Part 2 | How to become a better UX/UI designer?

Part 2 | How to become a better UX/UI designer?

Courtesy of @_ayushjangra_
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The first thing you should know is: The more you do it — the better you’ll get it!
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Dare! Do not stand still — move towards your goal! Only those who do not do anything — do not make mistakes. Good luck in your new profession!
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Recently, I’ve been receiving similar questions from a lot of people:
+ How can I get more into UI/UX?
+ I’m a programmer/marketing manager/social media strategist and I want to know more about design. Where do I start?
+ How do you know what is good design and bad design?
+ What does it take to become a designer?
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Hope you guys will enjoy reading this.

The Difference Between UX and Ul.

It’s almost impossible to extricate the UX from UI or the UI from the UX.
However, if I were to try, I might conclude that:

• UX makes interfaces useful, UI makes ‘interfaces beautiful.
• UX helps users accomplish goals, UI makes emotional connections.
• UX design is done first, UI design is a done second…(sometimes)
• UX is employed across products, interfaces, and services, UI only pertains to interfaces.

User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are some of the most confused and misused terms in our field.
A UI without UX is like a painter slapping paint onto canvas without thought; while UX without UI is like the frame of a sculpture with no paper mache on it.

Learn the latest Web Design tools.

I think that further explanation is not necessary. How can you succeed if you have not mastered the program you need yet?
You are lucky if you are a beginner, then you will not have to switch from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, you can go directly to Sketch or Figma.

Sketch for interface design
Invision App for prototyping and collaboration
Figma for collaborative interface design
Marvel App for making mockups interactive
Adobe XD for interface design & prototyping
Adobe Illustrator for illustration and logo design

The Bible for ALL designers.

Get in-depth information and UI resources for designing great apps that integrate seamlessly with Apple and Android platforms.
Android + Apple

Actionable steps to create a portfolio.

Pick an app or website or logo you want to redesign.

• Document your process. This includes taking screenshots and photographs of your process while keeping detailed notes that explain your design decisions.
• Describe the reason behind your decisions. The purpose of the case study is to put the design project into context and to show how it works in a real world situation.

Thumb rules to make your portfolio.

• Be thoughtful about what you include. Don’t add everything you’ve ever created. Set aside time to go through all of your pieces, exclude anything you’re not proud of or don’t think is your best work.
• Select only your strongest pieces. These are the projects you know were successful, got rave reviews and had good results.
• Showcase your most unique and creative work. These pieces are bucking the latest trends. They don’t follow a Word Press theme, and they aren’t what everyone else is doing.

Must-Read books other than courses.

I am not going to talk about millions of courses, that you need to take to become a designer, because the Internet is full of information on this topic, you just have to take a look.
I am just going to give you an example of a couple of books that inspired me and hopefully, they will help you to speed up the process:

• Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Burn your Portfolio by Michael Janda
• Show your work by Austin Kleon

Bonus — 4 tools that may be useful in your designer way:

Crello — the simplest online image editor. A simple but powerful tool to create awesome designs for any social media format — posts, covers, graphics, and posters using the best software on the web. It’s easy! A lot of animated designs.
Funnelytics — an incredible tool that helps you build the best marketing funnel mapping.
Flowkit — allows designers to create frighteningly fast user flows within Sketch and Figma.
Webflow — all-in-one web design tool that allows users to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually.

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