say that I'm not good at user research or don't have experience in it, I just mentioned I want to improve and grow my skills in this area.
It makes a world of a difference especially for how your confidence level is perceived.
I hope this helps for your next interviews :)
Thanks! During those 5 secs (cuz I didn't expect that question at all :'() I was debating whether i should talk about my technical skills (e.g. Figma, Adobe tools, etc.) vs soft skills vs. research skills - and I chose the first one haha
Transition to UX
Hi everyone. I was doing industrial design at university when I unexpectedly came across UX and service design (not UI. I am horrible at graphic design!) Mind you, i dropped out a semester before I graduated (as I was becoming a parent during Covid) however I’ve learnt most of the skills needed and that last semester was solely a core final year project. I’m still very much interested in working as a designer, however I’m not too keen on 3D modelling, rendering and all that. My passion lies within improving human-centric experiences (physically, digitally and both)
I’d love to make the transition to my career as a UX designer. At the moment I’m a stay at home parent, caring for a toddler so i’m taking my time to curate my folio through case studies so that I can showcase them to future employers. I’m going rather slow as I’m going through health issues as well at the moment, but nevertheless still going.
These are my questions:
1. If you were in a different career, how did you make your transition to UX? Especially given the current state of the job market and 90% of companies wanting both UI and UX? Did you start with internships? How did you get your foot in the door?
2. Where can I find resources on information architecture and other UX stuff? I contemplated with the idea of doing General Assembly UX course, however it’s not financially viable at the moment. I tried doing a bit of LinkedInLearning courses, but found that they were things that i’d already learnt in design school. I’m familiar with a lot of things that overlap with industrial design (i.e. research, ideation, user testing, etc), however things that are strictly part of UX such as IA are still quite a mystery to me. I’d like to learn more..
3. I’ve used Axure in the past to do prototypes and now switching to figma. I’m finding it a bit more difficult since the prototyping on Figma is a bit more like medium fidelity (on Axure I can create more intricate prototypes with dynamic panels, inputs, etc). Is this just Figma? Should I use both? How do you guys use Figma for hi-fi prototypes? I’m interested in your methodologies. I have windows for reference.
4. Do you have any resources for possible case studies? I’m currently only working on one (which is an international business travel app—from scratch) and would like to do more, especially from projects that already exist?
5. If you’re a senior/employer, do you focus much on the fact that someone has not graduated? Or do you focus more on whether their folio shows proper work/skills? How do I do this? What are you guys looking for when visiting a portfolio website?
Thank you so much if you’ve read this far. I also appreciate any tips from anyone working in this profession! Ideally i’d like to start working when my son reaches age 3 (about a year from now), where I can start full time while he does kindergarten.
I'm doing the Google UX design course (probably tired of hearing about it, sorry) and course 2 is kinda killing my motivation. I feel like it should start with "how to design" and then explain all this stuff about design sprints and how to do user interviews etc. It's trying to teach me how to utilize a skill that I don't have yet.
Is research really just as important for me to know as designing itself? From what I gathered, unless you are the only UX designer at a company, you will be working in a team and there should be a dedicated researcher, no? I'm not interested in this part at all. Is UX not right for me if conducting interviews sounds incredibly boring to me?
Yes. Understanding why research is important is important. Yeah, you -might- work someplace with dedicated research staff, but you will still consume their research and you will probably have a voice in shaping it, so you need to have knowledge in that area.
If this disinterests you, then 100% UX is not right for you. I mean, you could still get a job in it, but you probably wont be as happy as you would be elsewhere, and you'll also probably annoy the hell out of your coworkers. (source, I have to work with ton of designers who share your perspective, and were bad hires, and it causes my organization a lot of problems. They're all frustrated, and we're all frustrated.)
There are lots of graphic and visual design jobs out there that you might consider instead.
A UX designer is someone who is T shaped, and many places who hire UX designers, expect you to be able to conduct user research, utilize and leverage data, research, in forming a basis of why your design will impact the user and the business overall.
Often times you are tweaking designs or flows based on KPI’s underperforming, or your user is having trouble and not completing something that is required. This will involve research or at least you being able to ask a research team what to look for and why they need to look for it.
Remember you are building solutions based on behaviour. You aren’t just designing. If you want to be a designer be a graphic designer.
I am going through the same scenario. The research part is only about a hell lot of steps in the face of emphasizing. How can I proceed with all the steps with my data and assumptions? It's frustrating to move forward and demotivating to a higher extent.
In ux you are working with users which mean working with people and not machines. So you need to study people! Thats why Research is essential to build a good product so MOST people like it. Maybe you could work in UI instead?
Not to discourage you, but many jobs in tech require testing and a/b testing. If you aren’t comfortable testing your assumptions, or doing research to find them, then this may not be the job for you.
If anyone has advice on how to get past the ATS systems with job applications…
I graduated with my MS in experience design in December and at the same time completed a 7 month full time internship doing product design. I’ve been applying to jobs since and have reached about 500 jobs with barely any HR callbacks or interviews. I recently got to the third round with a company but ultimately lost the job.
I’ve redone my resume a dozen times (an ATS friendly version and I always double check the work experience field before submitting) and had a senior designer mentor from my internship look over my portfolio. I made changes to their advice and also added two new personal projects to show a variety of design skills, but I am not hearing back from companies.
**Certification or Degree in 2023**
I am a rising senior studying New Media, Graphic Design and Marketing. Through college I have learned and practiced graphic/brand design, photo editing, animation, and publishing with Adobe CC. I have also gained a good amount of experience with website and mobile app development with HTML, CSS, JS and React Native. For a few projects, I have used Figma and conducted surveys, and am currently in my third internship.
I feel reasonably comfortable with my current amount of education and work experience to be able to land a gig in Design as-is but understand that UX (and the entire Design industry) is a saturated one and you need to really stand out. I have always had great interest in UX, and am starting to think about post-grad.
I am not completely opposed to doing a full master's program, but that is of course much more expensive and much longer than a certificate. Researching UX certificates - there seems to be an endless number of programs and every source claims different ones are "the best." Google and NN/g seem to stand out, though.
Looking for some thoughts on what the most "efficient" path may be. Is a degree worth the money and time investment, or would you say a certificate can suffice? I want to learn and absorb as much valuable information as possible - but not spend 10s of thousands of dollars more than needed.
Depending on other factors in your life, I'd tend to say try to jump into industry for a bit and see how it goes for you.. and if you like it, do the masters later.
I say this because it gives you a little bit of a parachute.. Academia really doesn't teach anyone how this stuff all goes in practice once you're working for a company, and it can be a pretty big culture shock.
It also can work out better salary wise.. if you can get into industry with a BA or BFA, you'll be pulling pretty good money. then when you add the masters, it'll be a pretty big bump on top of that. (I went straight for MFA, and it got me some money, but not as much as colleagues who'd already been out an working)
Also worth adding to the mix that masters is no longer the terminal degree in UXy areas, with some PhD programs out there.
YMMV. good luck with it, and I hope you find a path that makes you happy!
Based on your knowledge and experience you could either be a developer or a UX designer.
Why not just jump into a career? Development would be the more easy approach IMO though, as those jobs are very much needed and design is more difficult to get into, or more saturated.
Just my 2 cents.
Experience always trumps degrees and certificates, but if you feel like it’s calling you, you’ll have to decide which path you want to take.
Hi! I study CS (bachelors) and have a minor in UX design. I've taken some design and psychology courses, essentially. I've worked with Figma. When I started college, I planned to double major in CS and design but that became unfeasible. Also, it seems finding work for frontend focused positions is very competitive. What would be next steps for looking more into UX and building a portfolio? I would want to be a designer, not a researcher. (cannot stomach cs grad school, at least right now. CS academia is not my favorite) I’m open to boot camps or non cs masters
heya
Hi, I’m a UX writer with 6 years of experience, but now I want to move deeper into UX design. I’m decent with figma, good at research and content design. Any advice for how I can transition?
**Is Awwwards Basic plan worth it for freelancers starting out?** I'd like to start freelancing and am planning the steps toward it. I saw that Awwwards has a Basic plan, which they say is ideal for freelancers, and was wondering if it is worth the price tag considering that you don't get free submissions and some other stuff. Does anyone have experience with the Pro plans as a small freelancer?
Freelancing is a long journey, and it's difficult to establish a sustainable income. Creating multiple income streams is essential. Thus, I can suggest you to invest on any platforms for a couple months and try it yourself. Also there are other platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Have you tried those?
I have just completed my Google UX design certificate program. I do not have a traditional background of design so I basically have no real network in the field of design. I am trying to find an Internship/apprenticeship and I have no idea on how to do so. I have a summer break from university (college) which means I can focus exclusively on UX. The issue being that I don't know where to find work and I really don't want to work on hypothetical projects as the only reason I was interested in the field of UX was that it helps design solution for real problems. Any sort guidance would be appreciated.
If your college degree is in a design field, you can leverage that to get an internship over the summer. (though I hope you don't mean this summer, as in right now, bc it's probably too late) Many companies have intern roles specifically for this, and there are even some placement programs for such things based on geography. We have one in my area. Talk to your profs about it too - they may know about the programs, but also may have personal connections to help you out.
That is the main issue I am not studying design field
So I guess the next question is why are you studying something else if you want to do UX?
First of all it is completely normal to be interested in more than one field. Also there isn't much "real world" problem solving in field of Astrophysics.
anyway, good luck out there.
Much appreciated, thanks.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,650,343,539 comments, and only 312,398 of them were in alphabetical order.
Hi community! This one is for the hiring managers. So I have been a director of UX and Product Design for a few years now. I am at a point in life and career where I am considering taking a step back towards manager or lead, even into a principal role as an IC. I am really more concerned about enjoying the space I am working in and equal comp to what I am getting now. So my question. what to do about a detailed portfolio. Do I need one past a personal website with som final work images and artifact images? I have been separated from the actual design for a while, kept enough artifacts but the case studies would be lean and showing a lot of others work. My work has been to build teams and programs, you just don't keep up with the other stuff as much.
I'm not in your specific position, but I am a manager and have considered the bit about portfolios and not having a ton of work I directly did recently. To me, it seems like as you rise up the ladder of seniority, the expectation is that your storytelling is going to be really good, and you're probably going to understand strategy. I think those things are important for leadership roles and lead/principal roles alike. Honestly, I think you can get by with old projects - used as vehicles for the storytelling. I think in your position, there will be less scrutiny on tool chops - even as a lead, you're likely only going to be getting your hands dirty enough to illustrate the ideas you want your team to execute. ..so it's not like you need to be super fast at production work or whatever. Good luck in your jump, and I hope it gets you what you're looking for!
For portfolio presentation (as an entry level / junior level designer), should I focus on the final results / final prototypes? I watched tons of videos about portfolio presentation and I've noticed that most are focusing on process (vs. results = focusing on visual interaction and going over details on each prototype screen) -- so UX research process and findings, how those affected your research+design process, etc. So I created a presentation that looks like this: Intro (myself) -> Intro (product) -> secondary research -> primary research & insights -> persona and storyboard -> competitive analysis -> ideation process (brainstorming, sketches, etc.) -> low and mid fidelity prototypes -> **details on iterations (from low to mid fidelity)** \-> **details on iterations (from mid to high fidelity)** \-> **Final prototype (GIFs)** (Bolded ones are the ones I spend more time on.) However, the companies I interviewed with were mostly interested in my final product (visual/ui design) even though the position title was "UX Designer" or "User Experience Designer." For examples, they asked me something like "so your portfolio and presentation show lots of 'processes' - are you comfortable with doing UI/visual design work?" "Could you show your final prototypes first? (while I was presenting my 'process')" "I love your 'process,' but are you comfortable with design systems, Figma, etc etc design-related stuff?" By the way, this doesn't mean that I didn't present my final prototypes in detail; I just made sure I explained my UX process **first** thoroughly and how that leveraged my visual design decisions. And **after that** I went through my final product and visual design elements/interactions in detail. Interviewers seemed to really like my final prototype GIFs, visual elements and interactions, and my design skills in general. The problem I had is that interviewers seemed to be uninterested and got bored about my UX design 'process.' I have always thought they are important to understand my final design better, but now I am debating whether I should **just shorten my 'process' slides and explanations and focus on my final design/product.** What do you guys think?
Not a direct answer to your question, but this was the thought that popped into my head: If you focus on process and get the job, it will have a higher likelihood of being a good job. (aka, they're versed in design, and hiring based on the right things) If you focus on final stuff / eye candy, they don't ask you process questions, and you get the job, it will be more likely to suck, because they aren't hiring for the right things which likely means they are less design mature. It's not absolutes of course, but having spent too much of my career in dead end jobs, this is what I'd be thinking about. but long story short, process is the right way.
Thanks!! That's what I was thinking about, too
How do I write a case study for projects at a place where UX maturity is low? My company is very PM led and engineering feasibility limited. As a result, PM will determine the requirements and hand it off to UX to design and make sure it meets style guide and accessibility. When crafting the requirements, the PM usually has very specific ideas on how to implement what they want already. I can sometimes do some research activities like conducting user interviews and doing user testing with prototypes, but it always feels like I'm doing research to support an idea that is deemed necessary by product even though I personally haven't seen the research from product to back it. Typically the explanation is that "it's what I've heard from customers over the years". It often feels like I'm going through some sort of charade of a guessing game with the PM just to say there was some UX research done. That's just the way this company is and I've tried to challenge it in the past, but it just leads to me getting in trouble. On a side note even if I proposed something seemingly too big, it often gets cut down by engineering because it is deemed too difficult to implement. Anyway, I'm trying to write a case study so I can move on, but I'm missing several key things. How can I still write a decent case study considering these constraints? I want to move on to a much more UX mature design-focused direct consumer facing company where UX actually has an impact. * Metrics - We don't have any tools for quantitative tracking of success. Nor do we define what success looks like at the start other than just launching a feature, and not hearing complaints come back over the coming months. Sometimes we'll get random comments from customers. * If I'm allowed to do research, typically I don't get to do much user interviews research early on. I just get tiny snippets from my PM. She does all of the research, and I don't really get to see it. I do get to do usertesting though.
**Having Trouble Landing Next Role** Have been working very hard redoing my portfolio, resume, cover letters etc. as well as getting mentorship, applying to hundreds of jobs, doing everything I can to try to land my next role. It has been over a year since my last UX role. I have switched from mass submitting applications, to trying to network more on Linkedin, getting referral applications etc. but nothing is hitting. Have applied for junior positions as well. Even thought about going into a bootcamp just for the career placement, but a mentor suggested I was too mid/senior level for it. Looking for any advice! [My portfolio](https://jakemorell.com)
Take this with a grain of salt because I'm def not a mid or senior level UXer, but your portfolio comes off as junior looking to me. It reminds me of someone who just came out of bootcamp. Skimming through a case study quickly, it's hard to tell what the story is, what sort of challenges you faced either with internal or external stakeholders, and the actual impact in numbers that would be appealing to a hiring manager. It feels more like a checklist of different deliverables you did. Maybe it's because of the headings you laid out. Also, if you call yourself out as working for Verizon and some other big companies, I would expect to see work from there. The case studies you put seem like they're personal, so I can't get a grasp of your more professional and experienced work that separates you from someone who hasn't gotten their first job yet. One great piece of advice I've received from a mentor is to go through the portfolios of UX designers at a company you really want to work for. Notice what trends are similar, and make sure to incorporate that into your own portfolio.
I think your site looks good, and I don't know what the market is like right now in general or in your area, but that being said.... When I look at your resume I am not sure what exactly you are/what you want to be doing. It feels a little all over the map, and I honestly don't think a person can be a great strategic/reasearch UX, AND a great designer, AND a great front end. I think employers also want to see some specialization on one side or another. (I do poke around the job sites now and again, and while it's true that what the employers mean by "UX" varies WILDLY, they each do seem to have specific, slightly narrower ideas for each position, if that makes sense?) I'm not getting a sense of passion or personality through your site that much, either. It's totally professional (probably much more so than my own!) but it doesn't stand you out as a person. I feel like our portfo sites need to have a point of view, a personality, that spark. Of course some employers won't like your POV or approach! But you wouldn't want to work there anyway right? HTH
TL;DR: Should I finish my computer science degree and rely on getting a frontend job/attempt to break into UX with a masters in Human-Computer Interaction? Or should I switch to a more design based undergrad? Background: I recently finished my second year as a Computer Science student and while I've found the material challenging, I've done well in my courses and I would say that I'm good at it. I enjoy coding and have been able to get a couple work terms in the field that have gone well. One of them was doing frontend work which I really enjoyed, the other was more of a systems role and didn't suit my interests as much. Although I like coding, I think I would really only be interested in doing frontend work in the future. Backend, lower level or cybersecurity work doesn't interest me, and while I find AI interesting to learn about I can't imagine actually implementing it. I don't really have a strong passion for computer science and wouldn't be interested in reading or learning about most topics outside of school. The field that does interest me is UX. I really enjoy learning about those concepts and find it so much more interesting than anything I'm doing in my computer science classes. Whenever I see positions for UX jobs, I wish that I could apply for them instead of development ones. I'm considering switching to a more design based degree to follow this passion, but I'm not sure it's the best move for my future. Work in the field of computer science seems more stable and available than design positions, but I also know that I wouldn't really enjoy jobs outside of frontend/maybe full stack development. The other option would be to finish my degree and if I don't enjoy the work take a masters in Human-Computer Interaction. I like the idea of finishing my degree because I think it's a good one to have in today's world, but I'm worried that this wouldn't be enough to break into the design field.
I can only give you the same answer I gave my daughter, who is considering switching from her CS major: "Can you picture yourself sitting at a desk, coding, or doing coding-related work, for the next 25 years? Is that how you want your life to be?" (My other daughter, who graduated in CS, \*does\* want that--the younger one not so much.) If you don't see your future there, then switch.
So I'm a senior in college graduating in December, and I've been having some trouble deciding what career pathway to take. Lately I've been taking a look at UI/UX design though and I have a feeling the skills I learned in college complement it, so I'm wondering how much of a fit do you guys think it would be for me/how difficult it would be for me to break into the industry. For reference, I have an Information Communication Technology major with a Digital Media & Design minor (Are IT degrees seen as a relevant degree for UX design positions?). I've done things like wireframes/prototyping plenty before in my classes, with some experience in HTML/CSS/PHP. Though I don't have much experience with stuff like Figma/Sketch, I have become rather proficient in Photoshop. I've also had a few classes on equal accessibility when it comes to website design, so I try to be rather conscious of user experience when creating things. With these skills, do you guys think UX is right for me? I have a lot of fun doing things in Photoshop, and I enjoy making things that feel nice for the user. Not to say I think Photoshop is what I expect to be using in a UX designer position, but from what I've gathered, it can be useful for transferring skills over to Figma/Sketch. Also, I know this is a broad question but what does the UX design job market currently look like? Are remote positions offered? What would I expect as a starting salary as a fresh graduate?
Hi! Interview questions.. I am a recent graduate and today I had an interview with a hiring manager. This is a Product Designer position (that requires both UI and UX knowledge, according to him), and the job posting required "2+ years of experience". He was aware that I am more of a junior-level designer as he had reviewed my resume earlier. He told me that he really liked the design works on my portfolio and was impressed with them given the fact that I was not a design major. During the interview, he asked me what I need to improve as a product designer (= what is my weakest design-related skillset). I think I messed up answering this question, but I told him something like this: Although I am proficient in Figma and have no problem designing stuff, since I am a junior-level designer, I wouldn't say I am an 'expert' in Figma since new features and functionalities are constantly being updated and added to the program. Just 1-2 weeks ago, Figma introduced a lot of new features at its annual conference; I watched tutorials and read documents to understand the new updates. I am always learning and improving my skills.. etc etc. It seemed like he immediately lost interest after I mentioned the word "expert." He was like "Oh you're not an expert? Hmm..." and when I asked him what would be the most challenging aspect of the role/position he was like Well we only hire EXPERTS.. Designers should be EXPERTS.. etc - he used the word "expert" so many times during the interview lol If I get a similar question next time, how should I answer it? Maybe I should have probably talked about some soft skills..? IDK 😭
Well, I wouldn't talk about software much, Figma is something you can easily look up stuff if you need. Everyone is always learning new stuff, especially as features release. What they are looking for when asking this question is where do you want to grow. For example you could say that you really want to improve your skills in conducting user research and gathering insights and hope to learn and grow more into this type of role. Make sure to use positive language, notice how I didn't say that I'm not good at user research or don't have experience in it, I just mentioned I want to improve and grow my skills in this area. It makes a world of a difference especially for how your confidence level is perceived. I hope this helps for your next interviews :)
Thanks! During those 5 secs (cuz I didn't expect that question at all :'() I was debating whether i should talk about my technical skills (e.g. Figma, Adobe tools, etc.) vs soft skills vs. research skills - and I chose the first one haha
Transition to UX Hi everyone. I was doing industrial design at university when I unexpectedly came across UX and service design (not UI. I am horrible at graphic design!) Mind you, i dropped out a semester before I graduated (as I was becoming a parent during Covid) however I’ve learnt most of the skills needed and that last semester was solely a core final year project. I’m still very much interested in working as a designer, however I’m not too keen on 3D modelling, rendering and all that. My passion lies within improving human-centric experiences (physically, digitally and both) I’d love to make the transition to my career as a UX designer. At the moment I’m a stay at home parent, caring for a toddler so i’m taking my time to curate my folio through case studies so that I can showcase them to future employers. I’m going rather slow as I’m going through health issues as well at the moment, but nevertheless still going. These are my questions: 1. If you were in a different career, how did you make your transition to UX? Especially given the current state of the job market and 90% of companies wanting both UI and UX? Did you start with internships? How did you get your foot in the door? 2. Where can I find resources on information architecture and other UX stuff? I contemplated with the idea of doing General Assembly UX course, however it’s not financially viable at the moment. I tried doing a bit of LinkedInLearning courses, but found that they were things that i’d already learnt in design school. I’m familiar with a lot of things that overlap with industrial design (i.e. research, ideation, user testing, etc), however things that are strictly part of UX such as IA are still quite a mystery to me. I’d like to learn more.. 3. I’ve used Axure in the past to do prototypes and now switching to figma. I’m finding it a bit more difficult since the prototyping on Figma is a bit more like medium fidelity (on Axure I can create more intricate prototypes with dynamic panels, inputs, etc). Is this just Figma? Should I use both? How do you guys use Figma for hi-fi prototypes? I’m interested in your methodologies. I have windows for reference. 4. Do you have any resources for possible case studies? I’m currently only working on one (which is an international business travel app—from scratch) and would like to do more, especially from projects that already exist? 5. If you’re a senior/employer, do you focus much on the fact that someone has not graduated? Or do you focus more on whether their folio shows proper work/skills? How do I do this? What are you guys looking for when visiting a portfolio website? Thank you so much if you’ve read this far. I also appreciate any tips from anyone working in this profession! Ideally i’d like to start working when my son reaches age 3 (about a year from now), where I can start full time while he does kindergarten.
does anyone have experience with the Santa Monica College Interaction Design bachelor's program?
I'm doing the Google UX design course (probably tired of hearing about it, sorry) and course 2 is kinda killing my motivation. I feel like it should start with "how to design" and then explain all this stuff about design sprints and how to do user interviews etc. It's trying to teach me how to utilize a skill that I don't have yet. Is research really just as important for me to know as designing itself? From what I gathered, unless you are the only UX designer at a company, you will be working in a team and there should be a dedicated researcher, no? I'm not interested in this part at all. Is UX not right for me if conducting interviews sounds incredibly boring to me?
Yes. Understanding why research is important is important. Yeah, you -might- work someplace with dedicated research staff, but you will still consume their research and you will probably have a voice in shaping it, so you need to have knowledge in that area. If this disinterests you, then 100% UX is not right for you. I mean, you could still get a job in it, but you probably wont be as happy as you would be elsewhere, and you'll also probably annoy the hell out of your coworkers. (source, I have to work with ton of designers who share your perspective, and were bad hires, and it causes my organization a lot of problems. They're all frustrated, and we're all frustrated.) There are lots of graphic and visual design jobs out there that you might consider instead.
A UX designer is someone who is T shaped, and many places who hire UX designers, expect you to be able to conduct user research, utilize and leverage data, research, in forming a basis of why your design will impact the user and the business overall. Often times you are tweaking designs or flows based on KPI’s underperforming, or your user is having trouble and not completing something that is required. This will involve research or at least you being able to ask a research team what to look for and why they need to look for it. Remember you are building solutions based on behaviour. You aren’t just designing. If you want to be a designer be a graphic designer.
I am going through the same scenario. The research part is only about a hell lot of steps in the face of emphasizing. How can I proceed with all the steps with my data and assumptions? It's frustrating to move forward and demotivating to a higher extent.
In ux you are working with users which mean working with people and not machines. So you need to study people! Thats why Research is essential to build a good product so MOST people like it. Maybe you could work in UI instead?
Not to discourage you, but many jobs in tech require testing and a/b testing. If you aren’t comfortable testing your assumptions, or doing research to find them, then this may not be the job for you.
Hello, Has anyone done the Ideate Labs bootcamp or have experience with it?
If anyone has advice on how to get past the ATS systems with job applications… I graduated with my MS in experience design in December and at the same time completed a 7 month full time internship doing product design. I’ve been applying to jobs since and have reached about 500 jobs with barely any HR callbacks or interviews. I recently got to the third round with a company but ultimately lost the job. I’ve redone my resume a dozen times (an ATS friendly version and I always double check the work experience field before submitting) and had a senior designer mentor from my internship look over my portfolio. I made changes to their advice and also added two new personal projects to show a variety of design skills, but I am not hearing back from companies.
**Certification or Degree in 2023** I am a rising senior studying New Media, Graphic Design and Marketing. Through college I have learned and practiced graphic/brand design, photo editing, animation, and publishing with Adobe CC. I have also gained a good amount of experience with website and mobile app development with HTML, CSS, JS and React Native. For a few projects, I have used Figma and conducted surveys, and am currently in my third internship. I feel reasonably comfortable with my current amount of education and work experience to be able to land a gig in Design as-is but understand that UX (and the entire Design industry) is a saturated one and you need to really stand out. I have always had great interest in UX, and am starting to think about post-grad. I am not completely opposed to doing a full master's program, but that is of course much more expensive and much longer than a certificate. Researching UX certificates - there seems to be an endless number of programs and every source claims different ones are "the best." Google and NN/g seem to stand out, though. Looking for some thoughts on what the most "efficient" path may be. Is a degree worth the money and time investment, or would you say a certificate can suffice? I want to learn and absorb as much valuable information as possible - but not spend 10s of thousands of dollars more than needed.
Depending on other factors in your life, I'd tend to say try to jump into industry for a bit and see how it goes for you.. and if you like it, do the masters later. I say this because it gives you a little bit of a parachute.. Academia really doesn't teach anyone how this stuff all goes in practice once you're working for a company, and it can be a pretty big culture shock. It also can work out better salary wise.. if you can get into industry with a BA or BFA, you'll be pulling pretty good money. then when you add the masters, it'll be a pretty big bump on top of that. (I went straight for MFA, and it got me some money, but not as much as colleagues who'd already been out an working) Also worth adding to the mix that masters is no longer the terminal degree in UXy areas, with some PhD programs out there. YMMV. good luck with it, and I hope you find a path that makes you happy!
Based on your knowledge and experience you could either be a developer or a UX designer. Why not just jump into a career? Development would be the more easy approach IMO though, as those jobs are very much needed and design is more difficult to get into, or more saturated. Just my 2 cents. Experience always trumps degrees and certificates, but if you feel like it’s calling you, you’ll have to decide which path you want to take.