UX design, otherwise known as user experience design, is an essential part of every website. A website needs to provide an excellent user experience to attract visitors and convert them into customers for business growth. If a website or application fails to provide a pleasant and satisfactory user experience, the purpose is lost. As a result, the technical skills of UX designers are requested by many businesses.
With UX designers being so in-demand, it is natural to wonder if they are happy in their jobs. This article will look into UX designer job satisfaction and provide you with all the information you need to weigh the pros and cons. By the end of this article, you will be able to determine whether UX design is a rewarding career and if it is worthwhile to pursue.
What Is a UX Designer?
A UX designer is a professional who conducts research on the problems and needs of a company’s target audience before designing and developing a website to meet those needs. They ensure that websites or mobile apps meet users’ expectations, provide adequate user experience, solve their problems, and are simple to use.
Is UX Design a Good Career?
UX design is a good career, especially for creative and tech-savvy people who have a great eye for digital design. UX design is a promising career for many other reasons, including job opportunities to work in different areas. There is also the opportunity to collaborate with other professionals, explore creativity, and engage with the broader visual design community.
UX Designer Satisfaction Rates
According to PayScale, UX designers are highly satisfied with their jobs, rating this career a 3.98 out of 5 stars. While this is a great satisfaction rate, it also goes to show that the majority of the professionals in this field have few complaints about their jobs. As a UX designer, people tend to spend the majority of their time working independently and in front of their computers.
On the other hand, things that motivate the high satisfaction rate include salaries higher than most other occupations, the ability to choose to work remotely with a company, opportunities to work as freelancers, and choosing specializations. This makes it a very flexible job that encourages you to be the best version of yourself while helping both other people and businesses succeed.
What Makes UX Design Jobs Satisfying?
There are several factors that contribute to making UX design jobs satisfying, including their high salaries, opportunity for growth, helping others, transferable skills, and the ability to be creative. You can find detailed explanations of these factors below.
High Salary
The first thing you may want to know when considering this line of work is how much UX designers earn. The good news is, their salaries are high, which makes it an appealing career path for creative professionals. The average annual salary of a UX designer is about $75,336, according to PayScale. .
Opportunity for Career Growth
In your early career, you can start out as simply a UX designer but you also have the opportunity to grow to explore many other specialties in the future. This is due to the many areas for which you can apply your UX design skills. Throughout the course of their careers, UX designers can grow to become UX directors or VP of user experience.
Helping Others
User experience designers help businesses grow by ensuring that their customers have a positive experience on their platform, allowing them to help people on both sides of their work. By working to increase customer satisfaction, you will feel the direct positive impact you make.
Transferable Skills
The skills learned as a professional working in the design industry can be applied to other similar fields like graphic design. This makes it easy to consider a career change later in the future if you decide to quit UX design or explore new fields. You can decide to delve into web design, software development, or video game design with your UX design skills.
Opportunity for Creativity and Innovation
The foundation of UX design is creativity. Your whole career focuses on your ability to create new ideas and processes from start to finish. An entire project depends on your creativity regardless of the clients’ needs because you still have to provide your expertise and find innovative solutions.
UX Designer Stress and Rewards
Like any other profession, UX designers deal with career-related stress. Even with high satisfaction rates, it is only normal to have things that you find frustrating in your career. This section includes a list and explanations of some of things that factor into UX designer job stress and rewards.
UX Designer Stress
- Creativity Block. UX designers deal with creativity blocks just like writers deal with writer’s block during the creative process. There will be times in your design career where you will find it challenging to come up with exciting ideas or any idea at all. This is one of the most daunting parts of being a UX designer.
- Negative Critiques. Criticism is something that comes with being in the creative field. Even if you have years of experience, design professionals come across people and clients who will criticize and possibly tear the best work to shreds simply because it does not align with their own taste.
- Chances of Being Misunderstood. You may find yourself in a situation where you have done an excellent job for your client, but they disagree with you simply because they do not understand your design vision. This is something you should definitely prepare for if you choose this career path.
UX Designer Rewards
- Highly Collaborative. As a designer, working with others is something that comes with the job. You will need the help of other professionals, such as a product designer, when working on various projects. This is a perk of being a UX designer as you don’t always have to do it all on your own.
- Highly Analytical. Thinking of what users will like and be pleased with requires logical reasoning. This makes it a great career for anyone who likes to be analytical and creative, as you will have to think through every detail of the customer experience.
- High Demand. UX designers are in high demand as many companies rely on them to help their businesses grow. This means that if you have the proper creative skills, you’ll never be short of work in your career.
Life as a UX Designer
This section explores the work environment, benefits, and career growth of a UX designer. These are all factors that help decide if a career is truly worth pursuing. If the work environment of a job is satisfactory and aligns with your preferences, then you know that it is something worthwhile for you to pursue.
UX Designer Work Environment
A UX designer’s typical work environment involves long hours spent at a computer carrying out project research, digital product evaluation, user testing, and design improvements. They also work in a collaborative environment working with other professionals, such as web developers and user interface (UI) designers, to improve digital products.
UX Designer Benefits
The benefits that a UX designer receives greatly depends on the nature of the employment. As many UX designers may work as independent contractors, they often do not receive any typical employee benefits. However, a full-time UX designer for a single company would be entitled to medical insurance, paid time off, and other compensations.
UX Designer Career Growth
There is no set path for a career in UX design because anyone can start from anywhere and progress in their own way. It all depends on your career goals and financial goals. However, it is common to begin as a graphic designer before moving on to an entry-level UX design role.
After gaining enough experience and expertise as a designer, you can advance to the position of UX manager, where you will be responsible for ensuring that designers and other team members are working together to achieve the desired results.
After working as a UX or project manager, you can advance to become a UX director and then a VP of UX design. The ultimate goal may be to provide UX consulting services and manage a team of UX design experts.
UX Designer Job Outlook, Salaries, and Career Growth
This section includes detailed information on UX designers’ job outlook, what the typical UX designer salary is, and career growth to determine if UX design is worth pursuing as a career.
Is UX Design in Demand?
Yes, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job growth of UX designers, which is mentioned under the umbrella of web developers and digital designers, is 13 percent. This is faster than the base average of most other occupations. This means that the demand for designers in the labor force is high and projected to rise between 2020 and 2030.
UX Designer Salaries
According to BLS, web developers and digital designers earn an average salary of $77,200 annually. This amount differs based on experience level and the industry you work in. Professionals who work in the publishing industry earn considerably more than those in advertisement and management industries.
High-Paying UX Designer Jobs
| Job Title | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Product Architect | $133,670 |
| UX Manager | $116,185 |
| Information Architect | $101,011 |
| UX Researcher | $88,101 |
| Usability Analyst | $73,482 |
Product Architect
- Product Architect Average Salary: $133,670
Product architects are professionals who work with other teams to design, develop, manage, and improve new and existing products for a company. A product architect has to find out what the company’s target audience needs and come up with products to suit those needs and solve customer problems. Product architects work closely with software developers and interaction designers.
UX Manager
- UX Manager Average Salary: $116,185
UX managers help lead and facilitate the design process. This includes managing a design team, helping communicate client needs to designers, and empowering collaborative processes. They work to support their design team and make sure that progress, complications, and questions are being appropriately communicated to clients and other stakeholders.
Information Architect
- Information Architect Average Salary: $101,011
An information architect is in charge of organizing the information on a company’s website. They use data collected by usability analysts to determine the best way to engage users and convert their visits into sales based on their interactions with the company’s communication systems.
Usability Analyst
- Usability Analyst Average Salary: $73,482
Usability analysts are responsible for the usability testing of a website’s user interface to identify areas for improvement and to improve the website’s workflow. They do this to ensure that the user receives the desired outcome and experience from the website. They then report their findings to the UX designer and make suggestions to fix the problem.
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UX Researcher
- UX Researcher Average Salary: $88,101
A UX researcher is in charge of researching the best ways to provide an excellent user experience and ensure that the website is easily accessible. They have to figure out what the users of a website prefer to see on a website, the interface of the website in terms of images and colors, and the website’s content. They then work with designers to ensure that those needs are met and satisfied.
Should I Become a UX Designer?
You should become a UX designer if you are interested in a field that encourages creativity, helping others, and working independently. This is a great job for you if you like variety. A UX designer could work with an ecommerce company on a project and then proceed to work with an educational organization afterward.
In this field of work, you can build on your own ideas to bring the client’s expectations to life. If you work as a UX designer, you will enjoy a competitive salary and optimal career growth opportunities. If you want to begin working in this field, consider creating a strong web design portfolio to showcase your skills.
UX Designer Career Change FAQ
Yes, UX design is a growing career and is expected to grow faster than average in the coming years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
UX designers are in high demand because as more businesses continue to move their operations online, they will need to collaborate with UX designers to ensure that their users have an excellent experience. Working with a UX designer is a way to ensure that their visits convert to profit.
While artificial intelligence (AI) is a good alternative to many occupations in recent years, it is highly unlikely for AI to replace UX designers at any time. This is because the job requires designers to understand individual human needs and how customers will perceive something.
UX designers do not have a set career path to take, nor do they need to go to design school. However, many people begin their careers as graphic designers and then advance to become UX designers, UX managers, UX directors, VP of UX design, and UX consultants. There isn’t any specific pattern to follow.
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