What are the top qualities of a user experience designer
Here are the attributes that I found essential in any UX designer and will be useful to you.
User experience design is a lucrative job in the market right now. The best part of user experience design is you can have any educational background be it Design, Engineering, Psychology, Sociology, or any other field still, you can be a user experience designer. Having said that it is important that you possess a few qualities that you make you a designer. Here, I will show you the qualities that I found essential in a designer.
1. Problem solving: Designers are inherent problem solvers. When a client approaches you with a business problem, you should be able to use your skills and solve the problem. And while solving the given problem, you should not create new ones. ;)
2. Curious mindset: Designers are curious in nature. They look at things from different perspectives. They ask the right questions and they challenge existing assumptions.
3. Communication: A significant part of the time is spent talking to users, product managers, and stakeholders. You also need to discuss the ideas/designs with development team/engineers. You need to perform user research, usability testing, etc. with the users. Thus, you should have good communication skills. You should be able to articulate your design decisions and provide the rationale to your stakeholders in an unambiguous manner.
4. Design principles: Designers have a sound understanding of the design principles. They are able to use those principles while solving any design problem. You may go through Dieter Rams’ principles from here.
5. Exploration: Designers are explorers. They need not be pushed to do something, but they proactively look for different avenues. They do not fear to approach fellow designers, mentors, or any expert. They know how to use mediums like Pinterest, Dribbble, Behance, etc for their advantage.
6. Dexterous: From project to project, or customer to customer, designers are required to use different tools like AxureRP, Figma, Sketch, AdobeXD, or Illustrator. You should be able to use design tools, they should not limit thinking but should become an extension of your thinking to put ideas in tangible form.
7. Advocating your users: Users are the most important stakeholder for you. If a product doesn’t have a user, then it won’t succeed. Designers understand users, and they make decisions or influence designs that would benefit the users. If it means standing by your users, then you should do it.
I believe if you possess these qualities, then you are already a designer. You should take extra steps and be a good designer.
Disclaimer: The thoughts, opinions, criticism, and viewpoints expressed here are my own. They do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.
