What describes a good design and great user experience?
Useful | Usable | Desirable | Valuable | Findable | Credible | Accessible
If you check all of the boxes above, congratulations! you are on the right path.
But if not, you need to up your game. So how do you go about teaching yourself to design digital products that meet end goals?
In this article, we take you through a step-by-step process to become a self-taught UI UX designer and lead you on the path to launching your own UI UX design company in India.
Step 1: Learn the fundamentals of UI UX design
The starting step is knowing all about UI and UX and understanding the difference between them. While User Interface (UI) is about the visual things, User Experience (UX) is about the functionality of the design.
It is crucial to have a good understanding of visual and web design to become a UI UX design agency. Master the basics of design such as designing buttons, working with colour combinations, gradients, layouts, typography, white space, drop shadow, etc.
The user experience on a website is equally important and determines the success of a web design. The golden rule of UX design is user-centricity i.e. putting the user’s needs first. According to Amazon Web Services, 88% online consumers are less likely to return to a website after having a bad user experience. This means that before you launch a UI UX design company in India, you need to understand the main principles of UI UX designs.
Thankfully, there are plenty of resources for learning. You can take up UI UX tutorials and courses or start listening to podcasts focused on UI UX or read books and online resources to build a strong foundation.
Some of the books that you can read to learn the foundations of design are Change by Design by Tim Brown, The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, Convergent and divergent thinking by Anne Manning and Brainstorming by Hal Gregersen.
Step 2: Understand the UI UX design methods and process
Learn the methods and techniques of UI UX design. Get familiarised with the UX design process which includes four key phases i.e. Research, Design, Testing and Implementation.
A few of the key methods and techniques that UX designers use are user research, prototyping, wireframing, user testing and usability testing to name a few.
Step 3: Invest in the right design tools and software
Invest in good UI UX software to start bringing your designs to life and apply your knowledge learnt so far to develop an impactful UX for the users. You can invest in industry stalwarts such as Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. You can choose a software that feels most intuitive and user-friendly to you.
Step 4: Start creating a portfolio of work
Now start designing digital products to build your portfolio. You can download free UI kits that contain a set of pre-designed components for any UI design to help you get started. It contains all the vital information regarding fonts, icons, buttons, menus, etc.
Ensure that your designs are optimized for mobile phones because stats highlight that 50% users don’t prefer a website that is not mobile-friendly.
Conclusion
Remember, there are numerous ways to learn and master the art of UI UX design. But, ultimately it all comes down to gaining an understanding of the theories behind good design and offering a seamless user experience. Once you learn the theories, practice them until you master them to become a top UI UX design company in India.
