You must have seen this posted across job sites - ‘UI/UX designer wanted’. It is a common misunderstanding that both UI and UX are the same thing. So, let’s get it out of the way - UX design is not UI design.

Difference‌ ‌between‌ ‌UX‌ ‌and‌ ‌UI‌ ‌designer.

A UI or User Interface is the way a screen looks. Designing for it requires an understanding of layout, colors, typography and other aspects of graphic or visual design. On the other hand, UX or User Experience is how a product feels to the user. It is largely about assessing the scenarios a user might be in, gauging what they expect to happen, and coming up with the best way to walk them through the task they are trying to accomplish. Think of UX is an entree of user empathy with a side of UI design and technology

Right now, there is an extremely high demand for UX designers or interaction designers. Whether you are a recent grad or a seasoned professional with a passion for the digital world, with or without a background in tech, you can fit right in as a UX designer. However, landing a UX designer job gets a lot easier with a certain set of skills and previous design experience.

A big part of the job description of a UX designer or interaction designer revolves around product thinking. Product thinking is the ability to zoom out and consider every aspect of your product (your app, a website or a feature) in terms of user problems it solves. Say, you are designing a calendar app. You could design the most appealing UI for a couple of views and call it a day. But if you find that meetings are more likely to be scheduled on the go, between groups of 2 or more and on a weekday, you could start optimizing your designs for smaller screens by hiding weekends or maybe suggesting timings that suit everyone’s schedules. As a UX designer, you must ask questions. The key to designing a streamlined product is to ask questions like:

1. Who are we doing this for? (target users)
2. What problems are we solving? (user problems)
3. How are we doing this? (strategy)
4. What do we plan to achieve? (goal)

Skills‌ ‌needed‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌UX‌ ‌designer.

So, what does the UX design process look like and what skills do you need to have? Step 1: Research

Start with not only figuring out who has a need for your product or service, but also who is most likely to use and pay for it. Speak to your stakeholders. Find who your competitors are targeting. Make a list of common demographic factors and personal characteristics of your target users. Seek out the problems they have with existing solutions either by meeting with potential users in person or by sending out surveys. Create personas for your perfect consumer while avoiding generalizations and define the pain points that your product should solve for.

Step 2: Design

Once you know your user, brainstorm with your team to come up with a variety of solutions to attack the user problems. Be aware of platform patterns (Web, iOS, Android) and technical constraints. Sketch out high-level user journeys without diving into the visual details just yet. Then start creating wireframes to lay out the user flows. Make sure you leave room for quick iterations. As you align in a general direction, prototype your design. There are several tools that let you create prototypes without writing code -- sometimes even paper prototypes suffice. Evaluate your prototypes with real users to learn if you are heading in the right direction. Now that you have straightened out the kinks, make use of your visual design skills to create the final UI and prepare to hand off your assets to engineers.

Step 3: Launch

Woot! You have launched your product. Keep an eye on how it’s performing, so you know if there are ‘desire lines’ that you might have overlooked. Using the right success metrics is the key to successful iterations.

How do I get started? You don’t need to have all the skills above to get started. Smaller companies seek generalists, while larger ones generally have specializations within UX design such as researcher, interaction designer, UX engineer, or visual designer. Pick one that excites you the most and has a general understanding of the rest. If you are starting from scratch, here are a few steps you could take:

Step 1. Read

There are a lot of books on UX design. Some of my favorites are The Design of Everyday Things, Don’t Make Me Think, and About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design . Apart from books, there are a bunch of UX blogs on Medium , podcasts, and articles that you could learn from.

Step 2. Find a mentor

Having an experienced UX designer to guide and inspire you is a boon. Being a part of a UX community, going to conferences or meetings, or following folks on Quora are some good ways to find a mentor. You could invite them to coffee or schedule an hour of Skype without being too pushy.

Step 3. Take a class

Taking a course on UX design will prepare you on the most important UX concepts and tools of the trade, and allow you to practice using them. Pick up a dummy project (you decide what you want to make) follow along as you are learning. The community at UX stack exchange can help you out if you get stuck.

Step 4. Do real-world projects

It shouldn’t be hard to find someone who could use a free UX designer. Your best bet would be to offer pro-bono help to startups looking to improve their UX - it’s a win-win for both. However, be sure to do usability testing to improve your design.

5. Create a portfolio

Buy a domain and host your portfolio online. Try showcasing a variety of projects while focusing on quality. Explain your process and show examples from each stage. Designing your portfolio is also a project in itself. You could also try to build it yourself as an additional challenge.

6. Land a job

Ask around in your professional network or check in with your mentor to see if there are any openings. With a solid portfolio, and some leg work you should be able to line up some interviews. Look at the commonly asked questions and prepare ahead of time. Once you have cracked the interviews. you’ve done it – welcome to being a UX designer.