Hiring UI/UX Services Tips & Tricks

Your users’ experience is of utmost importance, but you already know that, which is why you’re here.

Waffling between a UI/UX freelancer or a whole agency? You came to the right place.

How to Choose a UI/UX Agency

The right UI/UX agency for you may be entirely different from the right UI/UX agency for another business.

There are some questions you need to ask yourself before taking the leap and investing in a UI/UX agency.

Think about your budget. How much money can you afford to carve out for UX?

Is it important to hire a local agency so that you can meet with them face-to-face as well as know that they have experience in your specific market?

Does the agency have experience in your industry?

What services do you need to be covered? Just research, design, and testing? Or are you looking for a full-service agency that also handles things like branding and digital marketing?

Lastly, it’s always worth it to read reviews on the UI/UX agency you have your eye on. Getting the opinion of someone who has first-hand experience with a business is invaluable.

Tips for Businesses Looking for UI/UX Specialist

The first thing you need to do as a business looking for a UX/UI specialist is know yourself.

Know what you want out of a UX/UI designer, know what your unique problems are, know what your company culture and processes are, and know how much you can spend on a UX/UI designer.

Then, consider this stuff:

How Much Should You Pay

How much you should pay your freelance UI/UX depends on how much work you want them to do and what level of skill you want your designer to have.

The lowest amount you should be prepared to pay a UI/UX developer is $25 per hour, but for a higher quality and more experienced UI/UX designer, expect them to charge $70 to upwards of $200 per hour.

How to Measure Success & Performance

How do you know that your UI/UX development is successful?

The KPIs (key performance indicators) include:

• Task success/completion rate
• Error occurrence rate
• Average time spent on each task
• Adoption rate
• Retention rate

If these numbers are looking good, your UX/UI design is effective, and your users are happy. If not, re-evaluate and discuss options for improvement with your UX developer.

What to Look For in a UI/UX Designer

There are a lot of things that UI/UX designers are responsible for, so the position requires a wide set of skills.

You also, of course, want to know that your UI/UX has done this before.

Here’s what you should look for in a UI/UX designer.

Required Skills

There are both hard skills and soft skills required to be a good UI/UX designer.

Your UI/UX should be able to do:

• Research –  your target audience to understand what they’re looking for.
• Information architecture – to organize and analyze this data and create user personas.
• Wireframing and prototyping – to create early iterations of an application.
• User testing – to get the product into real people’s hands and see what works (and what doesn’t.)
• Visual communication – a UI/UX needs to have an eye for design and understand how to create something that’s easy to understand.
• UX writing – things like the microcopy and instructions within the app need to be understandable to users, and it’s the job of the UI/UX to make sure this happens.
  • Check out our top picks for UX writers on Fiverr

It’s also important to have a UI/UX specialist that is good at communication and collaboration.

Experience

The level of experience you’re looking for in UI/UX is largely subjective and based on your requirements and budget.

Since everyone has to start somewhere, many UX designers will have previous experience doing parts of the UX design rather than the whole thing. Research, information architecture, graphic design, coding, digital marketing, and even psychology are all fields and positions that a prospective UX designer has experience in.

Also, remember that experience will be reflected in your UI/UX designer’s rates.

How to Write a UI/UX Job Description [+Template]

To write a UI/UX job description when seeking a designer, make sure to list the necessary skills and responsibilities required for the position, any preferred skills that may not be required but could certainly help, the overall goals of the project, what sort of personality you’re looking for, and what industry your application is geared toward.

It’s a good idea to break this up into sections, including a “job brief”, list of responsibilities, and required skills.

An example UI/UX job description may look like:

Job brief- We are looking for an experienced UI/UX designer to join our innovative team designing an application that will change sports medicine forever.

Responsibilities:

• Researching our target audience, analyzing data using information architecture
• Using that data to create user personas
• Wireframing, prototyping, flows, and mockups that can illustrate app functionality
• Design attractive user interfaces following a brand style guide
• Collaborate with the product and engineering teams
• Identify and troubleshoot UX problems

Requirements and skills:

• Proven experience in a similar UI/UX role
• Strong portfolio
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite or experience with Sketch
• Diploma or degree in computer science, design, marketing, or related field
• Attention to detail and eye for design
• Working knowledge of wireframe tools
• Ability to work collaboratively with a team, communication skills
• HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 knowledge a plus

UI/UX Designer Interview Questions – What to Ask

A few questions to ask in the interview room that can help you get a sense of the personality, knowledge, and experience of your UI/UX candidate are:

• “Tell us about yourself.”
• “How do you define UX design and how are UX and UI different?”
• “How did you get into UX design and what made you want to pursue this career?”
• “Take us through your workflow.”
• “What is your favorite example of UX design and why?”
• “What is your biggest obstacle that came up during a UX project and how did you overcome it?”

These, along with any company-specific questions (ie “why do you want to work with us?”) will give you a good sense of how well this designer knows the job and what their process is like.