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Being a good UI designer means being able to empathise with the users, understand their needs, and enable them to do what they came to do in a most efficient and pleasant way possible. If you don't have much experience in these fields (UI and UX, as if they are two different things) you will quickly learn that the above trumps most of what you might have learned throughout a formal graphic design education and/or experience as a graphic designer. So, my direct advice would be to study user behavior on the Web, psychology, and usability. Learn (if you don't already have the habit) how to think through user flows in lo-fi mockups and wireframes, immerse yourself in good UI design, and make it your priority to pay attention to details when using other people's software; and I don't just mean on the UI side. Pay attention at the company behind the app, how they prioritize features, and how they handle unsexy, menial tasks such as recurring billing, support, and how they integrate that into their work, the software itself. I strongly believe that you can't be just a UI designer. I mean, you can be to a certain point, but you need to know all of the ins and outs of what it takes to take a product to market in order to be one of the few superstars who we all look up to and learn from. You need to be aware of the entire process, have insight into the business decisions that need to be made, so that you can paint a whole picture. |