Best Ways to Learn UI & UX Design

Start with the basics

As someone new to the field of UX, it is important to first familiarise yourself with good user interface design principles to build a strong foundation and understanding of the subject.

You can first look into fundamental topics such as:

• How UX is applied in products and services
• Key principles of UX (e.g. empathy, accessibility, inclusivity)
• The UX design processes (e.g. prototyping, user interviews)
• Different roles available in the UX field (e.g. UX writer, UX designer, UX researcher)

Free online articles are a great way to learn more in this area, with sites like justinmind, uxstudio or our website, that provides great content for beginners. For example, our article “UX Design Explained” provides a brief overview of what UX design is all about.

If you’re looking to get a better understanding or an in-depth look into these concepts, UX books such as About Face by Alan Cooper, Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug or The Element of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett are all highly recommended reads to help you build a strong foundation.

Break down exceptional examples

Now that you’ve got your basics down, you can start to learn by seeing the practices that leading companies implement to create an immersive and engaging user experience on their platforms.

Recall a website or app that you enjoy using, take a look at it and think about what exactly makes this app so enjoyable to use compared to other similar apps. Break down the different elements to see the aspects in which the app have done well.

Take a look at the Airbnb example below. Their webpage features 3 clear areas for users to easily navigate across: The search bar, the main copy and the browsing section below.

Keeping up with the times

Technology and design are fast-changing fields, with trends that come and go every few years. Remember the times where mobile apps used to be cluttered with buttons and information? Now, most apps prefer a minimalistic and clean look. Mozilla Firefox’s logo alteration serves as a reflection of how visual style preferences changes throughout the years.

Practice, practice and practice

Sometimes the best way to learn UX design is simply to get started. Have a problem you think needs solving? Or an app idea in mind? Take what you’ve learnt in theory and implement them in real-life projects. Creating mock projects not only helps you to practice your skills but also prepares you to work in real-world situations and around people.

Practice going through the UX design processes through your project. First, you can conduct user research on your identified problem with the people around you. Gather their insights and brainstorm ideas and solutions. Once you have your prototype, you can then conduct user testing and use that information to improve on your final product.

Putting your UX skills into practise does not always have to involve large scale respondents or intricate designs. Check out websites like Behance or Dribbble for inspiration into how other practitioners craft and present their UX projects.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different ways in which one can learn and practice UX design. There are no shortcuts to being a UX designer as one has to constantly learn and adapt to new changes and trends in this digital age.

I hope that this article has given you a better idea of how you can learn and improve your UX skills. If you want to know more about user experience and its industry, do check out our other resources available on our websites, such as our articles, weekly webinars, and podcasts.

CuriousCore also offers both a 2-day UX course and an intensive 4-month career accelerator course for those interested in embarking onto UX programmes with a structured learning approach, where students will learn from established industry professionals and work on real client projects. Click the buttons below to find out more.