We helped Josefina relocate to Amsterdam and start working as a UX Designer for one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world. If you need to hire UX designers, but you’re not sure exactly what they do or how to assess their skills and experience, keep reading.
What do you like the most about being a UX Designer?
I like so many things of being a UX Designer that if I list them all it will be a huge list. But this are the things I like most.
Being a UX Designer makes you always “think outside the box” and expand your creativity in every aspect. Being curious and creative is a must, and I definitely enjoy both. Flexibility of tools and processes is also a big plus, you can achieve similar things with different tools which makes every project different and kills monotony.
Being up to date with the latest goings on in technology, testing and trying new and different products is also something I enjoy, as it brings you new ideas and also helps you understand other ways of thinking. I think that I have a user profile created in every app that ever saw the life!
What do you find the most challenging about designing the user experience journey?
The most challenging of designing a user experience is also related with something that I like a lot, finding how to align the goals of the user with the goals of the business AND make it look good is a huge challenge. For me, is like assemble a puzzle on every process, and, the solved puzzle really makes me smile.
Do you have any tips for aspiring UX Designers?
I think that for being an UX designer you must really like the whole process.
You must feel passion about design. Is an awesome job but it also requires constantly growing, the extra time and love that you add to the daily work would really make the difference.
WHY must be the main word on your dictionary. You must not to do things just because thats how they’ve always been done.
Interaction with people is also important. You have to be self-confident and fight for your ideas. Creating an awesome interface is meaningless unless you can convince the rest of your team. You need to negotiate.
Mock, Design, Prototype and Mock, Design, Prototype. It is always better to learn while doing the experience. No matter the size of the project, all the projects involve users and there is always something you can learn from them. Also this will help you to get to beautiful mockups, cause an ugly mockup of an excellent idea is often ignored for a beautiful mockup of a pointless idea.
Is it important for UX Designer know how to code?
I think that coding for a UX designer is a must.
This helps you to make prototypes as real as possible. It makes it possible to test your ideas correctly. You will be capable to deliver real and concrete solutions because your mocks will be close to what the developers will be able to do. You will have control over every single tiny detail of interaction and look & feel, which makes the final deliverable incredibly better. Knowing how to code your own designs makes you a better and stronger designer.
