If you’re interested in pursuing a career in UX design, listen up. UX design is a fast-growing market which is critical for businesses to connect with customers and deliver on business expectations. Read on for a profile of this exciting career opportunity to find out if it’s right for you.
What is UX?
If you are unfamiliar with the discipline of UX, here’s how it’s relevant to your business. UX is shorthand for User Experience, and the term ‘usability’ is often brought up as a key vector in the measurement of UX. Website usability applies to anything humans interact with on your website, from web design, forms, content, links, and so on. If visitors to your website are frustrated by a feature of your site, they are substantially more likely to “bounce” or leave the page without having accomplished the task they set out to achieve. If visitors cannot find or access the information they need, you not only lose out on the chance to convert them to a sale but likely have harmed your reputation as a trusted company.
What Does a UX Designer Do?
A UX designer’s role is to combine desk-based and field research to get a full picture of a target audience, then design a web or digital experience that meets the needs of their clients or employers while also being attractive and easy to use from a customer perspective. This might include reviewing what a current website has to offer, interviewing existing users to look for opportunities and pain points and doing competitor research to see what else is out there. This then enables the UX designer to pinpoint the core features needed and start drafting some personas, and information architecture. Then begins the process of testing, measuring, and responding to user data to continuously improve the experience.
Iterations of a UX Design can go through several rounds of revision, and be updated over time as needs change, but the end goal is always the same. How can a website (or application) help a company better serve their customers?
Job Prospects for UX Designers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, opportunities in the web development field are projected to increase 13 percent by 2020. The average UX Design salary nationwide is around $90,000, with technology markets such as San Fransisco and Seattle seeing a significant bump in pay for this in-demand skill. For those UX Designers who are also skilled coders, this can also lead to an increase in salary and job opportunities. For those professionals looking to break into the field, there are several design bootcamp programs available that can quickly and effectively provide the training needed to get the job done. Such bootcamps have been shown to increase salaries pretty substantially.
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