Meet Stephen and find out about his life as a user experience (UX) designer at Shop Direct. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.
Stephen Gale - UX/UI designer
So a UX and UI designer stands for a user experience and user interface designer so we work out how our apps and websites should look and work for our customers.
A typical day for me will include things like sketching; we draw out what our websites and apps are going to look like as we start to evolve them, I鈥檒l work with people like our research team who work with our customers directly to understand what they want from our apps and websites and I鈥檒l work with our developers who are coding the designs to work with them on actually getting it built.
So if you go onto or you download the Very app, those screens are things that myself and my team will have designed, we鈥檝e worked out how they should be laid out and how it should work when you press things like the buttons or you go through the products and those sort of things.
I didn鈥檛 really know what I wanted to do when I finished school. At uni, I went and did games design because I wanted to focus on something that I enjoyed. I took the games design skills and transferred that into a graphic design job, so I became a graphic designer, moved into web design and then really focused on the design side of things as opposed to the web development and became a UX/UI designer.
The advice I鈥檇 give to anyone looking to become a designer is just to practise. It鈥檚 really good to read the design theory and to look at what other designers are doing out there but it鈥檚 not really until you yourself are putting pen to paper or drawing on design tools on your laptop or whatever it might be, that鈥檚 when you really gain experience and you become a better designer.
I think a really important part of being a UX/UI designer is to have customer empathy and what that means is to understand what is our customers want from the app and website because I鈥檓 not the only one using it, it鈥檚 millions of other people and what is it that they want when they鈥檙e browsing with the app and website? What will make it easy for them?
When I've design something that not just looks good but works well, it鈥檚 just a great feeling that you鈥檝e gone from the start of the process to the end and it鈥檚 all come together.
When I鈥榲e designed something that not just looks good, but works well鈥 it's just a great feeling.
- Stephen and his colleagues work out how the screens on a company鈥檚 apps and websites should look, and how they should work once a customer presses buttons and goes through to different products
- A typical day for Stephen will include sketching and drawing out designs for the apps. He鈥檒l work with the research team - who speak to customers directly to understand what they want - and he鈥檒l work with the web developers to get the products built
- Stephen studied Games Design at university. He transferred into a graphic design job before moving into web design. He decided to focus on the design side of things - as opposed to web development 鈥 to become a user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designer.
- Stephen鈥檚 top tip if you want to become a designer is to practise. He also says it鈥檚 important to have customer empathy. That means understanding what a customer wants from an app or website, and what will make it easy for them to use.
What to expect if you want to be a user experience (UX) designer
- User experience (UX) designer average salary: 拢25,000 to 拢50,000 per year
- User experience (UX) designer typical working hours: 37 to 39 hours per week
What qualifications do you need to be a user experience (UX) designer?
You could get into this role via a university course, a college course (such as an A-level in Computing, a Level 4 Diploma, or a T-level 鈥 England-only, which may lead onto more advanced qualifications or a higher apprenticeship, or help you get a trainee position), an apprenticeship, or applying directly if you have relevant experience. Check with your course provider which alternative qualifications they accept.
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