The problem faced by many junior UX/UI designers

Achraf garai -

With the recent trend of UX and the increasing demand for UX and Product designers, We started seeing many startups jump in the trend and started hiring designers.

We often see companies hiring the first design role with little to no knowledge about what they do and what to expect from them.

This leads to designers hired with vague job responsibilities and no mentorship, slowing, as a result, their learning and professional growth.

After working at several companies in the one-man design department, I most of the time find myself explaining my role and responsibilities to colleagues, managers and even Clients. Most people see design is just about making things look good. Many think it is okay to think that design is just about aesthetics.

The problem with thinking that design = Look brings with it a bigger problem, and that is design seen as an afterthought and as something with little to no impact on achieving the businesses goals.

So when companies struggle financially or have to cut project costs, we always see designers are the first to be let go of.

Despite the increasing popularity of design, companies still struggle to find the importance of it and if they really need it.

So what can we do as designers to help change this ?

First, I would recommend to always looking for companies that have good design maturity, there are several indicators on how to know if a company puts values in design.

  • They already have a design team.
  • In interviews, your process and impact is evaluated, not just how good your visual skills are.
  • You are presented with well-defined responsibilities and clear expectations.

But, what if you're already working at a company and feel like you're work is not very valued. The first thing you can do is to not get too attached to the place you work at and always be looking for new opportunities that will help you grow.


Then you will have to consider communicating the importance of design as part of your daily tasks and be prepared to defend your point of view and have reasoning and logic behind every design choice that you make.

Here are few tips to help you better communicate design choices to your colleagues and managers.

  • Rely on data and spend time to really understand your users and their behavior, desires and expectations.
  • Set metrics that help you identify what you're doing is actually helping achieve business goals.

Example: If you're designing a landing page with the business goal to collect emails. Make sure you track email sign up conversion rate and see if your new design if actually helping increase this conversion rate.

  • Be the user's advocate for the team and rely on testing to make your decisions.
  • Explain the designer's role to your colleagues and make sure it is there are no misunderstandings within your team.

Final thoughts

Despite the confusing state, of UX and design, the field is making progress towards being a more understood and acknowledged, and it is part of the responsibility of designers to clarify our role and what can we bring to the table to make better products or services.