What is UX design? At the most basic level, the term UX refers to “user experience,” and in practice it means optimizing apps, websites, and other services for seamless usability. This is a field that continues to grow. If you want to break into it, what kind of education and degrees do you need to obtain?
Before we proceed further, it’s worth taking a moment to differentiate UX from UI (user interface design). UI is what the user sees on the screen—it’s the icons and buttons and everything else in that regard, and it overlaps quite a bit with graphic design. By contrast, UX is how the user proceeds through the interface. What do they click on? How do they “flow” through the service or app?
Got that? Great. Let’s dig into education and UX design degrees!
Ramp up with some UX self-study
Whether you’re committed to a UX-centric career or you’re still exploring whether it’s right for you, you should use some self-study to learn the field’s basic principles.
You can start with a groundbreaking book called “The Design of Everyday Things,” written by a usability expert named Donald Norman in 1988. It’ll help you develop an empathy for users, and hopefully prod you to think deeply about how even small changes to a product can fundamentally alter how people interact with it. The book is still popular after more than three decades for a reason.
There are also numerous online resources (many free) for learning UX design, as well as the fundamentals of design thinking. If you have the money and time, you may also want to consider engaging in a UX bootcamp program, which will quickly teach you the fundamentals.
Whatever path you choose, intensive self-study will let you know whether UX holds your interest enough to pursue as a career. From there, you can also consider whether to engage in a formal two- or four-year program.
Finding a suitable college or university UX program
College and university programs often focus on at least two areas of design, including online media design and app design.
- Online media design refers to websites, blogs, and other online properties.
- App design refers to apps on mobile devices as well interactive sites.
The psychology of users as they interact with apps and websites plays a big part in the UX field, and you’ll likely take a few classes about that. You’ll also learn the rules of visual layout and font usages, as well as crucial issues such as accessibility and how to build websites and apps that people with disabilities can interact with.
During a typical college or university course in UX design, you’ll likely learn the following:
- Identifying UX-related issues to solve.
- “Mockups” and prototypes of user interfaces and website “flow.”
- Competitive research.
- User testing (including A/B testing and usability testing).
- Design iteration and identifying areas for improvement.
- Preparing how to apply for jobs.
Keep in mind that many bootcamps and online courses cover similar ground, but colleges and universities tend to focus more on the underlying theory behind certain UX practices.
When evaluating a program, you should also make sure that courses are taught by actual UX experts. Examine course materials online and evaluate whether the professors, lecturers, and others have a sufficient background in UX and design. You can also read reviews both for the school as a whole and individual instructors. A school may provide additional data about outcomes for students—how many actually find jobs after graduation?
Do you need to learn programming?
It never hurts to learn at least some programming. For example, if you plan on building and iterating on websites and other web properties, you’ll likely want to learn HTML/CSS. For those designers who wish to focus on mobile apps, you can only benefit by becoming as familiar as possible with the programming languages that support the Android and iOS, the two most popular mobile platforms. (Spoiler alert: Java and Kotlin are used in Android, while iOS depends on Objective-C and Swift.)
It's just as important to master the “soft skills” such as empathy and communication that will allow you to work effectively with software developers and other stakeholders; you should understand what they’re doing and why. Although programming courses aren’t necessarily required in a college or university UX program, you may want to consider taking a few as an elective, or even studying some programming on your own.
What Programs are Available
Some universities offer degrees specifically in UX, while others offer degrees that include UX as part of a separate program. Don’t immediately write off the latter; examine the coursework and see if it features enough UX-centric teaching to satisfy your needs.
At the same time, be wary of a program that was thrown together from existing courses but doesn’t feature much material focusing on UX.
When evaluating a program, it’s also important to look beyond the coursework. For example, does a university or college offer lots of opportunities to network? Do they have great job-search resources and provide access to recruiters? Do students work on projects outside of class, which would help you build a portfolio and thus a UX designer resume?
Conclusion
Whatever choices you make about a UX degree, plan to put in the time and resources to master the field. When you finish a program, you’ll hopefully be well-suited for a career. Always remember, however, that the philosophies and tools behind UX are constantly evolving, and you’ll need to keep learning in order to stay in current.
