Once in a while, I like to search for what are the most current skills in UX. The last time I did that was in August when I read in an article that improvisational theatre was an example, which is why I have since August taken improv classes every Monday evening. I can see how it can collaborate well in the world of UX design since it enhances my ability to be an active listener, know when to let others speak and when I have to jump in and take the lead in a conversation. You need a good mix of both soft- and hard skills in your bag to thrive in this field. Today I found a new article with 10 skills that I will use to present here in my blog for others interested to keep up with the latest skills and also to see which requirements I can check off and where I need to improve.
The article is from designlab.com and written by SEO Specialist Maria Mare
1. Visual skills
When designing a layout for anything from a website, whitepaper, slideshow presentation or even something tangible there are many considerations. The first thought that properly comes to mind for most is aesthetics and while yes, that matters it is branding and catering to the most essential target audience. This is what I have experienced when designing cover letters either for others or when I hunt for a position. A product or company has a few brand colours and typographies to quickly tell the audience what they are about. No wonder my Bachelor’s programme consisted of a lot of designing mood boards, color symbolism and emotional design elements. The reason for a chosen few colors and typographies is because of consistency. As Jacob's Law would suggest, consistency makes it easier to navigate websites and SoMe channels due to familiarity. Although Canva is popular now, it is still relevant to use Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator and it is an area I would like to become more familiar with.
Here is an example of a mood board designed by colleagues and I.
2. UX Research
As a current part-time UX Researcher intern I know it is a valuable asset to have knowledge and experience in different user test methodologies. But that is not the challenging part, no it’s planning the right method(s) to execute a successful user test and gain valuable insights and not just a bunch of raw data. What I learned the hard way is that there can be too many methodologies, participants and data collected. Here “less is more” is key. I would suggest picking a focus area to uncover for instance questions within the behavioural categories and stick with that. I would rather ask a few questions with follow-up sub-questions, rather than try to gain insights from all aspects: demographic, technological, behavioural and attitudinal categories.
3. Architecture is not just for houses
UX’ers have Information Architecture (IA) for their exposals when designing the structure of websites with components regarding users, content and context. It is not only the visuals that matter when designing or optimizing a product. Organizing information, Labeling it, and designing the navigation system by analysing users' search methods and behaviour. This is why it is not surprising that it was a part of my Master’s curriculum since it is about how to keep people in mind when designing a digital product. What interested me the most during the lectures was the user test methods of tree test and click first test. That is something I would like to explore more. A tool to design a map could for instance be Adobe XD which I do not have experience with yet, but strongly consider it.
4. The same goes for sketching
Architectures sketch buildings and UX’ers outline ideas for websites and apps. When designing for instance an app in the early stages picking up a piece of paper and pen (preferably with an eraser) and outlining the main ideas for how the skeleton of the product could look like is smart in terms of time management. I have in the past when studying web development jumped too fast in the front- and back-end coding part before carefully ideating.
I have more experience in sketching out prototypes than wireframing though and if you reading this seek a good place to start, I read that Moqups is great for beginners.
5. Prototyping
The last hard skill worth mentioning this year and likely many years back and in the future, is prototyping. A prototype can be used to test a product and get feedback from users before adding changes to it moving forward. A prototype comes in many varieties often divided up into low and high fidelity. Low-fidelity examples are sketches, and cut-out moving boxes, whereas high-fidelity are often interactive screen-based prototypes. I have made prototypes throughout student projects with colleagues during my Bachelor's and now current Master’s. Regarding hard skill tools I have used Axure RP 10, but looking at job posts for UX Designer positions Figma seems to be the most popular, so I have a goal to take a course soon. If you are also a student who wishes to work in this field, I recommend doing the same.
Here is an example of a prototype I designed in Axure RP 10.
Be two steps ahead
Having only about 8 months left of my studies I try to build on my knowledge and keep up with current trends and skills to land a job fitted with my studies. I hope this post can encourage other students to do the same, it will enhance one's changes once it is time to search for a job.
Next week I’ll look into soft skills :)
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