Javascript is the most popular programming language in the world. This includes animating images, automating functions and enabling interactive components. These are essentially blocks of pre-written code that developers can use as templates. Whether it’s a custom UX portfolio, simple landing page or an app idea, some designers will benefit by being able to implement their ideas in working code. Do you find yourself really enjoying interaction design at a technical level?
Depending on the nature of the product, it’s also not unusual for UI/UX design and development to be intertwined into a single process. So although design and development do require different skill sets, knowing both is becoming more and more crucial to the tech and design industry. Web Developers need to understand the design needs of what they are coding, and UI Designers need to understand what designs are possible from the backend. While having coding skills can certainly be an asset to a UI/UX designer, it is not a requirement.
There is too much to learn
Lean organizations aim to maximize customer value while minimizing resources. Lean thinking optimizes a company’s technology, assets, and divisions. However, if you are unfamiliar with coding, you can still be a successful UX designer without this skill. A designer who knows how to code is valuable to any multidisciplinary team.
Learn the full UX process, from research to design to prototyping. You’ll now get the best career advice, industry insights and UX community content, direct to your inbox every month. CSS, a.k.a. Cascading Style Sheets, is a standard markup language that’s usually used in conjunction ui design course with HTML. CSS controls colours, font size and other visual aspects of a website. Now that the design field is a pillar of business, those worries shouldn’t drive away someone who wants to become a UX designer. At some point, every designer has pondered this very question.
What Does a UX Designer Do?
Many UX designers do not have a degree in UX or a UX related field. In fact, it’s possible to start a career in UX without a degree at all. Having said that, some employers may prefer candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree. You may find that having a degree opens up new job opportunities. That journey includes different touchpoints – from the legal terms of use to the pricing model, from microcopy to illustrations and images, and from customer care to the code behind products. If we were to include all the materials and processes required to deliver a great user experience, then that would include a host of other business functions as well.
You’ll also need to understand the technical side of building apps or websites. We’ve focused on the importance of the designers’ breadth of knowledge – whether about technological components or other aspects of the user’s journey. A general knowledge of technologies helps the business owner understand constraints and possibilities. Similarly, knowledge about the design process and the methodologies used is critical for all members of the team, not just designers.
Blind Men Walk Into a Bar… The UX Punchline
If you want a career in high demand for years to come, learning to code and design user interfaces is a good start. As technology evolves and advances, it becomes increasingly crucial for UX designers to understand coding. This is because coding allows developers to create the websites, apps, and digital products users interact with. There are many different types of courses available, so it is essential to find one that suits your needs and interests. If you are starting out, I would recommend Codecademy’s Coding Bootcamp. For example, if you want to learn about ReactJS — a popular front-end library, I recommend reading CodeSchool’s React Fundamentals course.
- Code isn’t only the designers’ domain of influence, but they can work on items that lead to good code.
- It’s also worth noting that, while UX Designers may not be expected to write lines of code, they will be expected to be fully fluent in multiple software platforms.
- She needn’t mix concrete and lay the bricks, but would be expected to know if, say, the land demarcated for the project will be able to support a concrete building at all.
- They need to understand how users think and react when faced with a decision.
These all factor into creating a user interface that addresses the identified pain points and is pleasing to the user, both functionally and visually. Designers can also better communicate and sell their ideas by having a broad understanding of all aspects of the process, from personas for users to coding. A designer who knows how to code can also choose the most appropriate product design for the user instead of the obvious. Knowing how to code can be helpful for a UI/UX designer in a few ways.
At different points in their career, a UX designer may feel the pressure to add to their skill set by digging into CSS or JavaScript. Depending on their job description or career goals, UX designers find themselves coming back to the coding question again and again. That said, at the end of the day, software is written in code, so it can be useful to know a little bit.
Also, it is a base skill for many other jobs, so, a great way out if you don’t want to be a UX designer anymore. You start designing, a couple of wireframes, then hand it over to a developer and they create that for you. According to Wikipedia, there are currently over 700 programming languages.