how to become a ui designer (2024 Guide)

UI Design Resume Examples

BrainStation’s UI Designer career guide is intended to help you take the first steps toward a lucrative career in UI design. Read on for an overview of how to write a UI Designer resume, with examples and resume templates you can use.

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What Are UI Resumes?

User Interface (UI) resumes are documents that summarize a User Interface Designer’s work history, education, experience, and skills. Resumes show what a job candidate can bring to a company, and what sets them apart from other UI Designers. Together with the cover letter and portfolio, your UI resume is a way to market yourself to a Hiring Manager to earn your dream job as a UI Designer.

User interface design job postings can also often include some aspects of User Experience (UX design). Job titles such as UX/UI Designer (or the inverse of UI/UX Designer) may have an emphasis on user experience over user interface. Be sure to read the job posting carefully so you can craft your application to the needs of the position.

Other designer positions such as Web Designer and Graphic Designer or design fields like product design will have many transferrable skills and experience that you can work into your UI design resume. You could reference a general resume example, but looking at a UI Designer resume example will provide additional context for what Hiring Managers may be expecting from incoming job applications.

UI Resumes – a Step-by-Step Guide

To write a successful UI Designer resume, follow these steps:

  • Write a compelling profile/summary
  • List your UI design skills
  • Highlight relevant work/professional experience
  • Describe your most impressive achievements
  • Mention your educational background
  • List awards and other activities

To make the resume or CV-writing process easier, start by doing some planning and preparation.

Know your user

One of the most important skills for a UI Designer is the ability to understand their user. Just like any UI project, your resume should be created with the audience in mind. Review the job posting and identify the most important skills or qualifications the employer or Hiring Manager is seeking.

Research the company

Each resume you design and submit should be tailored to the company you are applying to. Browse their website and social media to learn more about their work and have the most recent information.

Build a list of your skills

Consider all your past design work, projects, and achievements. Compile a list detailing the purpose of the project, the tools you used, and the skills you gained. You can refer back to this list when drafting your professional resume to land your dream job.

Keep design in mind

Your resume design is one of the first opportunities to show off your skills and demonstrate your UI design experience. Create a layout with a strong visual hierarchy that easily leads the reader through each section. Remember to keep it simple, clean and readable. Include ample white space throughout, add color sparingly, and use two fonts at most.

UI Designer resumes and cover letters act as an extension of your portfolio when applying to a position as it’s the first design work an employer will see. Apply similar design principles to your designer resume as you would to user interfaces.

When you’re ready to begin writing, keep these best practices in mind for your UI Designer resume.

Be brief

Your UI Designer resume should be simple, clear and concise. The ideal length is one page.

Personalize the content

The content in your resume should be tailored to each job you apply to. Highlight relevant projects, skills and achievements. Avoid sending resume templates, or resumes from a generic resume builder without customizing the design and information.

Stay organized

Structure your content using clear headings. Use bullet points to help readability.

Use action verbs

When describing your responsibilities and accomplishments, use verbs that pack a punch. Examples of strong action verbs include: advised, delivered, executed, coordinated, and led.

Quantify achievements

Numbers and metrics add credibility to your achievements. Show the measurable impact you can bring as a UI Designer.

Write accomplishment statements

Don’t simply state your previous job duties. Instead, craft accomplishment statements that emphasize results. Use the formula action verb + task + result. For example, “Worked with a team of Designers and Developers to create a new platform that increased clients’ revenue by 120%.”

Edit and proofread

Resumes with excessive errors are often instantly rejected. Check over spelling and grammar before submitting your application. If possible, have a Senior UX Designer or another contact in design review your information.

Getting Started – What is the Purpose of the Resume?

The purpose of a UI Designer resume is to market yourself to employers by showcasing your skills and qualifications. Resumes should tell a great story—they provide insight into why your education and work experience makes you the best candidate for a UI Designer role. The resume should convince the company that you would be an asset. Ultimately, a strong resume will help you secure an interview.

How to Create an Outline for a UI Designer Resume

To write a well-structured UI Designer resume, you can follow this general outline:

  1. Contact information: Include your name, email, phone number, portfolio and LinkedIn.
  2. Profile/Summary/Objective: Compose a brief statement that highlights your top skills and accomplishments, as well as your passion for design.
  3. Experience: Include relevant professional experience.
  4. Projects: Highlight relevant UI design work and projects.
  5. Skills: Include your core technical skills that match the job description.
  6. Education: Include school name, degree/certificate and graduation date. You can also add relevant educational achievements.
  7. Awards/Recognition/Activities: Showcase other accomplishments that will help you stand out.

What to Include in Your UI Designer Resume?

You will want to include these important sections in your UI Designer resume:

Profile/summary

In a few sentences, introduce yourself, summarize your design achievements and highlight your skills. Keep this section specific and focus on your top accomplishments.

Experience

List relevant professional experience in a reverse chronological order. For each past experience, include the job title, employer, start and end date, and location. Then, write two to three bullet points about the results you achieved. Frame your experience around your accomplishments, rather than your responsibilities. For example, instead of “Developed interfaces for new website, ” rewrite it as, “Designed interfaces for new website which increased visitors by 30%.”

Education

List the name of the institution, the degree or certification earned, and the enrollment and graduation date.

Skills

Highlight your technical skills, including the tools and software that you are proficient in. Note some relevant soft skills such as problem solving when mentioning technical skills.

Projects

Select a few relevant designs that highlight your UI design skills. Include a brief description of the projects selected and the tools used.

Awards/Professional development/Other

Differentiate yourself from other job candidates by listing awards, volunteer experiences, conferences or other activities and involvement.

What Skills Should You Put on a UI Resume?

UI Designer resumes should include skills that match what the company is looking for. Review the job posting and list skills that are most relevant to the position and your experience.

Some of the skills you may want to include in your UI Designer resume are: computer design, responsive design, automation tools, UI prototyping, wireframing, HTML/CSS, JavaScript/jQuery, GitHub, debugging, CSS/JS frameworks, other programming languages, user research, user flows, interaction flows and interaction design, mobile application development, cookies, graphic design, branding, story boards, site maps, typography, color theory, Sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InVision.

Soft skills such as problem solving and brainstorming design ideas are good to emphasize as well.

UI Designer Resume Template

Use this following UI Designer resume sample to start your design resume building process.

[NAME]
[Phone Number]
[Email]
[LinkedIn]
[Portfolio/Work Samples]

SUMMARY
Passionate UI Designer skilled in [top skills]. Past projects include [major UI accomplishment or project].

EXPERIENCE
[Job title, Company]
[Month, Year – Month, Year]

  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]

[Job title, Company]
[Month, Year – Month, Year]

  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
  • [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]

DESIGN WORK/PROJECTS
[Project], [Role]
[Brief description of project]

EDUCATION
[Degree earned, School name]
[Graduation date]

  • [Relevant courses]
  • [Academic achievements]

SKILLS

  • [Technical skills]
  • [Software/tools]

AWARDS AND ACTIVITIES

  • [Award]
  • [Volunteer experience]
  • [Conference]

Summary

Your resume, or your CV, is part of your first impression to a Hiring Manager to secure a UI Designer job. If your goal is to eventually work as a Senior UX Designer or to continue progression in user interface design careers, ensuring your resume represents why would fit a position over other designers should be part of your process.

Avoid using a CV template, as a company looks for designers that can demonstrate the work experience that is listed on the resume.

Use your resume design as your introduction to who you are as a designer.

With research, design, and proofreading, you’ll decrease the chances of resume rejection and be well on your way to creating a winning UI Designer resume for your next dream job.