8 Things I Learned from My First Job as UI/UX Designer
What I learned as a fresh graduate from my first job as UI/UX Designer
It’s been 3-and-a-half months since the first day I landed a job as a full-time UI/UX designer. During this very short period, I try to figure out how much I grow from a fresh graduate to be a good designer. I learned so much from people I met. Even, some lesson I got has changed my point of view. These are some of the things I have learned and you might also have experienced.
1. Learn How the Business Run
When you decide to dive into the user’s world, you have to understand the business you are in. You have to learn about the business model, vision, goals, and strategies of the company because you will not only interact with design stuff and development but also you need to see how the product works from the business point of view. It may need several time to understand how the business is going, but it will help you to make better design decisions in the future. That’s what the company expect from your UX role.
2. Job Knowledge
UI UX designer job is not as easy as it looks. It is not only about creating icons, illustrations, and clean interfaces. It’s about how much you know your users so you can create usable products or features for them to achieve their goals. Learn about how depth and breadth is UI UX design from your peers and from your job as you progress, since you are new to this role too. Being able to propose appropriate solutions will be pivotal to the success of this role. Keep working on it, read a lot of books, read a lot of design articles, read design case studies, and keep up to date with design trends.
3. Keep It Simple
This one is easy to say but sometimes hard to implement. You need to decide the best solution of design and keep it easy to implement. You don’t need to design complex features which are used rarely but spend a lot of development time.
For the example, when you have to design a feature for user to change their password, we can make it so much easy and secure for user by adding complex features like visibility, strong characters, or confirmations with current password. It’s ok if many of the users use this feature. But if there are only a small percentage of users use it, why do you waste your time make it so complex and give difficulties to developers on a small features? Keep it simple as it can be used and the goal is achieved by user, so you can focus on another important things.
4. Follow the Guideline
Take a UI UX design role in a company doesn’t mean you can’t implement various gradient colours and style in every design you make. But the company has its brand before you’re in. The design guideline must have been carefully planned and considered as the brand identity. You should follow to the design guidelines unless you have a very good reason to create a new one.
5. Clarify the Problem
We are not working alone. As a member of the product team, you need to talk with colleagues, designers and product managers to get feedback. If you want to take the best decisions you have to clarify the problem you’re trying to solve. Make sure you got as much as the information you need. You will take more time to change the design when the you put unnecessary things in you design. Get the problem clear in the beginning is better.
6. Be Detailed
Good things take time. Don’t rush your time to finish your job quickly so you can chill on. Take several time to check out the design you have made. When you are about finishing your design, take a look once more at the requirements that has been clarified to you. Be careful to check every detail might be forgotten will help saving time and energy.
7. Take Initiatives
The reason why the company wants to hire you is that they need fresh ideas. Don’t be afraid to communicate your design ideas and inspirations anytime needed. You always have the chance to show your ideas and creativities.
8. Improve Your Skills
As you are a fresh graduate, there’s always room for improvements. You’re doing a good job and have tried hard to be a good designer. You know that developers build according to your design, so it will be important to provide great clarity in your design when there’s doubt. Be able to articulate your design with developers where needed, because the purpose of your work extends beyond designing on screen. Your design will be developed and produce. When it comes to the user, the ease usability will always need to be improved.
In conclusion, as we are in the user’s world we need to know the business and our responsibilities well. Keep the design simple, follow guidelines, clarify the problem, work in details, take initiatives, and always improve the skills we already have. Besides those things, there are so much more things we need to learn to be a professional.
Thank you for reading!
