Hello everyone😊 This is my first blog post ever and I am pretty excited about it. In 2023, I decided to transition into UI/UX design, I had been an Illustrator for 3 years and felt like I wanted more. I had the desire to explore a new aspect of the design industry and I chose UI/UX design.

I took some courses online, began the learning process, and eventually got into a design mentorship boot camp organized by Friends of Figma Africa in September. I will be writing about my journey and the things I learned subsequently. Hopefully, there is an Illustrator out there like me who wants to transition into UI/UX design.

What is UX Design?

The first time I heard the word "UX" in 2020, it was used to describe "how people felt about using a product". Fast forward to 2023, here is a broader definition I learned from Ben Le Ralph, "UX design has to do with studying user behavior and understanding user motivation to design better experiences". The term "UX" was first introduced by Donald Norman in the 1990s, an electrical engineer and cognitive scientist at Apple. He emphasized the need for creating user-centered designs, creating designs based on the needs and goals of the end user hence, “user experience”.

UX is not limited to digital products alone, it applies to physical products as well. A major goal for the UX designer is to create a good experience for the users. One that addresses their pain points and provides clear solutions. A good UX will be: useful, usable, desirable, findable, accessible and credible.

The UX Design Process

It all starts with the user. The golden rule of UX is to design with the user in mind. As a UX designer, maintaining a user-centered approach to designing is crucial.

The UX design process can generally be divided into 4 key phases: research, design, testing and implementation.

User research

It is only proper to begin the design process with research. Research is pivotal as it helps you understand the problem you’re trying to solve and for whom you're solving for. It enables you to identify pain points and challenges, and arms you with information about the patterns and common denominators across your target user groups and your users’ needs.

After conducting extensive user research, the next thing to do is to analyze your findings and draw reasonable conclusions based on the data given. The beautiful thing about this is that with the data from the research, the target user group can be personified. A user persona is the ideal customer whom the product is being designed for. Using a persona keeps the UX designer conscious that he/she is designing for real people. When all these have been achieved, the UX designer can now begin to sketch out the layouts of the design or product.

Design

This process has to do with how content is laid out on each page for easy navigation by the users. It involves wireframes and prototypes. A wireframe is a sketch of the overall outlook of the design while a prototype is a mockup representation of the final design. A prototype can be low-fidelity, mid-fidelity or high-fidelity. Wireframes and prototypes give room for iterations to occur based on feedback and testing until the final design is achieved.

Testing

Testing involves placing the semi-finished design into the hands of the users who will use the product. This process is important because the feedback obtained from the testing will point the UX designer in the right direction as to changes to make thereby making a better, user-friendly product. Testing also helps to point out hidden errors that could ruin the reputation of the stakeholders of the company involved if not spotted.

Implementation

This process is carried out by the User Interface (UI) designer. He/she takes the prototype design and makes it aesthetically pleasing with the introduction of colors, iconography, typography, shapes, images, etc. It is important for the UI designer to also have a good grasp of the principles of creating a good user experience; however, his area of specialization majorly deals with the overall aesthetics of the product.

The Different Roles in UX Design

There are several specialist roles in UX design and anyone can choose to specialize in any of them.

Experience strategy (ExS)

Experience strategy involves ensuring every aspect of the design process aligns with the business goals of the company such that there is no friction between users’ needs and the goals of the company. One who specializes in this role is called a UX strategist.

User Research (UR)

This involves conducting extensive research needed to gather in-depth insight about the target user group. One who specializes in this role is called a UX research analyst.

Information architecture (IA)

One who specializes in this role is called an Information architect. It involves planning and arrangement of the product's information to ensure easy and seamless navigation by the end users.

Interaction Design (IxD)

This role ensures that users have a smooth flow while engaging with the different pages of the product (design) and its elements. For instance, when a user clicks a button, does it lead the user to the next page or will he/she be stuck?

There are other areas of specialization in UX design such as; UX writing, voice designing, UX development and UI/UX designing.

Now it’s time to build your first UX portfolio!👍

In the creative world, the best way to say “I’m good at what I do” is by showing your work (what you can do), and a portfolio is a perfect way to show it. Now, you don’t have to wait till you work on that “big project” before you create a portfolio. If you don’t have a job or an official project to build your portfolio with, you can create your projects, but only ensure they address a real-life problem and create solutions for users.

Note that your portfolio should also contain your case studies which is a documentation of your entire UX process of a project.

Let me know if there is anything I missed.