What capabilities are needed for UI design?

First of all, several abilities that UI designers need to possess.

Note that what is said here is "ability" rather than "skill". Many students said confidently in the interview: "I know PS, AI, AE, sketch, C4D……". Of course, these things can bring a little extra points for your interview, but as we all know, the designer interview is mainly about looking at the works. Interviewers usually don't care what software you use when they look at your work. The most important thing is to see if you have a sense of design and meet their design requirements. So what kind of ability should a qualified UI designer have? There are mainly the following points:

1. Research ability

Research ability is an essential skill as a designer. It tests the designer's ability to search, organize and analyze information. It provides a starting point for the problems in the early stage of design, provides a solid foundation for the scheme, and can also provide various decision support for the ongoing project. In addition, it is also the only way to verify the design results through user research.

Your vision determines your height, and designers are most afraid of "building a car behind closed doors". Even if you don't have the homepage of behance and Pinterest, you should browse some latest designs every day to know what the current popular elements are. What is the next fashion trend? When you get the product demand, don't rush to do it. What you have to do at this time is "research". Many people will say, "Isn't this the job of the product?" . "Yes!" We have to do pre-product research, but our research and product research angle are different. Our research is based on vision and interaction. First of all, you need to know how your competitors do it, and then whether there is a visual positioning suitable for your product style. The so-called "know yourself and know yourself, and you will win every battle."

2. Interaction design ability

The UI designer's interface should still serve the product design, so the interface design should not only stay in aesthetic thinking, but also consider the logic of the interface and the placement of interface elements. It is better to express the product intention by visual means after deeply understanding the behavior purpose of the product, which requires designers' logical thinking ability and comprehensive ability of interface interaction. . There are many things to be done in interactive work itself, but the "interactive design ability" mentioned here mainly refers to "the ability to design human-computer interaction behavior with users as the center." The key point is to design the process of human-computer interaction.

3. Design thinking ability

The difference between design and artistic design is that design needs thinking. There are often some fresh graduates who come to interview with copied works. Although it is beautifully made and made by ourselves, we are looking for design instead of artists. Copying will only exercise your skills but not your thinking ability, which will not help your design improvement. So what if the fresh graduates have no works? My suggestion is "redesign". Redesign is not plagiarism, but thinking. Every typesetting, every color is well thought out.

4. Design innovation ability

Innovation is not only related to the designer's design background, but also related to a person's comprehensive quality in all aspects. It is an idea that can be generated step by step, but there must be a unique line running through it. Innovation can be "gradual innovation" to improve existing products and enhance experience, or "subversive innovation" when grasping technological changes and conceptual changes. Of course, the latter tests the designer's ability to apply and integrate new technologies and concepts.

5. Design performance ability

As a user interface

Designers, a very important point is visual expression. Here I divide it into "creativity (focusing on ideas)" and "software technology (focusing on implementation)". Creativity is the starting point of good design. Good creativity can make people have strong emotional fluctuations, or shock, or touch, or sadness ... Creativity tests a designer's vision and brain hole, and even tests a designer's grasp of human emotions.

Good ideas need to be well realized. There is a kind of designer who is willing to work hard on visual expression and likes to make software to make shocking pictures. This kind of designer must be proficient in one or several softwares and skillfully use them to achieve amazing results. We often say that the idea of design lies in solving problems, but it is undeniable that an excellent visual effect is always more attractive. Generally speaking, the visual expression ability of UI designers mainly focuses on icon design ability, graphic design ability, design arrangement ability, design proposal ability, poster banner design ability, interface design ability and many other aspects, so design expression ability is indispensable in the learning process.

6. Product control ability

Designer's product control includes two aspects. The first is to control the progress and design language of the whole project. Second, for the control of the actual product development effect, it is necessary to communicate with engineers and even content operators enough to ensure that the final product effect is consistent with the design concept. Controlling products is a great test for designers to organize product design and communicate with people.

Yes, I mean the intuitive perception of good design. The ability of research is mentioned above, but not all problems should be solved according to the results of research. As a designer, you need a good antenna, and this antenna is your intuition. "Product intuition" is not a gift, but depends on a lot of experience of designers to judge.

7. Communication and understanding skills

Most designers don't work alone, but work as a team. You need to maintain good communication skills. For example, the problem of changing maps frequently. Others say 1 you don't do it 1. It is possible that if you do 1 as required, others will say hello. For example, if you want to change the style of a product, you have to find out the reason, whether it doesn't conform to the current style, or what the product wants to highlight. A design with clear intentions will get twice the result with half the effort. And give each other a good impression of thinking and communication. Such employees are welcome everywhere. On the contrary, you are silent and keep changing pictures. Maybe others think that this person's ability is really poor and can't change what I want. Good communication can make the whole team work better, improve work efficiency and ensure the smooth and excellent project. Communication is a science, so is speech. The designer's speaking ability can be reflected in the discussion during design review, communication with customers, business development, foreign speech exchange activities and so on. Designers with excellent communication and expression skills are usually like a lubricant, which can make teamwork smoother and more confident to deal with problems and problems.

Keep the scene.

8. Coordination and management capabilities

The management of designers is mainly embodied in two parts. The first is the internal management of the design team, such as personnel deployment, providing recruitment suggestions, communicating with team members and providing guidance. Second, externally, including cooperating with other departments to report the project progress to customers. It is worth mentioning that being eloquent does not mean excellent management ability. We need people who can make the design team and the whole work team work better, not "peacemakers".