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How to work with UX designers to improve your visual design.
Simple tips to get the most out of working together.
UI designers job can be made painfully irrelevant when working on projects that have solved all the problems before they get to them. Over the years I’ve noticed some techniques that make designing websites and apps with UX designers much more meaningful.
Get in on the first meetings.
Start at the same time, coming into a project after all the decisions have been made is not going to get you anywhere, get a seat at the table.
One of the best skills a UI designer has is sitting in a meeting, listening to what people as saying, going away and mocking up what that looks like. That is a powerful skill gives common ground to the problem you are solving and makes your designs the centre of attention.
1. Invite yourself to the kickoff meeting
2. Listen to what people have to say
3. Define the problem with the UX designer
4. Find other sites or apps that solve the same problem — with and without the UX designer
5. Mock it up in Sketch, argue with the UX design until you are both happy.
In order to make a product, service or site really function the UI and the user experience need to work together, this means we both the UI and UX designers need to work closely together.
Working closely means sharing a desk, moving to laptops and going to a neutral location. The trick is UX designers like to talk about users, UI designers like to work up experiences in Sketch.
Design while you listen.
If UX designers best describe ideas through talking, UI designers are best at mocking up what something looks like and how that really working as a design in practice — literally what the end user will see and experience.
