The whole “should designers learn to code” topic is hotly debated. Though some great designers are also good at coding, many believe that undivided focus on a particular skill, such as web designing, will make a professional stronger. It is not something that is essential to becoming a UX/UI designer and being excellent at your job, it will simply serve as another support. No, you don’t need to know how to code to be a UX/UI designer. You may have heard that user interface design requires programming, but nothing could be further from the truth.
You’ll even make yourself more marketable to UX hiring managers because you understand how code works, which makes you a more well-rounded designer. Once you learn those skills, you’ll gain multiple advantages. Although I haven’t coded regularly in years, I can write basic HTML and CSS if I spend a few hours (or even less) refreshing my memory. I can create a functional prototype for the browser if I have to. The basics of front-end web development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code.
UX Beginner
But designers who code, or at least demonstrate deep knowledge of various technologies, will become a great asset to any multidisciplinary team, and it will definitely pay off in the long run. Increasingly, more and more work opportunities in the design field include “nice-to-haves” such as basic web-development and prototyping skills using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s for each designer to decide how much to take on; clearly the need is out there. Understanding measurements and code structure, i.e., how pages are displayed, will provide a deeper understanding of the front-end development process. That in turn will cause designers think more deeply about their designs and how to make them more efficient for that process.
It refers to improving a product’s accessibility, usability, and desirability by shaping the user journey and the product. For most people, this is the reason why they decide to learn how to code. Let’s move on to the reason why a UX designer should know how to code. For example, you are a UX designer for a web app and your company needs you to design a user onboarding flow. There might not be a need for a single line of code in your project; because there is possibly a non-developer friendly tool that can do most of the work for you.
Does UI UX design need coding?
However, for the most part, coding should be used as an enhancement, not a necessity, in a design career. If you’re good at thinking outside the box, and you have a good visual sense, you’ll be able to succeed without needing to code. Additionally, UX designers will also be able to make smaller changes to hand-coded prototypes, which means that they do not have to bother the developers with these small tasks. However, learning how to code can open a lot of doors for UI and UX designers, which may lead to other career opportunities.
To achieve this, UX designers conduct user interviews, contextual inquiries, ethnographic studies, competitive analysis, and rigorous user testing. Thus, a UX designer needs to be skilled in various ui design course types of research. For this reason, UX Designers need to be able to speak the language of both users and Developers. Gaining that insight is the UX Designer’s job, not the Developer’s.
