Today, we present 6 professions. Their roles, their objectives and the skills needed to perform them are not the same, but are often complementary. However, they have one thing in common, which is their basic principle: UX and UI professions all use a user-centered method . Want to know more? We have untangled all this for you!
UX and UI Design... different but complementary professions
UX Designer: the conductor of the user experience
As its name suggests, the job of UX Designer consists of modeling the user experience of a digital product or service , in order to make it useful, simple and effective. Given the many facets that this objective covers, his work is multidisciplinary and requires many skills. To successfully carry out his project, the UX Designer can call on specialists and thus create a team that he will have to coordinate: UX Architect, UX Researcher, UI Designer, etc.
The UX Designer has an essentially strategic role :
It conducts user research to understand their behavior and expectations;
He carries out UX benchmarks;
He analyzes the collected data and translates it into personas, storyboards and modeling that meet the company's business objectives;
He creates prototypes;
He tests his proposals and carries out continuous improvement work based on the results. (See our article on user testing ).
To do quality work, the UX Designer must know how to listen to users. He is not there to impose his vision, but to adapt the interfaces to their needs. He must also have a good knowledge of cognitive sciences and human psychology in order to offer a smooth, efficient and convincing journey . UX design creates complex problems that must be solved with rigor, but also through creativity. Finally, mastery of certain tools is essential, such as: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, Lookback, etc.
UX Writer: the maestro of words
The UX Writer takes care of the texts of the digital product interface in order to make the user experience pleasant, but also to facilitate navigation. He must also respect the "tone of voice" of the brand and translate into words the image it wishes to obtain with its audience. To learn more about UX Writing, we recommend the following article: What is UX Writing?
Concretely, here are some of its missions:
He carries out research on the target and adapts the wording of the site to their language;
It unifies the voice of the company to deliver a consistent message, regardless of the touchpoint;
It defines the textual elements of the interface, ranging from micro-content (buttons, menus, etc.) to content intended for information or conversion (articles, about, promotional messages, etc.);
He creates concepts and narrative elements featuring the products;
It implements an editorial strategy that meets user expectations;
It analyzes the results of its content and continuously optimizes them.
A UX writer must of course have great writing skills , but that's not all. He must be trained in communication, marketing and must benefit from great creativity.
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UX Reasercher: the lord of user data
The job of UX Researcher focuses mainly on the research stage that is essential to the implementation of any strategy. Here, customer data is the focus of attention. The UX Researcher must collect them by observing the behavior of his target, but also by conducting interviews with users. He will then obtain a lot of information that he will have to classify and analyze. To learn more about user research, we recommend this article: What research to conduct to understand your users .
Daily:
He carries out tests, surveys and interviews with vk database customers and users, in order to collect quantitative and qualitative data;
He observes and analyzes behaviors in order to present avenues for improvement to the rest of the team.
Being in direct contact with customers and prospects, the UX Researcher must be able to demonstrate empathy in order to understand their deep needs and their emotions regarding the interfaces offered to them. He must also be trained in marketing, information science and the use of various tools such as: Statistica, Lookback and of course Google Analytics.
UI Designer/Graphic Designer/Web Designer: the visual experts
UI design , graphic design and web design are professions that broadly cover the same reality: they concern the purely visual aspect of the interface of the sites or applications created. These professionals work in close collaboration with the UX Designer in order to translate the objectives set into graphic elements . He is also in permanent contact with the developers in order to ensure that the coding carried out gives the expected results.
Here are some examples of tasks that the UI Designer performs:
It supports Wireframe graphics processing;
He creates the design and graphic organization of all the pages: buttons, menus, scroll bar, typography, etc.;
He creates templates that meet the company's expectations in terms of visual identity.
The graphic skills of the UI Designer are not negotiable: he must master typography, color theory, etc. He must also be able to use advanced tools such as: Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, Adobe XD, InVision, etc.
Also read our article: UX design: 13 essential tools to master .
Artistic Director: The Master of Vision
The Artistic Director creates visual concepts in order to translate the brand image (in other words the digital graphic charter of the brand) for which he works. He works in many fields such as advertising or retail for example, but since the arrival of the internet, he can also take charge of Web projects . At the head of a technical team, he offers a global vision that he declines in logos, graphic charters, posters, photo shoots and any other type of visuals that are part of his strategy.
This is what his daily life looks like:
He analyzes the customer's needs;
He creates concepts which he brings to life through various media;
He entrusts the production of visuals to professionals in photography, illustration, video production, etc.;
He manages projects and validates deliverables.
Being an Artistic Director requires a sense of aesthetics, creativity, a broad general culture and a solid interest in the evolution of trends. In addition to the artistic aspect, this job requires good organization and mastery of project management methods .
