Types of UX/UI Positions
The particular scope of responsibility for a UX/UI designer will depend on each individual company and the size of the team that a designer might be joining. Usually, a UX/UI designer works on a team. Depending on the type of company and the company culture, that team may be large or small.
At a small startup, there could be just one lead UX designer for the entire company. If a designer is working at a startup or on a lean product design team, the company will emphasize a streamlined design process with focus on delivery and rapid iteration, rather than allocating extensive resources to in-depth research with multiple specialized team members.
At a larger company with more resources, a designer may work on a design team with multiple types of designers. The design process at a large company may compartmentalize more between UX research and visual design of the interface. With that said, the following are several distinctions between types of UX/UI design roles.
Types of UX/UI Designers
User Experience Researcher
User experience researchers focus their work on the user, spending time to understand the needs, behaviors, and motivations of the users. Larger companies that are investing more capital up-front into product research may hire a user experience researcher. A UX researcher is a multi-team player. They will usually work alongside a range of other people, from business analysts to marketing team members. User experience researchers strive to align the organizational goals with the goals of the user. UX researchers often work on diverse teams that include UX and UI designers as well.
Key skills to know — user interviews, survey design, data analysis, usability testing
Information Architect
Information architects gather all the information necessary for the product and work to create a logical blueprint of the product for the product design team. Information architects organize information and determine how it will be arranged and displayed. They consider how easy information will be to access for users, as well as the general flow of the application. Information architecture is a unique field that actually comes from information and library sciences. This job, which helps to define product strategy, is becoming more and more in demand.
Key skills to know — card sorting, understanding of cognitive psychology, library sciences, user research analysis
Interaction Designer
Interaction designers focus on how users interact with a product and experience the product. This role focuses on the details of an interface, including animations, user flows, and visual aesthetics.
Key skills to know — visual design, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, animation
User Interface Designer
User interface (UI) designers establish the look, feel, and experience of a product. From layout and placement to the visual details, such as buttons, colors, and fonts, UI designers occupy a unique niche under the user experience canopy. Many organizations combine UX and UI design into a single role.
Key skills to know — visual design, user interface patterns, typography, layout best practices, color theory
Product Designer
A product designer is an ambiguous role that varies from workplace to workplace. It tends to include all aspects of product design, from user experience to interface design. Product designers and UX designers often have the same responsibilities and need the same skill sets.
Key skills to know — content strategy, sketching, prototyping, high-fidelity prototyping, storyboarding, scope definition, user interviews, survey design, data analysis, usability testing
Frontend Designer
Frontend web development brings together programming and graphic layout in order to build the website’s visual identity and interactions. A frontend designer will code the interface that the UX and UI designers ideated, sketched, and prototyped. Frontend designers generally work on diverse teams with UX and UI designers, and they are integral for realizing the UX/UI design work. To land a job as a frontend designer, you will need to have the knowledge of web development skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Key skills to know — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks
UX Engineer
The UX engineer is an emerging, multi-skilled role that bridges UX design with frontend development. It is similar to the frontend designer, with a slightly different emphasis. Although most UX designers won’t do any major development work, the UX engineer is likely a frontend developer, first and foremost, who has developed his or her UX skills. Sometimes, the terms “frontend developer” and “UX engineer” are interchangeable. They usually prototype in HTML and CSS, and they are able to communicate their UX work to development teams this way.
Key skills to know — strong frontend development expertise, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
UX Designer
UX designers often perform some or all of the above roles, depending on the size of the company and team structure. It is a multi-faceted job title that presents unique challenges. UX designers advocate between different departments, teams, and stakeholders. They communicate complex concepts in terms that others can understand. A UX designer understands how a website or application functions, as well as how a user interacts with it. They must be able to communicate with users, listen and respond with empathy, and quickly change strategy based on feedback. They are armed with some basic knowledge of information architecture, frontend code, and can communicate about the capabilities of backend development. A UX designer has an understanding that bridges the gap between functionality and visual design, and they respond with agility to critique, always remaining flexible and open-minded about different solutions.
T-Shaped Designer
The most desirable product designers have a T-shaped set of skills and experience. In other words, they are heavily experienced with depth in one discipline but have a breadth of education across other disciplines. For example, the a T-shaped designer might be a super-skilled UX researcher who also knows enough frontend and UI that they can work alongside their diverse team of colleagues and help where needed.
Tim Brown from IDEO describes a T-Shaped designer as follows: “They have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the T — they’re mechanical engineers or industrial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well.”
In summary, throughout a UX designer’s career, he or she can dive in more deeply or specialize completely in one of the following areas:
1) UX research
2) Visual design
3) Frontend development
UX/UI Designer Compensation
Based on research from The Creative Group, the current salary data for UX-trained individuals is the following:
UX Designer
A UX designer makes on average $75,000–$96,250 with 1–3 years and $118,000–$148,000 with 5+ years of experience.
UI Designer
A UI designer makes on average $65,000–$80,000 with 1–3 years and $97,500–$128,750 with 5+ years of experience.
Product Designer
A product designer makes on average $66,250–$87,000 with 1–3 years and $109,750–$131,500 with 5+ years of experience.
Graphic Designer
A graphic designer makes on average $43,250–$56,750 with 1–3 years and $67,250–$89,000 with 5+ years of experience.
Visual Designer
A visual designer makes on average $64,500–$108,250 with 5+ years of experience.
Frontend Web Developer
A frontend web developer makes on average $81,750–$132,000 with 5+ years of experience.
Web Designer
A web designer makes on average $85,000–$104,500 with 5+ years of experience.
Interaction Designer
An interaction designer makes on average $89,000–$123,250 with 5+ years of experience.
UX Researcher
A UX researcher makes on average $114,000-$135,000 with 5+ years of experience.
The following demonstrates average salaries from all UX-related professions given the appropriate years of experience:
The average salary for a UX designer is higher than that of a graphic designer and other types of designers with similar experience. This may be because most UX designers contribute to product design in the technology field, which may lead to higher compensation.
UX design is a multi-disciplinary team effort that can be broken into distinct job positions or grouped under one umbrella position, depending on the size and resources at a given company.
