How To Hire A User Interface (UI) Designer: A Perfect Fit

Hiring user interface designers with first-rated skills is important for any online business. It leads to a lower bounce rate and better user experience, eventually boosting sales and profits. For any web development project, UI design is like an art while the UX (user experience design) represents the science behind it.

Engaging a digital design team of top-notch UI/UX designers for your product development gives you a greater chance of success and makes your product stand out from the competition. But despite the high salaries, it could be challenging for startups and established businesses to hire the right UI designers that can create wonders for their software and websites.

And this is what today’s post is about - finding your perfect UI designer. In this guide, we'll go through the main responsibilities of UI designers, along with the skills you should look for when choosing one. By the end of this article, you'll have a greater understanding of the hiring process and the factors to consider when choosing the best candidate for your business. Let's begin.

User Interface Designer: Roles & Responsibilities

A UI designer (User Interface Designer) designs the look and feel that customers experience while using a digital product. It enhances the interactivity of websites, mobile apps, or video games so users can navigate smoothly with a visual experience they’ll enjoy. Simply put, it is about the visual elements and interactions when you tap any button on your digital device.

The goal of a UI designer is to make different screens link together while providing an excellent overall layout on each screen. They make all functionalities intuitive and easy on the eyes.

Let's look at some of the main responsibilities of a UI designer in greater detail.

4 Primary Responsibilities Of A UI Designer

Here are some of the primary duties a UI designer has to perform:

i. Evaluating The User Requirements

A UI designer should work with the UX designers, product managers, project managers, and engineers to gather and assess the user requirements before designing the product. From there, he needs to present the web and app design ideas using different tools and then, the team will work together to design graphic user interface elements and develop the entire mobile application.

ii. Enhancing The Customer Experience

All software must be user-friendly regardless of the device's screen size - laptops, mobile phones, TVs, or tablets. A UI designer must make it attractive and convenient, so users of any background and age can have a seamless experience. And this requires strong analytical skills on the user behaviors to better cater to them.

iii. Creating Enjoyable Interactions

A skillful UI designer must have excellent branding and graphic design skills to facilitate user interactions with the brand. They should create vibrant designs to shape their thoughts and intentions into tangible assets. Some vital points to consider include the following:

• Culture
• Context
• Content
• Audience

iv. Incorporating The Brand's Strengths

There should be more than just a great user interface; a great UI designer can always utilize his design ability to transfer the company's unique strengths into a digital product. They should create exciting user guides and company background stories that combine psychology, aesthetic design, and programming know-how.

4 Skills To Look For When Hiring A User Interface Designer

Let's dive deep into the crucial skills you should prioritize in hiring a user interface designer:

A. Wireframing And Prototyping

UI designers must be proficient in creating wireframes, which are rough design sketches to visualize different stages of your digital products. These user interface design elements will be the foundation of your entire product design.

After wireframing, the designer needs to build the UI prototypes to proceed to usability testing and obtain feedback through user testing of both the back and front-end mockups. Some useful prototyping tools include InVision and Figma. The UX/UI designers will work together throughout the prototyping process to continuously test and improve it until the final digital product is launched.

B. Visual Communications

Visual communication is vital in getting an eyeball on your landing pages and enticing the users to take action. It is equally important, if not more essential than functionality, as visual communication is the element that encourages interactivity and engagement from users.

UI designers must have adequate knowledge in communicating ideas via different types of visual elements, such as:

• Color
• Media
• Space
• Shapes
• Typography
• Composition

Here are a few tricks to deliver impressive UI design. You should incorporate them into your interview questions to check if your designers know them well:

• Ensure high branding consistency throughout the website
• Maintain a simple interface with suitable alignment and readability
• Create highly discoverable icons and intuitive functions and forms
• Utilize font size, style, colors, contrasts, and spaces to attract users to key features
• Inform users of system responses by displaying pop-up notifications, for example, when an item is added to the shopping cart

C. Interaction Design (IxD)

A UI designer should have the skill to create interactive digital products, examine the interactions between a system and its users, and avoid errors throughout the web design work. It generates a better connection and relationship between end-users and your products.

The interactive design focuses on five different dimensions, including:

a. Time

Consider how much time people spend using your product and consider adding trackers and resuming functions. UI designers must also build interactive media like animations and sounds to give users feedback on their interactions. In this case, Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver are excellent tools for producing superior animation functions.

b. Space

Considering the physical space and devices that customers use to deal with your digital products will help design it in a way that will enhance the interactions with your software.

c. Words

Words used for interactions, like button labels, must be easy to understand without overwhelming the users.

d. Behavior

A UI designer should know how the users operate your product, their feedback, and what reactions your software produces at every stage.

e. Visual Representations

The UI designer should have the ability to design storyboards for user journeys and visually depict how users engage with the products. They should also use adequate visual design skills and graphical elements like typography and images to deliver information efficiently to users.

D. Other Soft Skills

Besides the hard skills mentioned above, a UI designer must also possess several soft skills to design user-friendly and ease-to-use software, such as:

• Incorporating their presumptions and taste with the business vision and industry standards will eventually bring you your desired product that holds onto your requirements.
• Empathy allows a UI designer to better connect with your products, consumers, and the development team.
• Problem-solving skills help overcome challenges in the journey of meeting your business goals.
• Detailed user research lets them better understand the market to build exceptional information architecture.

3 Points To Consider When Hiring A User Interface Designer

I. Visit Their GitHub Profiles

Most recruiters that hire UI designers have little to zero technical knowledge. GitHub is helpful in this situation because it allows you to see the final project as well as the skills and design systems the UI designer employed. A GitHub profile is practically the resume of a UI designer that tells about his:

• Story
• Portfolios
• Contributions
• Conversations

It proves the design ability of a UI designer and is helpful for your conversation during the interviews. You'll know their potential and whether they fit your business needs and deliver the results you require before going into the interview session. You will save a lot of time and effort by avoiding wasting it on unqualified prospects.

II. Background Check

Nearly 80% of job applicants lie on their job applications or during the interview process, thinking that recruiters seldom check on the information they provide. The common dishonesties include:

• Quoting false proficiency in skills
• Stating exaggerated employment qualifications
• Incorrect academic information and results like GPA
• Incorrect information about prior employment history (which we'll cover soon)

Companies should always conduct background checks on potential interviewees before making employment offerings so they can hire designers with the skills and qualifications they claim to have.

Another benefit is that you get peace of mind by lowering the risks of criminal activities in your working environment, like abuse, theft, violence, and even drugs.

III. Employment History Verification

To appear more experienced during the interview process, candidates may inflate details of their prior employment, such as pay, position, and length of service.

By contacting their previous hiring managers, you’ll know their actual employment backgrounds and hence be able to hire the candidate qualified for your job offerings. By doing so, you also reduce the negative impact on your company's growth and ensure high-quality service and employee productivity in the long run.

Hire A User Interface Designer: A 7-Step Process

An efficient hiring process helps you attract the right talent to expand your business. Let's discover the 7-step process for hiring a UI designer:

1. Analyze Your Requirements

You can avoid high turnover rates, misunderstanding, and unfavorable effects on your company culture by analyzing your requirements in advance. Here are things you should do in this stage:

1.1 Hire For Specific Needs, Not Desks

Know why you're hiring a UI designer - whether to design new software, organize your website, or make your products and services more accessible online. In some cases, there would be a sudden increase in workload when any employee is resigning soon. This step ensures you don't waste time and effort recruiting at the wrong time for zero results.

1.2 List Your Requirements

Discuss with the team your requirements for the ideal candidates that match your company culture and missions. Creating candidate personas helps you decide better during the screening process, for instance:

• Skills
• Benefits
• Expectations
• Qualifications
• Responsibilities
• Compensations
• Job Requirements

1.3 Decide Your Salary Range

The salary range of a UI designer is about $80,000 to $127,000 yearly in the United States, averaging $100,509 annually. If you specify your pay rates in your job postings, you might avoid employing people who are overqualified or underqualified and find someone who will work well with you.

2. Decide Your Recruitment Strategy

Nicely structure and plan out your recruitment strategy with a few preparations mentioned below:

• Research the market recruitment dynamics, like salary and skills required
• Set out how your company will attract, hire, and onboard top talent
• Prepare the paperwork

Paperwork ensures a hassle-free and smooth recruitment process. Preparing them well will give you more convenience in case of unforeseen circumstances. Here are the critical recruitments documents you need:

• Offer Letter
• Application Form
• Reference Guide
• Recruitment Tracker
• Employee Handbook
• Employment Contract
• Candidate Evaluation Form

3. Advertise The Job Opening

Post your UI designer job online to increase your visibility and reach more targeted candidates. Here are a few ideal places to advertise:

• Your Company Website
• Social Media Pages like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
• Online career classifieds like CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor

Sometimes things go wrong, but fixing them early can avoid time wastage. If your job postings are not getting suitable candidates, consider tweaking the job description a bit so you get what you need.

Here at Aloa, we know the challenges in hiring the best candidates for your needs. That is why we conduct a vigorous vetting process to keep a pool of skillful UI designers. With our constant skill development and assessment activities, you get the best UI designers for your development requirements.

4. Evaluate The CVs

Use these guidelines when analyzing CVs to ensure that you are only shortlisting qualified applicants.

4.1 Narrow Down The Application Pool

Posting your job ads allows you to reach the specific groups that meet your required skill sets. After receiving the job applications, you need to screen through the CVs to proceed with those who fit your quality and experience needs and eliminate the unqualified candidates.

4.2 Be Attentive

Spending more effort in the preparation and screening process is very helpful in hiring a quality team that works together well in the long run. Be observant of their working experience and skills, and remember to attest to their written words during the interviews.

5. Conduct Interviews

Now that you’ve shortlisted the most qualified applicants, it's time to test the waters. Both in-person and virtual interviews are beneficial for understanding your applicants. Offer them advance notice so they have more time to prepare and can give you their best throughout the interview process.

Talk about the critical discussion points to uncover the real talent in the applicant pool. Here are some helpful interview questions for your reference:

• Share your experience working on a similar product - the top and bottom points and the best outcome from this experience.
• How was your experience working with your previous team? What were the challenges you faced, and how did you overcome them?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses being a UI designer? How would you utilize them in your job scope?

By the end of this recruitment stage, both you and your candidate should already have a mutual understanding about:

• Expected deliverables and job scope
• The presumption of timelines and goals
• Tech requirements for using iOS and Android, among other things
• Other special requirements, like necessary knowledge of languages and unique features

Consider conducting the second interviews with candidates that cleared the first round. Always hire the best candidate for the UI design role rather than settling for an average resource.

6. Shortlist The Candidates

Shortlist after the interview rounds and review again. Post-interview evaluation allows you to look into each candidate from a different perspective - their resumes, responses during the discussions, and the ability to provide out-of-the-box design solutions. Consider discussing with your team members who know the roles well and clearly understand your company's requirements.

A qualified UI designer should have an incredible imagination and problem-solving skills to best illustrate his thoughts. At the same time, they need to be skillful enough to get their hands on a project that meets your expectations. You must also keep these in mind when choosing the best candidate:

• Experienced and skilled to best present your ideas
• High adaptation towards your requirements and ad-hoc changes
• Able to provide constructive and valuable comments in every discussion forum
• Independent in the designing process while still being able to work with the team
• Trustworthy and reliable to carry your intent and aspiration throughout their works

7. Make An Offer

Once you’ve found the right candidate, you should proceed with the job offering to complete your recruitment process. Making quick decisions agreed upon by all stakeholders is crucial to avoid losing highly qualified candidates.

Make your offers attractive and inviting, and allow them enough time to consider before accepting or declining. Most applicants look for better pay and employee benefits and might renegotiate your offer further.

Conclusion

UI designers put all the pieces together to allow the visualization of your intangibles, bringing your product to life. Thousands of businesses have demonstrated that despite the difficulties in hiring a user interface designer, having a skilled one is mandatory for utilizing the technology and presenting your objectives to your customers.

We know both the perks and challenges of hiring a UI designer in this competitive market. If you want to employ user interface designers to build fantastic software projects, Aloa has you covered. Our specialized UI designers have years of experience and can work both full-time and part-time to kickstart your projects as soon as today.

You can always email us at resources@aloa.co for further discussions. Alternatively, visit our website to see how we work to fulfill your development needs.