Web design refers to the design of websites posted on the
Internet. It generally refers to aspects of the user experience of website
development rather than software development. Previously, web design was
focused on designing websites for desktop browsers; However, since the
mid-2010s, the design of mobile and tablet browsers has become increasingly
important.
A website designer works on the appearance, layout and, in
some cases, the content of a website. The appearance, for example, relates to
the colors, the font and the images used. Layout refers to how information is
structured and classified. A good web design is easy to use, aesthetically
pleasing and suitable for the user group and the brand of the website. Many web
pages are designed for simplicity so that no unnecessary information or
functionality that may distract or confuse users is displayed. Since the
keystone of a Web designer's release is a site that wins and promotes the trust
of the target audience, it is essential to remove as many frustration points as
possible from the users.
Reactive design and adaptive design are two of the most
common methods of website design that work well on desktop and mobile
computers. In dynamic design, the content moves dynamically according to the
size of the screen. In adaptive design, the content of the website is defined
in layout sizes that correspond to the common screen sizes. Preserving a layout
that is as consistent as possible between devices is essential to maintaining
the trust and commitment of the user. Because design responsiveness may be
difficult in this regard, designers should be careful not to control the
appearance of their work. If they are also responsible for the content, they
may need to expand their skills, but they will have the benefit of being able
to fully control the finished product.
How to Change Your Career from Web Design to UX Design
Changing your career is not as difficult as is often
claimed, especially if you have the right resources to help you make the
change. For many web designers, now is the time to move to UX design. For
starters, there is the monetary boost that accompanies the career change.
According to PayScale, American web designers earn an average of $ 46,000 per
year (1), while UX designers earn $ 74,000 (2). Second, job opportunities for
UX designers are booming: CNN reports that a total of 3,426,000 UX jobs will be
created in the US by 10 (3). In addition, UX design is an interesting job, not
only because you are working on a product from the inside, but also because, as
DMI has shown, UX design has a significant impact on businesses, businesses
UX-oriented design that exceeds the S & P Index by 228% (4). So where do
you find the right resources to help you evolve your career? Why, you read one
right now.
Let's start with a brief introduction to what we mean by
"user experience". Products have users and the user experience (UX)
is simply the experience of a user who uses that particular product. So far, so
good?
What is User Experience and User Experience Design?
UX design is the art of designing products to deliver the
optimal user experience. If this description has a broad meaning, it is because
the nature of the UX design is quite broad. Building the optimum UX involves an
understanding of psychology, interaction design, user research and many other
disciplines, but it also has an iterative problem-solving process (but more on
this subject more later).
The appearance of a product is to use visual elements to
create a sense of harmony with the user's values, which creates credibility and
trust with the user. It's about creating a product that not only looks great,
but looks good too.
The sensation is then to make the experience of using a
product as pleasant and enjoyable as possible. It is built by building the
interactions between the user and the product, as well as the reactions they
have when (and after) using the product.
Finally, user-friendliness underpins the user experience.
Quite simply, if a product is not usable, no aesthetic appearance can save it,
and the only feeling users will have is anger and frustration. Ideally,
products should be customized to the needs of the user and provide predictable
functionality.
What Do Web Design and UX Design Have in Common?
The title of "web designer" has many definitions,
and in fact what a web designer does depends largely on the needs of the client
or the project. Some web designers simply create visual designs and / or
high-fidelity interactive prototypes of the website, and leave the coding of
the website to the front-end and back-end developers. However, the majority of
web designers are involved in the design and development (front end) of the
website. Some web designers even regularly research and test users for their
work (and if you're part of it, you're almost ready for UX design work).
But no matter what your web designer job entails, here are
some aspects of web design that can also be found in UX design.
Problem solving
Website designers seek to solve the problems of their
customers; UX designers seek to solve the problems of their users. Web
designers work with a problem-solving process: they first discover their
customers' problems, then design a Web solution for them, then develop and test
the website before publishing it. And after launching a website, web designers
often participate in additional site testing, collect feedback from users, and
then repeat their design.
This iterative problem solving process is similar to the UX
design process (shown in the image below). UX designers start by searching for
users; It is essential to know the potential users of a product and to know
their problems, how to solve them and how to encourage users to want and / or
use this solution. User research is often done through user interviews,
observations, demographic studies, storytelling of users and personalities, and
so on. Then, UX designers would create a design solution that meets the user's
essential needs, and often brings the prototype back to users to test its
validity. or the ease of use. Once the product is launched, UX designers
collect more user feedback, which feeds into a new series of user searches,
allowing the process to be restarted.
If you've done some research on users as part of your Web
designer work, you'll find that it's very beneficial to upgrade to UX design.
Otherwise, do not worry, you will have many opportunities to learn the best
ways to research users (read on for more).
Emotional design
When designing websites, web designers often use typography,
color, and presentation to shape the emotions of users. A sense of credibility
could be established, for example, using darker colors and serif fonts;
likewise, a sense of fun could be created using colorful images and playful
typography. Web designers are familiar with emotional design. that is, creating
designs that arouse emotions in users. UX designers are also interested in
emotional design, but on a larger scale: they seek to generate emotions among
users throughout their experience of using a product.
To do this, UX designers work not only with typography and
color, but also with psychology, motion design, content preservation and
information architecture. Web designers making the change would naturally
understand what emotional design entails in UX; they simply need to acquire new
knowledge in other areas to strengthen their ability to do so from a broader
perspective.
Multi-disciplinary
Website design is a multidisciplinary work in which you will
need not only design knowledge (typography, color theory), but also skills to
develop a website (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Some web designers also participate
in designing interactions when they encode animations and interactions using
CSS and / or JavaScript. UX design is also a multidisciplinary field, but
perhaps supercharged in this sense. UX designers must use knowledge from the
fields of psychology, user research, visual design and even business to create
the best UX for their products.
The Differences between Web Design and UX Design
User-focused vs technology-focused
As a web designer, you spend a lot of your time
familiarizing yourself with the latest advances in HTML, CSS, and other coding
languages, which are evolving and improving at breakneck speed. Which browsers
support which versions of CSS? Would CSS animations work in Safari on a Mac? Do
not even get started on Internet Explorer! These may be some questions (and
frustrations) that constantly worry you as a web designer. But the UX design is
not concerned with technology. Instead, it focuses directly on users -
technology is just one way for users to get what they need. Only by focusing on
users can UX designers create solutions that meet their specific needs and,
ultimately, for which users will be willing to pay. UX designers do extensive
research with users to learn as much as possible about their users. Most of
these web designers would not have had the opportunity to use them.
UX is more than the web
The UX design is platform independent. Its principles and
processes apply to many areas other than Web browsers: mobile applications,
desktop software, hardware products, and retail spaces. On the other hand, the
field of web design is strictly related to web browsers. This means that UX
designers are able to find employment opportunities not only in booming areas
such as technology start-ups, but also in mature and stable industries such as
automakers. As long as there is a product, there is a need to use UX - and that
really opens up your world of opportunity.
The Big Advantage of the Web Design Experience When Moving to UX Design
Relevance of website design
The biggest benefit of moving from web design to UX design
is the amount of overlap between the two areas of design. While UX design
covers more platforms than the web browser, a significant portion of UX design
work is still done on at least partially Web-based products (think of social
media sites like Facebook and Twitter, web apps like Dropbox, etc.). and
services like Google). The overlap between web design and UX design is greater
if you have performed some form of user search or iterative process of
continuous website improvement using user data.
Mastering terminology in web design and coding will also
give you momentum that can not be ignored. after all, UX design is a
collaborative process where communication is crucial. Being able to use the
terms of the industry while talking to your colleagues will certainly put you
in a better position than someone from a non-design background.
Aesthetic
Your ability to create a beautiful aesthetic as a web designer
will also be useful when you move to UX design. First, aesthetics is an
excellent tool for improving your communications with internal stakeholders. As
a UX designer, you must consistently present your findings and recommendations
to internal stakeholders (such as the CEO or Product Manager), and your ability
to create visually appealing reports and presentations will maximize the uptake
of your key points.
Secondly, aesthetics play a vital role in the design of the
user experience. A common myth in UX design is that ease of use takes
precedence over aesthetics, but it's far from true. In fact, a study by the
Stanford Credibility Project of more than 2,500 participants showed that almost
half of them assessed the credibility of websites based on their visual appeal
(5). This shows that aesthetics is closely related to other factors, such as
ease of use, to optimize the user experience of a product.
How to Enhance Your Skills to Make the Jump from Web Design to UX Design
Moving from web design to UX design can sometimes be fairly
straightforward, especially if you have done some of the research with users as
part of your Web designer work. For other web designers, however, there is no
need to worry. You'll be able to jump in if you've spent time studying UX,
practicing some UX skills during your web design work, and building a resume
that demonstrates your understanding of UX design. If you are wondering where
to learn, there are many options available to you. We have presented below some
of the best.
Online course
Interaction Design Foundation
Don Norman, the cognitive scientist who coined the term
"User Experience," described the Interaction Foundation for Design
(yes, it's us) as a "gold mine of information about interaction
design." . Product design or computer-computer interaction. Fortunately,
this education is not at a price level comparable to that of the Ivy League. As
a non-profit organization, we charge low annual fees and you get access not
only to all of our online learning, but also to the largest community of
specialized designers in the world. We also offer a free library of academic
texts from leading researchers in the design sector.
We offer three courses (from our current offering of 32)
specifically designed to help users enter the world of UX design. You will
learn all areas of UX work and the basic skills to practice UX work in Become a
UX Designer from Scratch. In Getting Your First Job as a UX Designer (or
Interaction Designer), you'll be able to discover the types of UX experiences
sought by the most wanted employers, as well as create a winning cover letter,
resume, and portfolio that will get you started. will help get an interview for
a UX design job. Finally, in User Research - Methods and Best Practices, learn
industry best practices to conduct appropriate user research and turn your
search results into actionable actions for your product.
You can find all our other UX courses here.
Coursera
You may also want to consult Coursera, an excellent source
of online learning. Their courses, like ours, are developed by leading experts
in their field. Unlike us, however, they do not specialize in the user
experience and their courses are not always available, but when they are, they
are usually available for a fee (on a per-course basis).
Udemy
Udemy offers a wide selection of courses in almost every
field you can imagine. Udemy is not really a training provider, but rather a
training broker created by people around the world. As such, the quality
control of their courses is not very developed - while some are absolutely
brilliant, others are not.
Classes in class
Norman Nielsen Group
If you want to examine classes in class; We recommend that
you stick with the "big names" in the industry who offer reliable,
high-quality learning experiences. One of these big names is the Nielsen Norman
Group, which is also one of the best-known UX consulting firms. they offer a
range of classroom training in different parts of the world. They are not
cheap, but if you prefer not to take online training, they are a good
alternative.
You will find here the formation of the group Nielsen Norman.
Cooper
Cooper, a well-respected classroom training provider, also
offers UX design classes. They are not cheap either, but if you want to do
classroom learning, it will never be as profitable as online learning. However,
they offer a wide range of learning locations as part of their services.
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