UX/UI Designer: Multiple Skills To Design Digital Interfaces

Indispensable when creating a website or an application, professions related to experience and interface design are highly sought after by companies of all types (ranging from startups to large groups). Thanks to their specialized profiles, web designers or UX/UI designers carry out the design of interfaces, websites or mobile applications, from user research to the prototype of the interactive site, including work with integrators. But what does their daily life look like? What are the skills required to become a web designer? To find out more, we interviewed the artistic director of Studi, a school that offers distance learning in many areas, including web design.

Designing the identity of a website from A to Z

Many professions are concerned with design, but UX/UI design is one of the most specific, since it involves working on both design and integration.

Knowing how to carry out all the design part…

The profession of web designer combines both UI (User Interface) and UX (User eXperience). Pierre-Olivier Cuillière, artistic director at Studi, explains to us that “the web designer translates the challenges into experience, and allows to increase the perceived value, by creating meaning, usefulness, innovation, differentiation, desirable…”. He must have a global vision of the project in which he will intervene since he acts at all levels to create a complete and pleasant experience for the user.

…but also working as a team for integration

Being able to design an entire site or application independently does not mean that the web designer works alone, quite the contrary. Indeed, he collaborates and communicates closely with marketing and even management, the technical and integration part, the product owner, the project manager and the developers. The UX/UI designer must be able to dialogue with the developers and understand their constraints to ensure the delivery of all the elements for the integration of the site or the application. It is he who is responsible for making the link between the stakeholders and the sponsors of the project, via the developers.

“For the simplest projects, the web designer works with at least one product manager, and with a team of developers, but he can collaborate with many more people on large projects”emphasizes Pierre-Olivier Cuillière.

Multiple skills to be versatile

As a digital designer, the web designer integrates ergonomic and functional needs into his design, but also all the aspects that will increase the perceived value of the site (identity and representation of the brand, aesthetics, usability, etc.). The objective: to make navigation simpler and more intuitive. The mastery of varied technical skills (hard skills) and behavioral skills (soft skills) constitutes the main strength of the web designer.

Software to master

For Pierre-Olivier Cuillière, mastering certain design software is essential. “There are software specific to web design, such as Figma, Sketch or Adobe XD. Designed by designers for designers, they make it easy to create and export designs to the developers and the rest of the team. » Indispensable, software from the Adobe suite, such as Photoshop or Illustrator, must also be part of the skill set of a web designer, such as those specific to UX which allow site UX audits, user research, the creation of personae , user journeys, etc. Related skills (illustration, photo, video, etc.), which offer the possibility of going further in creation, enriching design and broadening its field of intervention, are also highly appreciated. But the most important thing remains its creativity, its ability to offer innovative and relevant solutions to its customers, so that they can achieve their objectives.

Tools to understand web constraints

“Surprisingly, the constraints of the web are not directly in the web”, says the artistic director. They can be found in the tools that are used to access the web, and mainly concern:

• the different media used by Internet users to access the content (mainly mobiles, computers and tablets),
• the different existing screen resolutions,
• the different powers of the machines used to browse the web…

To deal with it, it is important to know the terminal that will be mainly used for the interface by the users, to anticipate the ergonomic and design biases according to the power or the screen resolution of the devices.

Soft skills to stand out

Observation, intuition or open-mindedness are soft skills that make it possible to stand out in the web design professions, whatever the field of activity. These soft skills help make the difference and make work more pleasant on a daily basis. In the context of web design, Pierre-Olivier Cuillière favors several human qualities, such as “to have empathy, to be able to carry out in-depth analyzes or to show curiosity”. The artistic director also specifies that these are basic rules for all design professions, regardless of specialization.

A sector that is recruiting and the key to career development

In an increasingly dynamic market, which offers many professional opportunities, the job of web designer is within everyone’s reach. Several professional training courses, such as those provided by Studi, offer to acquire both the skills and the know-how required to exercise this function.

Professional opportunities and possible career development

“Digital design is a sector that is recruiting more and more since we are in full digital acceleration. Companies of all sizes regularly call on UX/UI designers, whether on an ad hoc or full-time basis depending on their needs,” emphasizes Pierre-Olivier Cuillière. Indeed, it is possible to find a job as a web designer in any type of company, as an employee or as a freelancer.

In terms of possible career development, it is possible to move towards team management, digital project leadership, or even become artistic director in this field.

Tailored training to meet business needs

There is no typical profile for training in web design. Anyone who wants to become a UX or UI designer can train at Studi. “The training is accessible from the baccalaureate, and sometimes even before the baccalaureate, via a pre-graduate which certifies a baccalaureate level. It is possible to continue training after the graduate (2 years) up to bac+5 level, then to continue throughout your life, on your own, to stay up to date on new developments. »

Studi offers webdesigner training lasting 450 hours to obtain a bac+2 equivalent diploma recognized by the State. You are free to organize your schedule according to your constraints, and you can start the training at any time since the organization offers several exam sessions during the year. An Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is offered for 1 year to be able to use all the software and tools of the suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, InDesign…

Discover the web designer training offered by Studi