What Does A UX Designer Actually Do? (In 2024)

Summary

In this insightful video by CareerFoundry, Dee, an experienced UX designer, delves into the dynamic role of a UX designer in 2024. The video covers essential skills and attributes, daily responsibilities, and real-world job ads from various companies like Tesla and Gorillas. Dee emphasizes the importance of problem-solving, communication, and empathy in UX design. The role involves working closely with various teams, conducting research, and creating user-friendly designs. This career path is ideal for those curious about human behavior and eager to enhance user experiences.

Highlights

• Dee, with 12 years of global UX experience, shares her insights into the UX designer's role. 🌍
• The role requires problem-solving skills and a curiosity for understanding human behavior. 🕵️‍♀️
• Collaboration with different teams and effective communication are crucial in UX design. 🤗
• UX Designers prepare and conduct research, analyze data, and present findings. 📊
• Creating wireframes and prototypes is akin to drawing blueprints for digital experiences. 🏗️
• Different companies have varying expectations; some focus on visual design, others on research. 🔍
• UX roles exist in diverse fields—from tech companies like Tesla to startups and non-tech industries. 🌐

Key Takeaways

• UX Designers are the bridges between technology and humanity, making life easier one interface at a time. 🌉
• Collaboration is key! UX Designers must work well with developers, product managers, and stakeholders. 🤝
• Being a UX Designer requires a love for puzzles, problem-solving, and an open, curious mind. 🧩
• It's not just about making things pretty; it's about making them work beautifully for users. 🎨
• Any company, from tech giants to clothing brands, needs UX Designers to create seamless user experiences. 👔

Overview

In this video, Dee brings her wealth of experience as a UX designer to unpack what the job truly entails, especially in 2024. As she goes through the various aspects of the role, she highlights the essential qualities a UX designer must possess, such as being a keen problem solver, having excellent communication skills, and maintaining a natural curiosity about human behavior.

Throughout the video, Dee emphasizes that a successful UX designer must not only be able to create beautiful and functional designs but should also act as a bridge between users and developers, facilitating communication and collaboration across teams. Whether it's conducting research, running tests, or presenting findings, being a UX designer is both a challenging and rewarding pursuit.

The video also provides real-world examples by examining job postings from companies like Tesla, Gorillas, and Carhartt, showcasing how the demand for UX designers spans various industries. This reveals that while some positions might lean towards a visual design focus, others might prioritize research and communication skills, underscoring the diverse nature of UX roles in today's job market.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to UX Design The chapter 'Introduction to UX Design' begins by exploring what a UX designer does, focusing on the skills and attributes essential for the role. It outlines the daily tasks and responsibilities of UX designers and reviews job advertisements to understand what companies seek when hiring for this position. The chapter is presented by Dee, a seasoned UX designer with over 12 years of experience across various global companies, who shares personal insights into the UX design profession.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Attributes of a Great UX Designer This chapter discusses the essential attributes of a great UX designer. Key characteristics include a love for problem-solving, an inquisitive and curious nature, and a deep interest in understanding human behavior and motivations. The chapter emphasizes that if you enjoy making people's lives easier and better, a career in UX design may be a good fit for you.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Daily Tasks and Responsibilities The chapter 'Daily Tasks and Responsibilities' outlines the various duties involved in a people-focused role. The responsibilities include collaborating with various teams such as business people, developers, and visual designers. Key activities include conducting research, running workshops, analyzing data, and conducting tests and experiments. Communication is emphasized, with tasks involving presenting findings and creating diagrams to effectively convey the nature of the work to others.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Conducting UX Research The chapter "Conducting UX Research" outlines the role of a UX researcher as a bridge between product users and the business. It includes preparatory steps such as writing interview guidelines, scripts, and creating research conduct documents. The chapter highlights the importance of conducting in-person or remote interviews, taking detailed notes, and managing the substantial amount of information gathered after the research.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Analyzing UX Research Data This chapter discusses the process of analyzing UX research data, emphasizing the importance of understanding the meaning of data through various methods. The chapter covers tasks such as examining spreadsheets, organizing and identifying trends and patterns in data, and creating reports and presentations to convey complex information effectively. Additionally, the chapter highlights the significance of running workshops to facilitate team collaboration from different business areas, focusing on idea generation and alignment. It also touches upon creating wireframes as part of the UX design process.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Creating Wireframes This chapter discusses the concept of wireframes, which are structural sketches that illustrate a digital product's concept, akin to blueprints for a house. Wireframes are crucial in showing how a product functions and highlighting its core design elements. Furthermore, the chapter outlines the essential skills required to be a UX designer, emphasizing the importance of being a good listener, being empathetic, having an open mind, and understanding other people's needs.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Essential Skills for UX Designers The chapter discusses essential skills required for UX designers. It emphasizes the importance of having a passion for solving puzzles and being detail-oriented, which aids in understanding how various elements fit together in design. The chapter also highlights the necessity of being adept with various tools for research, ideation, and presentation, noting that these skills can be acquired over time. It further explores real examples from job advertisements across different companies to provide insight into the market requirements for UX designers.
• 05:30 - 06:00: Job Ads and Skills Needed The chapter discusses job advertisements and the skills needed for various positions. It begins with a reminder to subscribe to the channel for more content. The main focus is on a job ad from Tesla, which is seeking a user experience designer. The role requires responsibilities such as researching, designing, innovating, and prototyping new user experiences. Critical skills highlighted include exceptional design skills and creative problem-solving abilities.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Corporate UX Designer Role (Tesla) This chapter discusses the specific role of a Corporate UX Designer at Tesla, emphasizing that the role is more visually focused than typical UX design roles. The distinction is made between the visual aspects of design and other UX roles that prioritize user research. The responsibilities for this position at Tesla include a strong focus on research and defining strategy, indicating a blend of visual design with strategic planning.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Startup UX Designer Role (Gorillas) The chapter 'Startup UX Designer Role (Gorillas)' discusses the involvement of the UX designer in different consumer segments, emphasizing the importance of sketching, prototyping, and developing creative designs. The role requires a blend of UX and visual design skills, potentially crossing over into UI design.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Mid-sized Company UX Designer Role (Carhartt) The chapter focuses on the role of a UX Designer at Carhartt, emphasizing the need for creative solutions and effective communication. It highlights the importance of clearly articulating concepts and the rationale behind chosen directions, based on research insights. The role also requires investing in building relationships and trust with stakeholders, peers, and working groups, which includes running workshops.
• 12:00 - 13:00: Conclusion and Career Advice This chapter emphasizes the importance of communication and collaboration in a UX designer's role. It highlights that UX designers need to convey their ideas, the rationale behind these ideas, and work with various stakeholders, including other teams within the company and customers. The role is not solitary; it requires teamwork to innovate effectively. Additionally, the chapter contrasts roles in big companies with those in smaller startups, beginning to explore a job posting at a startup for further context.

What Does A UX Designer Actually Do? (In 2024) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 What does a UX designer actually do in this  video we're going to look at the skills and   attributes of a UX designer some of the tasks  and responsibilities that they have every day   and we're going to look at some real job ads   to see what companies are hiring for  when they're looking for UX designers My name's Dee and i've worked as a UX designer  for over 12 years i've worked in huge companies   and small startups in different countries all  around the world so i'd really love to share   my insights with you about what it really feels  like to be a UX designer before we get started
• 00:30 - 01:00 if you have any questions about any of the  skills or attributes mentioned in this video   let us know in the comments below and  we'll get back to you as soon as possible   the kind of person that makes a great UX designer  is someone who loves problem solving and has a   really inquisitive and curious mind a UX designer  should really love understanding why people do   what they do and what's behind their motivations  and behavior so if you really like to understand   people and have a desire to make life easier  and better then UX design could be right for you
• 01:00 - 01:30 it's a primarily people-focused role you'll find  yourself working with lots of other teams with   business people with developers and with visual  designers conducting research running workshops   analyzing data running tests and experiments and  doing a lot of communication with presentations   and creating diagrams so that other people can  understand the kind of work that you do and you'll
• 01:30 - 02:00 also act as the connection between the users or  the customers of your product and the business you'll be doing things like preparing before  research actually happens writing up interview   guidelines and scripts and creating documents that  outline how research should be conducted as well   as that you'll actually be conducting the research  so interviewing people in person or remotely   and taking lots of detailed notes after research  there's lots of information that's been gathered
• 02:00 - 02:30 so you'll be analyzing that information to  understand its meaning doing things like   looking at spreadsheets and organizing data using  tools to identify trends and patterns in that data   creating reports and presentations to present  that complex information to other people running   workshops is an important skill for a UX designer  because you'll need to get groups and teams of   people from different areas of the business to  do things like generate ideas and understand and   align on where the focus should be you'll also do  things like create wireframes which are detailed
• 02:30 - 03:00 structural sketches that illustrate a concept a  wireframe for a digital product is similar to a   blueprint for a house it clearly illustrates how  it functions and the core elements of its design   so hopefully that gives you an idea of  what a UX designer really does every day   now let's look at some of the specific  skills needed to be a UX designer   what skills does a UX designer need to  have they need to be a really good listener   be able to be empathetic have an open mind and  be able to understand other people's needs and
• 03:00 - 03:30 motivations it really helps to have a  love for solving puzzles and problems   and it's great if you're detail-oriented  and really understand how all the pieces   of a puzzle fit together you'll need to use  a variety of different tools to do research   create ideas and present those ideas to  others but all those tools can be learned   now let's take a closer look at some of those  skills and attributes by looking at some real   job ads from different companies we'll look at  three different examples from a large corporate
• 03:30 - 04:00 to a small startup before we jump into the job  ads if you're enjoying this video subscribe to   the channel and hit the bell to get notifications  about more weekly videos just like this let's   start by looking at a job ad for a big corporate  and we've got one here from Tesla so Tesla is   looking for a user experience designer responsible  for researching designing innovating prototyping   new user experiences okay great that fits with  everything we know if we look a bit further   down here they've highlighted things like having  exceptional design skills creative problem solving
• 04:00 - 04:30 a great sense of aesthetic aesthetics so it looks  like this role is more visual than other UX design   roles which we often see there is a big difference  when you really dig into UX designer job postings   that some are looking for someone who's really  visual and other job postings will be looking   for someone much more on the user research and  of the the wrong so if we look closely into this   list of responsibilities we'll see that they've  highlighted research and defining strategy for
• 04:30 - 05:00 different consumer segments they will imagine and  conceive so this is really probably involving lots   of sketching concept sketching prototyping work to  really come up with new ideas and concepts develop   creative and innovative designs so this is where  we can start to see they are looking for someone   a UX designer who has a more visual side as well  so maybe going into some ui design and define and
• 05:00 - 05:30 implement creative solutions so that word define  really highlights that they want someone who will   be very good at communicating clearly exactly what  the concepts are and why they've been chosen so   taking the insights from the research and being  able to clearly communicate and define what the   new directions are if we continue to look down  here we also really see invest in building   relationships and trust with stakeholders peers  and working groups this is where running workshops
• 05:30 - 06:00 and being able to really clearly communicate and  present to other groups really comes into play   a UX designer does not work alone and come up  with ideas alone they work with other people to   to innovate and come up with ideas and then  need to also communicate the reasons behind   those new ideas to other parts of the business  other stakeholders and even to customers as well   now that we've looked at a big company let's look  at a smaller startup here we have a job posting
• 06:00 - 06:30 from a company called Gorillas which is a grocery  food delivery service so let's scroll down and   have a look at what the responsibilities are in  this role they've listed here gather and evaluate   user requirements which means user research in  collaboration with product managers and engineers   which means that you'll be working directly  with other people and guiding them through   your UX process you'll need to be very good at  communicating with people who aren't UX designers   then they've also listed conceptualized  original ideas that bring simplicity and
• 06:30 - 07:00 user friendliness this means creating sketches  creating digital concepts creating prototypes   that really showcase the ideas that have come  out of the research that you did they've also   have listed here usability testing sessions  which is another type of research and testing   working directly with customers to gather feedback  working with ui designers so again communicating   collaborating with other parts of the business and  other team members and they've specifically listed
• 07:00 - 07:30 communicate your design ideas and prototypes to  developers so this role for this startup sounds   like they've really focused on a collaborative  team that works really well together so as a UX   designer in this role you'll need to bring your  teammates with you and share that UX design work   with the rest of the team so if i was applying  for this job i would know that my communication   and collaboration skills were high on the list of  values that they're looking for if we look down   a bit further they've actually listed the traits  that they'd like the person that they hire to have
• 07:30 - 08:00 they said a love of learning and a love of helping  others to grow so this again indicates that as a   UX designer and especially in this role you'll  be working a lot with lots of other people and   need to thrive and love that environment the  other things they've listed under traits are   a sense of independence and ability to establish  structures and processes so this speaks to the   amount of detailed work that you'll need to do and  the ability to communicate those details to others   here is also really important a passion for tech  with very close collaboration with both technical
• 08:00 - 08:30 and non-technical stakeholders so again this  collaboration and communication skills are really   key uh in this kind of role because other parts  of the business need to be on board with the   decisions that come out of your UX work so that  was a job description from a small startup now   let's look at a mid-sized company so we're looking  at a job posting from Carhartt which is a clothing   workwear manufacturer and this is interesting  because almost any company in the world
• 08:30 - 09:00 even if they're not primarily digitally focused  still have need for UX designers so you know   not to limit where you're looking for these  kind of roles if we look closely at this role   the responsibilities that they've listed  so UX and design and here they have listed   for websites apps online shops newsletters and  social media so even though the primary product   of that company is not digital not software  based they still have all of these things
• 09:00 - 09:30 websites apps online shops and use social media  and they're the things that they need UX designers   for we can see here that they've listed a  lot of the same kinds of things as the other   job descriptions and the second item in the list  is working within internal and external teams   so again this communication and collaboration  aspect which is really high on that list of   necessary UX skills is really important for them  as well then on to the more technical aspects of
• 09:30 - 10:00 what you will be doing you would be improving the  features and develop new products in close contact   with relevant stakeholders so features on those  websites apps on the online stores how can people   interact better with their website with their  store so you'll really be creating those features   and they've said here as well co-create page  and template designs for mobile and desktop so   you can see here you probably will be doing a lot  of wireframing a lot of concept designs a lot of
• 10:00 - 10:30 creating the structure of how their website looks  the structure of how their pages work when people   will click on their website and go to another page  what will that page look like how many pages are   there what's the structure of all of the pages  in their website so i know if i would be applying   for this job i would be doing a lot of detailed  more technical UX work creating site maps and   hierarchies of all the pages in their website  and how they fit together and flow together   and how a user would step through them so i  can see from this job uh posting that this is a
• 10:30 - 11:00 more detailed technical UX designer role and  looking at the profile of the person that they're   trying to hire we can see again they've stated  they want someone who is communicative and an   adaptive team player so knowing you'll be working  with lots of other people and lots of other teams   which is very normal for a UX designer and someone  who has a hands-on mentality which indicates that   there's lots of detailed work and they'll need  someone to dive right in and take on that work
• 11:00 - 11:30 they're looking for someone who's got experience  in digital and UX and they're stating this because   there are other types of UX designers that don't  do digital work and they also need someone who   understands the technical aspects of designing for  web so they won't be expecting you to know how to   do web design how to write the code to design  a web page but they want someone who knows how   to speak the language of developers because  this person will be working with developers   it sounds like every day and collaborate  all the time between the development team
• 11:30 - 12:00 understanding what the UX designer is doing and  the UX designer understanding how the developers   work and what they need okay so that was a job  description from Carhartt which is a mid-sized   clothing company so hopefully you can see that  some of the things we've mentioned earlier   in this video the skills and attributes and  qualities that you need to have as a UX designer   will come up again and again in any UX designer  job descriptions you look at online so hopefully   this video has given you a clear idea of what  UX designer actually does every day and some of   the important skills and attributes that you'll  need to have if you want to apply for a job as a
• 12:00 - 12:30 UX designer so if this sounds interesting to you  and you're thinking about becoming a UX designer   career foundry has a great free short course that  you can access in the link below it's six daily   lessons that take 15 minutes to complete and it'll  give you a much better idea if UX design is right   for you if you have any questions about any of the  skills or responsibilities of a UX designer that   i've mentioned in this video please ask a question  in the comments below and we'll get back to you as   soon as we can if you've enjoyed this video please  give it a like and subscribe to the career foundry   channel and hit that bell so that you can get  more notifications about videos just like this
• 12:30 - 13:00 thank you so much for watching i hope you  enjoyed this video and we'll see you again soon it's starting are you ready  guys are you ready for today 10 minutes yeah i want to say ask me questions it always seems to end keep  going keep going oh right okay