Become a User Experience (UX) Designer without a degree or design background

Unsplash photo by Tirza van Dijk

You’re probably all over the internet finding the right formula to become a UX Designer, UI/UX Designer, or Product Designer (yes they’re all similar — in a sense). It’s tough looking for the right thing over the plethora of things out there but what I can tell you, is you stumbled upon the right read.

I was going through the same thing a few years back, trying to find out how I could position myself as “employable” or “good enough” to be called a UX Designer or at least approve of myself for having the potential. I scoured through Reddit, Medium, Youtube videos, Dribbble, Behance, Linkedin, etc., trying to find the right mentor, the right people, books, and tools to get me started. I wasn’t always a designer, to begin with. I was a paralegal in a mid-level law firm which bore me to death. I really loved designing ever since I was young but being raised in an Asian family — designing and anything related to colors and vibrant energy was not the way to go.

With enough rebellion and stubbornness, I found myself exploring the internet looking for ways on how to earn money through design, and later on, discovered ‘User Experience’. It was quite vague and it was certainly new to me. I remember watching a youtube video from Christine Chun (chunbuns) and finding out just how awesome UX is. I fell in love, that’s for sure.

Now, learning wasn’t always easy, especially when you’re venturing out of your comfort zones. It drove me crazy, and thus, has led to a deep existential dilemma. I was all over the place, buying courses from websites, watching videos, and reading non-stop it became exhausting because, after all the things I’ve read and tried, I was getting so little out of it when it comes to improving my skills. It felt like I was only getting the tip of the iceberg when there was a whole chunk of ice down deep.

After countless errors, and frustrations in trying to become a UX Designer, I figured out how to make learning easier with divided efforts. I’m here to let you know that there is no hocus pocus or gimmick:

1. Patience. Simply put one foot forward and start moving. You can’t learn everything all at once, you need to be patient because you will not become a UX Designer overnight.
2. Establish a goal. When you’re starting your transition, create a day-to-day task of what you want to accomplish, like reading about the Design Process from the NN Group, starting your Udemy course on how to use Adobe xd which I learned from Daniel Walter Scott, and a few youtube videos or a crash course of Figma by DesignCourse. It’s up to you, really, as long as you dedicate 1–2 hours of your time to learning with no distractions.
3. Challenge yourself. When I was learning how to create a user interface (no, I didn’t start building a product from scratch right away.) I challenged myself to create designs by other designers to help build muscle memory on the basic structures and functions. It was also a task for me to create designs based on my own sketches. Also, this a reminder to NEVER post designs that are not yours.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask. Learn from other designers, even if you feel like you won’t really get a buddy, be bold enough to ask, the worst thing you can get is a ‘no’ for an answer. If you’re highly introverted like me, you can visit Facebook groups and read comments from other designers; they give really awesome feedback and you can learn from posting your designs, too. If you also feel like I’m the design buddy you need, feel free to send me a message or you can email me. I’ll try my best to help you.
5. Read and learn from other people’s portfolios/designs work. I cannot stress this enough. I know a lot of designers do not really recommend this because the portfolios curated from booth camps aren’t really advisable but hey, I think you have to start somewhere, right? Here are some tips on what to avoid when building a portfolio if you are starting one.
6. Feedback is everything. When I was starting out, I was extremely defensive with my designs and I hated changing based on people who do not understand design but over time, I’ve come to realize that I am not designing for myself. I am designing for PEOPLE. Be open to feedback because they really go a long way and would help you improve.
7. Don’t be afraid of imperfections. It’s okay, your designs are bound to be terrible at first or if you have a good eye for it, well done! But do not let imperfections hinder your growth. I mean just look at one of my first few designs:

It does not help that I am highly critical of my work lol.

8. Your Portfolio. It’s not enough that you know User Experience or building a wireframe, prototype, etc. It’s important to Show Your Work (a great read btw). I mean, imagine going on a blind date and you kept boasting about your awesome house, car, or scoring the highest score in Mario Kart but never really showing all these to your date. I don’t think you’d be believable, you might even just come off as arrogant. Show your work.

For me, building a portfolio was one of the toughest tasks I’ve worked on because I didn’t know where to start, eventually, I figured it out and started applying. But don’t make life hard as it is, choose a thing you love like coffee shops, food, or online dating app for pets. And if you really want to go all out of extremities, you can even tap on the giants and improve something for them that you find frustrating. You can check out Jason Yuan’s Apple Music Case Study, it’s really awesome.

9. Never question your worth. You are good enough to be here, and if people backlash against you for being a beginner, so what? Just keep practicing and building every day, you’ll get there!

I hope that helped and if you feel like you need a pep talk or guidance, feel free to send me a message or just send me an email. No charge, just pay it forward.

I hope this encouraged you to pursue your passion despite the obstacles of not having a degree in design.

See ya!