I have enrolled in a Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design course by Google on Coursera and have just completed Week 1 lessons. The most important takeaway, apart from what a good UX design is, it is much clearer what types of UX careers are out there:
Interaction designer
Interaction designers focus on designing the experience of a product and how it functions. An interaction designer’s work answers questions like: What should happen if a user taps on this button? How do we make this action easier for users to complete? And, how are the design elements within the website laid out? They strive to understand the user flow, or the path, that a typical user takes to complete a task on an app, website, or other platforms. Interaction design focuses on the “how” rather than the “what”, so it’s not all about how something should look – but how to make it feel natural and intuitive when interacting with a product.
Visual designer
The visual designer’s main goal is clear and consistent design across all screens. They focus on how a product or technology looks, including logos and icons, illustrations, and font color, size, and placement. This role often creates the layout of each page or screen and makes all of the design elements fit together in a visually appealing way.
VR/AR Designer
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) designers create products that provide users with immersive experiences, unbounded by the limits of the physical world. A VR or AR designer’s work answers questions like: How do we create a user experience that leverages 3D space? Or, will this action cause a user motion sickness? To ensure users are comfortable immersing in a VR or AR experience, designers need to carefully consider everything from sound to lighting.
Motion designer
Motion designers think about how a user will move through a product. They make sure that motion is smooth and consistent, whether a person scrolls or clicks to move between pages on an app or website.
UX researcher
UX researchers conduct studies or interviews that examine how people use a product, they identify pain points that users are experiencing and explore how products can help solve those problems. The goal of UX researchers is often to understand how a product can provide a solution to real problems users are having.
UX Writer
UX writers help define a brand’s voice and personality. They think about how to make the language within a product clearer so that the user experience is more intuitive and how to present content so that’s easy to understand for all users.. The work of UX writers often includes writing labels for buttons and determining the tone of language used within an app or website.
UX Program Managers
UX program managers ensure clear and timely communication so that the process of building a useful product moves smoothly from start to finish. This might include setting goals, writing project plans, and allocating team resources.
UX Engineer
UX engineers translate the design’s intent into a functioning experience, like an app or a website. They help UX teams figure out if designs are intuitive and technically feasible. UX engineers synthesize design and development, bringing product concepts to life.
Conversation Designer
A Conversation Designer is responsible for designing the user experience of a virtual assistant. They ensure that the virtual assistant is conversationally engaging, impactful for the end-user, and matches the voice of the brand.