The actual skills you need to succeed at your (design) job
As a UI/UX designer, prototyping and wireframing are not enough
So many results pop up when you look for skills needed to be a UI/UX designer. Basically we are supposed to do everything like
Information architecture
Journey mapping
User personas
Wireframes
User research
Stakeholder reviews
Accessibility
User testing
Visual design
Animations
…
Though knowledge of the above is crucial to the work that we do as UI/UX designers, there are so many other elements at play if we want to succeed.
Similarly in other fields — the technical aspect is only one feature of the entire career. Within an organisation, there are many other factors that determine your success.
Here is what I think the skillset should look like -
User empathy
Nothing beats a great understanding of the actual customer. Though this may take years but is absolutely worth it. If you a marketing professional, sales person, ui/ux designer, product manager — it helps to view thing from your user’s perspective.
Communication
A team is about people — and their perspectives.
Again not just as a ux designer, it’s really useful to be an effective communicator. It means that you can communicate your ideas easily and work effectively without any information loss. I try to be ‘precise and elaborate’ — that’s my mantra for it, many thanks to a previous manager who said it as a mentor. This has been super helpful for presentations.
Dev hand-offs
Being a designer or someone who makes a policy — it is very important to be in sync with people who are going to implement it, from as early stage as possible. Most often we forget the obvious questions that might arise when something is about to be launched. Would suggest to use them as your right hand as much as possible while doing your work.
Documentation
It is not strange to have employees come back from a vacation and ask basic questions.
More often than not, we deviate from our goals, get dirty in the process and end up make something we did think of earlier. Happens both in startups and big companies so here comes documentation which is handy, easily accessible and available for everyone to understand the basic requirements and values one intends to add in every project.
Creativity
Not everyone can think of new ideas and many companies hire young people for this sole purpose of bringing new ideas to the team and think differently. I am happy to have been in companies where creative thinking is seen as critical and also have workshops, more recently the marshmallow challenge.
Timelines
We all have been there — missing and extending deadlines is only the result of misdirection, misestimation and maybe misinterpreted information. Better to have a structure of work with realistic timelines and then sticking to it so that you have a realistic roadmap.
Holistic thinking
This is the super power of designers — to see things as a whole and not in parts.
It has been one of my early learning to sway away thinking about breaking projects into smaller parts and instead start looking at all projects together. That is the strength of a designer — to have holistic approach.
Psychology
If we understand how humans think, decide, what care about and what matters to them most — we have a powerful ability to predict things. What motivates the user is ultimately the reason why they would take an action or use your product. For example Fogg’s model describes this.
Finally I would like to add key factors that can help you succeed at a particular company —
Company vision
Make sure you align with it so you can think about their business with more empathy. The more you understand it — it becomes a part of your purpose in life sor worth spending a few years on the problem. Focus on the pain point it solves for the user and the value it provides them.
Market research
This is also sometimes part of your work to manage what competitors are offering the user or how it is different from what you are doing. What is your special superpower that gives you an edge, what can do differently to attract more users etc.
Impact
Lastly, related to the purpose we talked about earlier — impact is about how your product or company changes the world for the better. How many people does it impact? What change does it or can it bring in its full potential? These questions will definitely bring you closer to your company and your job.
That’s all folks! Happy designing.
