[harrybr]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that books, articles and conferences are totally insufficient to become a good (UI/UX/User centred/etc) designer.

Here's an analogy with physical fitness. If you want to reach "competition level" fitness you don't just watch youtube videos and read books. You have to practice. And if you practice alone, you'll never hit competition level. You need formal TRAINING. You need an experienced professional giving you advice, critiquing your performance and stretching your abilities. You need them to help you track your own performance, to become acutely aware of your weaknesses and focus on them relentlessly.

A lot of organisations don't get this. A few books, a conference and a spot of mentoring doesn't turn a team of front end developers into UX designers.

[msutherl]

There's a certain extent to which you can be your own coach. You still need to practice, but you can monitor your own performance if you can train your eye faster than your abilities. Training your eye involves a combination of noticing and analyzing interfaces around you (good & bad), reading texts on design, watching talks, and having conversations with friends and colleagues about design. It's especially important, as a self-teacher, to accept a broad range of influences extending beyond what you might call "UX". That includes, but is not limited to, graphic design, psychology, object design, information design, information architecture, HCI, and fine art.

But, if you can find a mentor, that is always the best way.

[simba-hiiipower]

agreed; there are some things you just can't learn without proper training, but if it’s something fairly straight-forward, you can get pretty far in studying common practices and trying things out yourself.

there’s a huge wealth of knowledge out there in just looking around you. my approach (not a pro at all) when designing anything really is just to look for cues from others. there are a lot of resource-rich players that have invested a lot in UI/UX design, and, the great thing here, is that much of the pay-off from those investments is freely available; just look at their products.

this is especially true on the web where it’s so easy to find and compare sites or apps related to what you’re doing. if you take the time to examine them closely and look for commonalities, you’ll generally find many of the more successful sites share a lot in common when you get down to fundamentals (though they may look and ‘feel’ very different). the ‘artistic’ aspect of UI/UX gets the majority of attention (and, in my opinion, is the hard part to master), but what makes or breaks a design is usability, and that you can learn fairly easily.

at the very least you end-up with a product that works; and this is the most important element in UI/UX. from there you can learn to perfect it and make it look amazing, but that takes time and experience.

[msutherl]

99% of UI/UX design is people copying each other. The remaining 1% advance the narrative. Becoming great at UI/UX means becoming the 1%, but there's no shame in just being good.

[sopooneo]

Great UI can be created without adding anything new. Use old things well, in intuitive ways, and you already are ahead of 99% of your competition anyway.

[smashing]

Who trained the trainers? Hint: They were probably self-taught.