When you become the UX designer on a project, you will often end up having to carry out multiple responsibilities. The roles you will play depend on factors like the type of project or the size of your company, your team respectively. Either way, it’s good to know the different responsibilities because you do not always get to choose your hat…particularly when you are new to this industry. So what does a User Experience (UX) Designer do?

Let’s find out…👇

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User Research

As a UX designer, you will be responsible for conducting research. User research is about understanding the people who use your product. Through observation and feedback, you can collect valuable insights that will help you understand the behaviors, needs, and motivations of your users. Many activities fall into the category of user research that can be used throughout the product development life cycle to either get to know your users or to even test how a user interacts with a current version of your product. Depending on the goal and stage of your project, you will choose different research methods. Common techniques include surveys, user interviews, usability testing, and card sorting.

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Information Architecture

Further, you will also be dealing with the Information architecture or IA for short. Here, you will create models for information structure and decide how your product is organised and labeled. It’s basically the skeleton that outlines how users interact with your product. Everything in a product should be organised in ways that make sense to the user and meet their expectations. Common responsibilities include creating task flows and detailed site maps to show hierarchy and connections allowing your users to locate content on your website or application.

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Wireframing

Typically, you will also be creating wireframes as part of the ideation phase. A wireframe is simply a basic outline or sketch of a product or a screen, like an app or website. They are mostly lines and shapes, with some text, and can be drawn by hand or created digitally using the software. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that the focus during the ideation phase is to come up with as many ideas as possible. Thus, creating sketches on paper allows you to be more efficient. Based on my personal experience so far, I also prefer paper wireframes over digital ones. Besides, you don’t need to have special drawing skills. You can even use tools such as a ruler or compass to make things even easier for you.

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Prototyping

Additionally, you will also be working on prototypes. A prototype represents an early model of your product that demonstrates its functionality; you start breathing life into your designs. Prototypes can be either in physical or digital formats and can be both simple and complex. When creating digital prototypes, you will be working with tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD or ProtoPie. Sometimes a prototype is made to demonstrate one specific feature of a product, like the transition between screens or the way the product physically looks and feels. Overall, prototyping is a very effective way of testing and validating proposed solutions before the final implementation. In case you discover unforeseen problems your test users experience while interacting with your test version, you still can react and adjust things accordingly.

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Visual Design

Moving on, you are also likely to put on the hat of a visual designer. Visual design focuses on how the product or technology looks and communicates with users. Your effort includes designing a visual appearance that creates an emotional connection with the users while being in alignment with the brand guidelines. The challenge is to create a strong visual design without neglecting the usability of the product. You will consider visual elements such as color, imagery, typography, and iconography.

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Communication

Lastly, you will have to learn how to effectively communicate as a UX designer which means connecting with colleagues through emails, meetings, presentations, and design software. Keep in mind that UX design is a very collaborative field, so being able to communicate both digitally and face-to-face with teammates is crucial.

To wrap it up: There are more responsibilities that overlap with the UX design role (e.g. front-end development and copywriting). But the responsibilities covered today are more or less a standard requirement of a UX design role. Understanding and practicing the different roles and responsibilities means that you will be capable of identifying your strength and further potential.

So that’s about it. I tried to keep it as short, sharp, and shiny as possible for you! Thanks for reading along. I wish you all a great rest of the day. Til next time 👋🏻

— Carina