Leveling up visual design
I’ve been asked in interviews with Uber and InVision about my comfort with visual design. Up to this point I’ve admitted to recruiters that my visual design skills are behind. Its something I know about and I work on a lot. I feel really comfortable with UX stuff, wireframing, usability testing, design sprints and general react/rails/elixir stuff, but I feel like I’m just a few years behind in visual design. I am wondering if anyone tips or go-to resources for leveling up your design proficiency and skill. I just picked Daily UI back up. I’m posting to dribbble at least weekly, getting mentored with Out of Office Hours, and I’m putting in a lot of hours after work just testing things out. What else? YOE: 6 TC: <$100k
You know how some writers will literally type The Great Gatsby just to feel what it’s like to write masterpiece? Do the same with visual design. Find stuff that’s fantastic looking and try to re-create it. Do this a couple times per week, and you’ll be amazed at what you pick up. It truly helps. Having good visual design skills is invaluable. It’s still how many people think of “design.”
I couldn’t agree MORE with this advice to designers of every single level.
My UX leader used to ask me this constantly, as I am a visual designer. I never cared about it, however, she was at a disadvantage ALL the time during critique because of the lack of visual skill. In general people suck at typography, even visual designers that I know. They use the same type choices, no variety, no historical knowledge of type setting. You need to study typography just as much as you do other design things. Also don’t confuse illustration skill sets with visual design. Make sure you design with content, don’t just make it minimal because the real skill is making it simple with a lot of content. I personally feel that in big product companies UX specialties shouldn’t be asked to have a visual skill set. That’s why the distinction visual designer is relevant. I also feel that visual design is largely degraded (and paid less) over UX when in reality most people I know who consider their careers to be visual design heavy are better at UX decisions, closer to the product, and closer to the code because they work in detail regularly. Start with the book making and breaking the grid, and also any of Lupton’s type books.
Thanks for the great insight! Are there any recommendations for online visual courses?
Most UX designers don't have the visual design skills although they fib that they do. You're fine.
I usually say: 1) visual design is not my interest. 2) I am much more interested in the earlier stages of the design process. 3) I enjoy working within a team where there are people who are better visual designers who can help me. 4) I find design system helpful, I don't have to do visual design all the time. Both Uber and Google are fine with my answer.
That’s incredibly helpful, thank you.