<aside> 👉 Hey, Miranda here from UX Survival Guide 👋 Below I’ve put together what you need to know to get started in UX or Product Design. To help save you from the endless sea of articles and resources out there, I’ve curated what I believe is absolutely critical to know before you can get a job in this field. Being a good designer takes practice so don’t get stuck just reading & watching, you can start playing around with the design tools from day 1. Read a little, design a little.

I also think it’s super important that you’re honest with yourself. The “self-taught” route isn’t for everyone’s learning style and it’s a lot of work. If you do better with a more guided approach, I’ve included some course options below.

It’s important to keep in mind that you are up against a very saturated market atm with people who have invested a lot into their education. So, if you want this path to work you’ve got to put in the time and effort. Don’t expect to land a job in 3 months from starting, it’s just unrealistic.

All of that to say even folks with masters degrees are turned away from roles so it all depends on where you focus your energy and how you sell yourself at the end of the day.

Best of luck on your learning journey!

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I’m a Principal Designer drawing on my 13 years in UX to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to showcase your value and accelerate your career growth Follow me on: Tiktok | Instagram | Medium | Substack

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Decide whether UX/Product Design is for you

First and foremost you need to make sure UX is a field that will suit you. So, take a read through these articles to see if what a UX designer does aligns with what you want.

• [ ] What does a UX Designer do?
• [ ] Day in the life of a UX designer

A really great way to get to know what a UX designer does is to ask them. Go to a meetup, find some on Linkedin or ADPList and just sit down with them to inquire about what their role is really like.

Learn the fundamentals / build a foundation

Below are the absolute essentials for anyone wanting to get into UX or Product Design. You need to understand the basics of all of these and your work/projects should reflect your knowledge and experience using them.

• [ ] What is the Design Process?
• [ ] What are the key elements and principals of visual design? You should know these inside and out and be able to point to where you’ve used them in your designs
• [ ] What’s the difference between UX & UI Design?
• [ ] What are the key principals of mobile app design?
• [ ] Understand responsive design & grid layouts
  • Watch this video that deep dives into designing with grids
  • Watch this video walkthrough for how to design responsive layouts in Figma
• [ ] What is a wireframe?

What is a style guide, pattern library, vs design system?

• [ ] Watch this video by Figma on what a design system is
• [ ] Read this article about style guides
• [ ] Extra credit: Check out these design systems from leading companies
• [ ] Gain a base level understanding of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) and Google’s Material Design Guidelines

Understand some of the key terms you’ll come across in UX Design

• [ ] Use this UX Glossary & Design terms list to study

What is design thinking?

• [ ] Read both of these articles from IDEO & NNG