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We offer training across a wide range of course formats and disciplines. Speak to our team today to get you, your team, or your organisation digital ready!
Speak to us today!
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More from Academy Xi
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We’ve compiled this list of questions that are often asked about UX Design and UI Design. We hope that it will give you the answers you are looking for.
Already know you’d like to study UX UI Design?
Get in touch with our Course Advisors to discuss training options and intake dates. Check out the current intake dates here.
An overview of UX and UI
User Experience Design is the process of designing for satisfaction and delight by improving the customer’s experience when interacting with products, services and features. While it can apply to the experience of any product or service, UX was born out of digital product design. As a result, the UX profession has a focus on human-centred digital experiences. Simply put, any interaction an individual has with a company and the products or services offered by them is referred to as the ‘User Experience’.
An interface refers to the screen that the customer sees on any digital device, the ‘front end’ that they engage with. User Interface Design is the human-centred process that is taken to create the aesthetic experience of a digital product. This includes all of the design elements a user will see on screen: fonts, colour schemes, animations, imagery and buttons.
- UX is the human-centred approach to designing the product or service. This applies to physical and digital products and focuses on the customers’ complete experience—from the first interaction right through to the last.
- User Interface Design is the combination of behavioural psychology and visual communication to make the interactions with the product delightful for the user. We’re talking fonts, colour schemes, animations, imagery and buttons: the visual elements that give a customer an opportunity to interact with the digital product.
- A UX UI Designer creates both products and/or services and the accompanying user interfaces, using a specific human-centred design process. Interactions and interfaces combine to give an intuitive user experience.
- This approach is taken to ensure that the customer’s entire experience with the product will be as satisfying as possible and meet, or ideally exceed their expectations.
- User Experience is about solving problems in people’s real, everyday lives and ultimately helping them to reach their goals.
- To the individual, it makes for a more satisfying and enjoyable experience to engage with a company and its offering when the UX has been thoughtfully designed with their needs as the focus.
- For organisations, UX Design is vital. By keeping the customer at front and centre of all decision making, the best experience possible for them can be delivered, which will have a huge impact on the financial bottom line. Businesses need to stand out from the competition. Delivering what target markets actually want in a way that is meaningful to them is the key.
- Ecommerce website (focusing on maximising conversion rate of visitors on site)
- Mobile app design (one of the most popular specialties) Read more about Designing a seamless UX on mobile
- Email drip campaign (designed to convert subscribers to paying customers)
- Marketing website (customer facing site to promote product and convert visitor into customer)
- Web app designs (Gmail, Trello)
User Experience (UX) skills and tools
At the core of UX is ensuring that individuals find value in what is provided to them . For the user’s experience to be of true value, information must be:
- Useful: content should be original and fulfil a need
- Usable: site must be easy to use
- Desirable: image, identity, brand and other design elements are used to evoke emotion and appreciation
- Findable: content needs to be easy to navigate onsite and offsite
- Accessible: content needs to be accessible to those with disabilities
- Credible: people must trust and believe what you tell them
What skills do UX designers need?
Applied skills
This refers to having knowledge of a specific area of competency, like being able to use the Adobe Creative Suite, for example. The following applied skills are just some of those worth any UX Designer mastering:
- Research
- Synthesis
- Wireframing & Prototyping
- Visual communication
Soft Skills
Teamwork, time management, empathy and delegation are just some of the skills termed as ‘soft’ that you will need as a UX designer. Ultimately these are character traits and interpersonal skills that determine how a person will engage, work and interact with others. Other soft skills worth mentioning:
- Curiosity
- Collaboration
- Communication
Which software is best for UX design?
There are many UX and UI Design software applications. As a UX Designer, what you end up using might come down to personal preference, what you are familiar with, price point, type of project you are working on and what might be available in the organisation you work in.
Here are a few popular options to get you started:
- Figma: great for those totally new to design software, Figma is browser-based and can take designs up to dynamic prototype or mock-up level, with usability testing and handover to developers capabilities.
- Sketch: a very popular Mac based UX and UI design tool. Sketch allows for universal changes through a symbols library, layer styles, or text styles, and is known for its resizing and alignment features.
- InVision Studio: creates functional prototypes with dynamic elements and animations, with easy-to-use UI design, communication and collaboration tools. It also features a digital whiteboard that allows team members to brainstorm ideas.
- Adobe XD: often the go-to UX tool for designers who are used to Adobe Creative Cloud products and interfaces. It allows for real-time collaboration, plus interactions and other dynamic elements for integration into prototypes or mockups.
- Axure: smooth interface, documentation, and workflow tracking elements make this one a popular prototyping tool, with designs that can be taken up to higher fidelity, both in detail and visuals.
Does UX Design require coding?
- Many who contemplate moving into the world of UX design wonder if learning to code is required. The short answer is no, but consider that it could give you a professional edge to have some coding experience under your belt. If you decide to freelance as a UX designer, it can be a powerful combination if you pair this with another specialty, such as UX writing, user research or, you got it, coding.
- Most UX Designers have at least a basic understanding of Front-End Web Development skills like HTML, CSS and JavaScript to better communicate with developers.
User Experience training
- As with any new area of learning and training, UX UI Design requires commitment, determination and effort. It’s important to consider your motivations for wanting to become a UX UI Designer in the first place.
Curious about UX UI Design, but not sure if it’s the right career move for you? Why not take an introductory course? Academy Xi offers foundation courses for this very reason. Online and self-paced, you can fit in exploring your options around your other commitments.
- UX designers don’t necessarily need to also be UI designers, but at a minimum a UX designer needs to have an understanding of UI skills for better collaboration. As UX and UI design encompasses the initial phases of project pre-development, it is a lot more attractive to potential employers to hire someone with both skill sets. By having the full kit you will increase your job satisfaction and prospects. Ultimately, having UI skills will make you a more successful UX designer.
- From a Design Thinking perspective, User Experience comes first. While there is a cross over between UX and UI, UX is harder to learn. However, if you’ve got UX training and experience on your side, it will make your UI design stronger and more intuitive for the individual.
- At Academy Xi we offer industry-approved training that covers both UX and UI Design, enabling you to graduate job ready after either 12 weeks full time or 24 weeks part-time training. Explore the range of course formats and download your free course guide.
User Experience (UX) as a career
- The tech industry was one of the first to recover after the initial hit of the COVID pandemic and there is strong evidence to suggest that it is one of the most resilient sectors. This is also due to the fact that so many businesses have to go online and increase their digital presence in the wake of COVID, which in turn has seen a steady increase in employment opportunities.
- When it comes to UX specifically, the pandemic has shown the importance of high quality user experience. Bringing value to customers in a competitive market is an absolute necessity if businesses want to stay ahead of the game.
- The current market size of the UX UI industry is $5308 million, with over 4,000 UX UI roles on offer in Australia. 90% of our graduates have secured industry positions within 180 days of completing their training with the help of our dedicated Career Support program.
- The median Senior UX Designer salary in Australia is currently $120,000
- Balancing theory and practice when learning about UX UI Design is ideal. The best way to ensure you find this balance is to complete a reputable training course in UX UI Design and the more practical the training, the better.
- A key feature of our UX UI Design Transform course is that our students work with real businesses and stakeholders. In addition to the theory, we teach students the soft and hands-on practical skills required to work in any organisation. Graduates have provided valuable perspectives and design thinking to some of Australia’s biggest public and private sector organisations.
Check out our range of UX/UI training opportunities and download a free course guide.
Got a question? Contact our experienced Advisors to discuss your training needs.
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