Writer Jared Spool coined the term UX Unicorn as a way to explain not only the breadth of skills and passions that fall under the umbrella of user experience design, but also to cast a vision of what UX designers should strive to learn. The term’s meaning varies across the profession, from those who believe in Spool’s elusive do-it-all hire to critics who see a generalist who does a lot but nothing exceptional.
An individual UX designer need not excel at all of these skill areas. However, there should be a baseline of ability that allows every designer to at least understand each aspect of the whole work. Doing so improves communication with both stakeholders and collaborators.
As a unit, a UX design team does need to strive for excellence in all skills. That typically comes not from a single unicorn, but from a herd of diverse designers whose gaps in knowledge complement each others passion and expertise. We are the unicorn.
The Core Skills of UX
In 2016, Conor Ward grouped the necessary UX skills into 10 areas of interest that any UX team should be asked to do and be capable of doing. Inspired by that list, I paraphrase them here with more comfortable language and organization. These are the skills that are central to my core work as a UX designer.
1. Empathy
Designers are guided by the realities of observed behaviors that they obtain through the collaborative exploration of prototypes, implemented products, and services. The practice of increasing empathy demands both knowledge and execution of research techniques. It also necessitates an ability to cultivate relationships with stakeholders and participants in design studies, to help them value and share their experiences.
2. Analysis
Collected evidence can highlight the human needs that design must address. Later in the design process, they help evaluate the efficacy of a solution. Through data analytics and behavioral insights derived from research, analysis is about connecting the dots to suggest a picture to flesh out. Skills that help analysis include data and network science, card sorts, and diagramming.
3. Translation
Translation skills bridge the gap between stakeholders and product development by effectively communicating design questions and ideas. Journey mapping, experience mapping, task flows, and decision trees are useful visualizations that help explain the paths someone takes and the obstacles they encounter. Understanding and communicating narratives of experience allow UX designers to align efforts toward a shared vision.
4. Experimentation
Prototyping is a test of a hypothesis of use. This central activity for UX designers relies on knowledge of industry tools, traditional visual communication, and understanding “computer imagination”—the special affordances of a given technology. Prototypes focus on demonstrating interactions and casting a vision of the proposed solution in a way that prompts discussion, agreement, and iteration.
5. Clarity
My philosophical approach to information prioritizes consistency, accessibility, and security to ensure that the created tools are easier for everyone to navigate and use. These attributes are best baked into design systems with reusable building blocks of interaction. Such clarity aids in way finding and sets expectations of functionality before a person decides to interact with the application. Skills like making site maps, categorization, navigation strategies, use of metadata, and writing concise text are also helpful in designing usable tools.
These additional skill areas improve all aspects of core work:
6. Creativity
Layered across all other skills are creative instincts that are most effective when done quickly. Skills such as sketching, and wireframing are essential for rapid concept generation, but creativity stretches and connects ideas to show a broader and more novel range of possibilities. Creative approaches to technical implementation can improve efficiency and allow for future evolution of a system.
7. Psychology
Knowledge of psychology and how it applies to human decision-making and emotion augments any research and choice of design solution. Persuasive design understands the drivers and resistance that people experience, leveraging that insight to suggest better paths through and around pain points. Since persuasion can easily become manipulation, design ethics are a critical companion in making choices to leverage human psychology. At best, psychology helps to remove barriers and make intent transparent.
My design ethics also value relationships. Inspired by the concepts of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT)—a feminist response to traditional psychology which acknowledges that people grow through and towards connection, and that our culture often gets in the way—design should look for the places that technology facilitates or inhibits connection with others, and for the power differentials that may be present in even simple tasks.
8. Visual Language
Edward Tufte’s insights on visual design emphasize clarity, precision, and efficiency when presenting information. His principles—maximize the data-ink ratio, remove chartjunk, increase information density, and tell a story—are widely recognized for improving the communication of complex data, and they can inspire the visual choices made in interface design, including aesthetics and iconography.
9. Technical Insight
By standardizing appearance and function at a component level, design systems often benefit from additional knowledge of front-end technology like CSS, Javascript, WCAG standards, mobile device affordances, colors, and fonts. While UX designers are not typically asked to write code, visual language is evident in the sketches, high-fidelity prototypes, and conceptual designs that informs implementation. Possessing enough technical knowledge about code and hardware allows a designer to ask good questions, anticipate potential problems, and help explain constraints that may limit desired functionality.
10. Collaboration
Designs are improved by fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders and treating design as an ongoing group activity. UX Design should serve as a link across functional and feature teams, to facilitate sharing experiences and soliciting input. Externally, this skill extends to relationships with stakeholders through workshops, conferences, and presentation of designs for feedback and approval.
My UX Skills
I strive to have some functional abilities across all 24 UX skills, while gravitating toward a few specific skills due to opportunity, ability, and interest.
For each skill, I rate myself on a combination of factors, with each stars indicating my knowledge, ability, passion, innovation, and frequency of practice.