How to Hire a UI Designer

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For websites and applications, first impressions are everything. And more often than not, it’s the user interface (UI) that makes or breaks that initial encounter. A clunky, confusing UI can quickly turn users off, while a sleek, intuitive one can keep them engaged and coming back for more. It’s no wonder, then, that UI designers have become some of the most in-demand professionals in the marketing and creative industry, with companies vying for their skills and expertise.

But before you rush to hire a UI designer, take a step back and clearly define the problem you need them to solve. Is your website or application difficult to navigate, leading to user frustration and abandonment? Is it visually outdated or inconsistent, failing to align with your brand identity?

To define your UI problems, gather insights from key people within your organization. Work with your customer support team to identify common user complaints and areas of confusion. Consult with your product managers and developers to understand technical limitations and opportunities for improvement. Ask your analytics team for patterns and pain points they’ve analyzed from user behavior data. Armed with this comprehensive understanding of your UI challenges, you’re ready to craft a job posting that will attract the talent you need.

Just as a well-designed UI draws in users, a tight, well-crafted job posting engages the attention of the best candidates.

Assuming you want your designer to hit the ground running, clearly state what software they’ll use on day one, plus the kinds of products and platforms they’ll be working on. Skills and experience with tools the designer may need include:

Prototyping — Figma, Adobe XD, InVision Studio

Editing or creating still images — Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Sketch

Creating animated images and text — Adobe After Effects, Principle, Haiku

AI-powered tools — Khroma, Uizard, Adobe Firefly

Usability testing — UserTesting, Lookback, UserZoom

Engineering and design are increasingly specialized, so don’t assume your new designer has extensive coding skills. Most will know HTML and CSS basics. If you require JavaScript, Swift or another more complex coding language, mention this in your job description.

You may also need designers with localization experience if you’re launching internationally. And an understanding of accessible design is a big plus.

Some additional topics to address in your posting: Is the position full-time or project-based? Are any special credentials or certifications required? What level of formal education is preferred? Include details about your organizational culture. State clearly whether the position is office-based, remote or hybrid.

Finally, work with your team to make sure the job description prioritizes must-have skills and qualifications. If the posting is a laundry list of nice-to-have attributes, it risks driving away talented candidates who can’t tick every box. Knowing how to hire a UI designer starts with knowing how to craft a winning job posting.

A well-thought-out resume and portfolio tell a lot about a candidate’s hard skills, qualifications and experience. They tell you less about their soft skills, though, such as their ability to communicate ideas to team members.

These and similar interpersonal skills are crucial for UI designers, who work closely with web developers and user experience (UX) designers. By asking the right questions during the interview, you can probe a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in these areas.

Some examples:

Tell me about a time you worked on a project with a teammate with a design perspective different from yours. How did you approach the situation to ensure you could reach a solution that worked for everyone? This question helps you understand the candidate’s communication and persuasion skills and ability to work with people who have different styles and approaches to getting the job done.

Great designs often go through multiple iterations. How do you handle constructive criticism of your work? Can you share an example of a time when feedback from a colleague or client helped you improve your design? This question lets you assess the candidate’s ability to receive feedback gracefully and incorporate it into their work, a crucial skill for growth and successful teamwork.

The design world can be fast-paced. Walk me through your process for prioritizing and managing multiple design projects simultaneously. This helps you evaluate the candidate’s organizational skills and ability to juggle competing priorities, essential for success in a busy environment.

How do you ensure that your designs align with the overall vision and goals of the product, creating a positive experience for the people who will use it? Can you share a specific example of how you achieved this in a past project? This question probes the candidate’s understanding of the ultimate goal of a project: the satisfaction of users. It can also show you how candidates translate that into functional and user-friendly interfaces.

Pretend I’ve never used a smartphone and explain why UI design matters. This question is a great way to test the candidate’s ability to communicate complex ideas in a clear and relatable way, a valuable skill for any designer.

It’s a tight job market and UI designers may well be juggling multiple offers from different companies. If a candidate impresses you with their resume and interview, chances are they’re impressing other employers, too, so it’s essential to move quickly to make them a competitive offer.

The Robert Half Salary Guide provides salary data for creative and marketing roles, including UI designer. Salaries can vary according to location, so the guide allows you to determine in what salary range UI designers are paid in the area where you’re hiring.

If you can’t match the salaries your competitors offer, you have other options. Tempting perks and benefits, like flexible schedules or additional vacation time, can sway creative professionals. Get creative yourself and think about what might appeal to UI designers. They are likely to embrace emerging technologies, opportunities for professional development and the ability to attend compay-paid UI-related conferences, all of which may help your job offer stand out.

Recruiting can be stressful and time-consuming. With their expansive networks, talent solutions firms like Robert Half have the inside track on the best UI designers available in your region. They keep you up to date on the latest trends in hiring and compensation and might be just the edge you need to hire a UI designer who’s right for you.

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