7 Simple Tips That Will Help You Become a Better UX Designer

A UI/UX designers job is extremely creative yet demanding. The idea of being responsible for a product’s overall feel is most certainly challenging. In today’s world, when things are changing ever so rapidly, interests, preferences, and customer’s needs are changing too. It becomes extremely important for UI designers to be on their toes and understand latest trends to cater accordingly. There’s always some scope left for development and the learning never stops.

The success or failure of any application or product today depends on its design. It’s the first thing that the customer sees about a brand. The ideal customer today, uses the internet as a distraction. He is extremely busy and is fickle by nature. He would just move to the next option if he finds it difficult to find a particular feature. Though harsh, this is the reality. Fortunately for designers, this fickleness works in their favor too. Once the customer likes what he sees, he sticks to it and stays back for more convenience.

If you are a newbie UI designer in the field, this article is for you. Remember that not many people are capable of doing this job. Creative jobs like these require expertise and mostly a lot of quick-wittedness. No one is born to become a UI designer, they gradually learn it and get better.

Here are 7 habits that will make any UI designer’s work easier:

Work on your listening and storytelling habits

Listening is an art! There is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Listening is actually absorbing what the other person is talking about. It is one of the most common attributes of all successful designers. It doesn’t just tell you what the person’s idea is, but also gives you a scope to understand their tone and requirement better. This will help you cater to your projects in a more precise and quick manner.

Storytelling is all about communicating a story to someone who isn’t aware of the prefix, right? Storytelling is a form of communication, extensively used by designers of all sorts. The design is said to be a success when the team creates a story for the final product, that engages the customer. Learn everything about the brand and take help of storyboards to create designs that you understand.

Do not ever settle down with your initial idea

That’s a problem with us creative people. Our minds keep overflowing with ideas time and again. But at the same time, there are days when no ideas hit our creative, overworked brains. Never settle for the first idea or the only idea that hits you. Take some time to give yourself a break, take notes, talk to people and think of multiple ideas. This will give you the liberty to compare and take the best of all elements.

Recycle your past works

We all have worked on multiple small and big projects in the past and continue to do so. However, we usually forget the project once it’s done and start afresh. You must have had generated a lot of insights and ideas from all those projects. By forgetting them all together, we are basically wasting all the hard work invested. It can be very useful to use those insights in your future ventures.

Look for options to collaborate

This is the generation that thrives on meaningful collaborations. Everyone has a unique talent. You can either choose to invest time learning it or just collaborate with the person for effective results. Even though the first option is feasible, its time taking and chances are you will never be as good given the multiple other things you are into. For example, if you want to learn about a content marketing campaign, the best person to collaborate with would be a content manager. You can learn the basics of content but running a whole campaign would be a task for you. Learn more about the other aspects of your project.

Take risks

No matter how good you are at your job, there will always be someone else doing the same thing better than you. Situations like these make it difficult to find inspiration on a regular basis. Take a break from your routine design work. Go out, travel, talk and capture new experiences. A lot of what we do with our work is inspired by what we see around us. It’s obvious to become stale when we settle at one location for a long time. You could also work on an entirely different project to shift your attention from design. It could be becoming a product manager who applies design thinking. The best ideas are born out of clean slates and clear brains.

Keep harnessing your design skills by learning continuously

As was mentioned earlier, the learning curve for a designer is ever evolving. It changes very frequently with the changing temperaments of the customers. Read design articles on a regular basis. This will keep you updated about the market demands and keep you in the loop with others in your field. Start making fake projects with the understanding and learning you have got. This will allow you to experiment and understand your weaknesses better. For most professionals mentoring and being mentored has worked excellently in staying strong as a designer.