{"id":8330,"date":"2019-02-26T11:27:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T16:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brainstation.io\/?p=8330"},"modified":"2020-12-13T23:52:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T04:52:02","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-a-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-designer","title":{"rendered":"A Day in the Life of a Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s it like to be a Designer in 2019? While the answer will be different for everyone, <\/span>Brainstation\u2019s Digital Skills Survey <\/span><\/a>reveals some surprisingly strong trends\u2014and sheds some light on the day-in, day-out of a typical Designer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re wondering if you\u2019d be a good fit for the role. With roughly 75 percent of Managers indicating plans to double the number of UX Designers<\/a> on their teams over the next five years, there\u2019s never been a better time to brush up your skills and make the leap.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Become a UX Designer in just 12 weeks!<\/p>\n

BrainStation’s User Experience Diploma Program<\/a> is a full-time, 12-week program that equips professionals with the skills and experience to start a new career in design.<\/p>\n

Speak to a Learning Advisor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

How to Start in UX Design<\/b><\/h3>\n

But what does a Designer do, exactly? The lion\u2019s share of their work ends up online, with an overwhelming 84 percent of our respondents saying they designed primarily for the web. We asked Kyle Deming, a web strategist at <\/span>Wojo Design<\/span><\/a> in Chicago, what drives this focality. \u201cWe view web design as different and distinct enough that it\u2019s more important for us to concentrate on being great web Designers, rather than to branch out and try to do everything.\u201d In other words, designing a great website is a field unto itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the surprises in BrainStation\u2019s survey data was just how attached Designers get to their role: design was the only field in which a majority of respondents (63 percent) began their careers. Maybe it\u2019s because Designers love their work too much to ever leave it, or maybe it\u2019s because the work is so challenging, only someone who truly loves it would stick with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Deming, who has been working in web design since co-founding his firm as a high school senior 15 years ago, suggests another possibility. \u201cIt\u2019s an industry that you can break into very early and very young, doing things on your own\u2014building your own websites and so on\u2014and experiment even before you get into the workforce.\u201d Perhaps it\u2019s this ability to test the waters that lets people know if design is their calling right from the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps it\u2019s the camaraderie. More than three-quarters of Designers work in small teams of 10 people or less\u2014and almost half work in teams of five or less. Whatever the reason, it seems that Designers are especially attached to their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research is Fundamental to the Design Process<\/b><\/h3>\n

Our survey asked Designers which phases of the design process they personally had a hand in, including research, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, design building and, finally, user testing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, design <\/span>per se<\/span><\/i> was the area most respondents\u201492 percent\u2014said they routinely work on. \u201cDesign is the meat of what we do,\u201d Deming says, \u201cwhere the actual project gets done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But first comes research\u2014a phase 57 percent of respondents said they participate in. \u201cA lot of the time, research is done at the proposal preparation phase,\u201d says Deming. \u201cResearch is about 10 percent of the work we do, and probably half of that is done before we officially begin working on a project. It takes a good research foundation to do a good proposal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What Designers Use for Ideation<\/b><\/h3>\n

After design, ideation is the phase Designers participate in most frequently (75 percent). \u201cIdeation is where we think at a very broad level,\u201d Deming says, \u201cso things continue to evolve pretty substantially as we go through the process. The thing you get at the end might not look anything like what you started with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because ideation is such an open, freewheeling process, Designers are quite split on how they like to do it; ultimately, it comes down to finding the methods they\u2019re most comfortable with. <\/span><\/p>\n

Almost all Designers rely on old-school tools at some point\u201488 percent still use pen and paper, and 58 percent hold whiteboarding sessions\u2014but a large majority (72 percent) incorporate digital tools as well, and fully one-third use a more structured methodology, such as design sprints.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wireframing and Prototyping<\/b><\/h3>\n

If ideation is throwing everything at the wall, wireframing and prototyping are how Designers see what sticks. A small majority of respondents are routinely involved at this stage, where the ideation phase\u2019s outcomes are refined: 58 percent in wireframing and 57 percent in prototyping.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWireframing is very critical to our design process,\u201d Deming says, \u201cbecause it helps provide a structure for the website. Once you have a really solid outline or framework, applying great design to it becomes fairly straightforward.\u201d Using wireframes, as opposed to a fully prototyped site design, \u201callows us to iterate pretty quickly,\u201d he says, \u201cand to make sure everybody on the project is happy with the direction we\u2019re headed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are some clear favorites when it comes to wireframing tools: Sketch (66 percent) and Illustrator (44 percent) are the pack leaders, with Invision Studio (25 percent), Adobe XD (19 percent), Axure (9 percent), Figma (8 percent), and Marvel (5 percent) rounding out the list.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Design Tools do Designers Use Most?<\/b><\/h3>\n

When it comes to the design phase, respondents\u2019 tool preferences followed a similar pattern, with Sketch (64 percent) and Photoshop (43 percent) on top. Adobe XD (21 percent), Invision Studio (17 percent), Figma (9 percent), Framer (5 percent), and Marvel (3 percent) also held steady.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Advance Your Design Career<\/b><\/h3>\n

While anyone can begin playing around with web design, Deming advises aspiring pros to develop a wide base of software and design knowledge before entering the workforce. \u201cYou need to have a basic knowledge of Photoshop; hopefully you also have knowledge of Sketch, and some other tools as well,\u201d he says. \u201cA number of different tools are used over the course of a project, and if you\u2019re trying to learn that all on the job, that can be tricky. We really love it when potential employees come to us with experience across multiple different toolsets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as important are the softer design skills. \u201cThere can be a bit too much focus on just making things that look pretty, without thinking about how things function,\u201d he says. \u201cDesigners should have an understanding of color theory, but also of how the sizing of elements matters to focus and comprehension, and so forth. At the end of the day, the site also needs to be high-functioning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Learn design skills to boost your career \u2013 from home!<\/p>\n

BrainStation offers Online Live Certificate Courses<\/a> in UX design, UI design, and design thinking. Attend live classes and interact with peers and expert Instructors from anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Speak to a Learning Advisor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While getting into design can be easy, climbing the ranks from beginner to intermediate to senior Designer can be more difficult. Deming points to the pattern identified above\u2014where almost all Designers work on the design phase, but fewer are involved in ideation, and fewer still in the crucial steps of wireframing and prototyping. \u201cI mentioned how pivotal the early stages of a project are,\u201d he says. \u201cImproving your ability to use your research and ideation skills is important to moving ahead.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond exerting more influence over the crucial early stages of the process, intermediate Designers can set themselves apart by honing the kinds of specialized skills that take a perfectly decent design and turn it into something truly eye-catching. \u201cHaving those extra elements\u2014animation, interactivity\u2014can really bring things to the next level,\u201d Deming says. \u201cThat\u2019s becoming increasingly important.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n


\nClick here for more information on BrainStation’s User Experience Design courses<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to BrainStation’s 2019 Digital Skills Survey, we know a lot about what the day-to-day work experience is like for most UX Designers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[754,158,157],"tags":[546,122,479],"yoast_head":"\nA Day in the Life of a Designer | BrainStation\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does a typical day look like for a designer? 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