If you are wondering this same thing, here’s the answer: Great UX design does not require coding abilities.
Now that we’ve addressed the question, let’s dive a little deeper. I mentioned that UX design does not require coding knowledge. Although it’s not required, there are still many instances when learning to code may benefit your UX career overall. There are certain designer types who might benefit from gaining this additional skill, which we’ll review in this article.
What are the essential skills of a UX designer?
If UX designers are not required to code, then what are the essential skills they should have? One of the biggest responsibilities of a successful UX designer is to conduct user research and identify the pain points that your design needs to solve. Ideally, you’ll test this design on your users in an iterative process throughout the design process. This design thinking process is the most important skill you must master to be successful.
Recall the design thinking process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. This iterative process of researching, designing, and testing is at the heart of a great UX designer’s skill set. The ability to thoroughly research a problem and identify the actual problem at hand is the first step. Through various methodologies, such as user interviews, contextual inquiries, ethnographic studies, and competitive analysis, the designer should be able to identify the user’s pain points that their UX design tool will solve.
The ability to create a design that addresses the user’s pain points is the next essential skill for a designer. User interface design, information architecture, layout design, and interaction design are all part of this skill. Prototyping software helps bring your vision to life, allowing you to test your ideas to see if they are feasible or not. The usability behind these prototypes, along with the aesthetics, is what makes or breaks a product. This part should be easy, though—in a recent Adobe XD poll sent to 150 UX/UI designers, only 10% said they struggle with prototyping.
The last part of the process, testing your product on users, ensures your design solves the pain points identified in the research phase. Iterative usability testing is the best way to verify that your design is heading in the right direction. Whether it is a remote usability test or an on-site session, testing your prototype with actual users will help you understand what is working and what could use a second look during your next iteration.
