Can You Work as a Remote UX Designer?

Millennials embraced remote work even before a worldwide pandemic sent many employees home to Zoom into the office for two years and counting. A survey done by freelance employment site Upwork found that hiring managers expect that trend to continue with 73 percent of teams to include remote workers by 2028. It is definitely possible to work remotely as a UX Designer and some people find it easier than working in an office.

How Do Remote UX Design Jobs Work?

Remote design works very much like in-house design with a few important differences. Thanks to collaborative tools, video conferencing, and remote testing apps, design tasks can be accomplished from anywhere. As long as you have a stable internet connection, you can plan the design, conduct interviews, brainstorm and collaborate, and test prototypes all remotely. 

There are a number of advantages to working remotely as a UX Designer. Company travel costs are lower because everyone involved can sit down at a computer and participate with no need to drive or fly anywhere. This also allows more people to participate no matter where they live, although it can make for some strange meeting times for international attendees. Finally, the ability to meet remotely is convenient for workers and allows for flexibility.

Skills and Attributes of Successful Remote UX Designers

To be a successful remote worker, you need good communication skills and the ability to self-motivate. You need self-confidence and independence to stick to the team’s schedule and accomplish your tasks without colleagues in the same space. Remote workers also need personal accountability for their work. Although remote work can be challenging, people who do it point to several advantages. There are fewer interruptions when you are on your own. No one walks by your office and stops for a chat. This often leads to greater productivity for remote workers. The amount of independence also leads remote workers to develop excellent problem-solving skills.

Collaborative Design Tools

One of the reasons that UX design work can be done remotely is because of the collaborative design tools that are available. These can help the members of the team stay in contact and continue the design process. 

Adobe XD

is a design tool based on vector graphics that allows you to create digital designs for everything from mobile apps to websites. XD is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud and works well with other CC apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Animate. There are many repeating features that make your workflow move faster, and XD also includes collaboration features that make it easy to share and test prototypes. You can run XD on both macOS and Windows.

Sketch 

Sketch is a Mac application that doesn’t work on Windows. You can use vector editing tools or design at the pixel level. It allows you to scale to any size of screen and speed up your workflow with mathematical shortcuts. As with XD, there are repeatable components and you can organize your design so everything is easy to find. Sketch recently added real-time collaboration, so now it is easier for a team to work together, and you can also create libraries of the elements the team is using. There are also many plugins available to customize your workspace.

InVision

InVision works to support the entire design process from brainstorming, designing, testing, collaborating, and delivering. The application includes Studio, Cloud, Freehand, Craft, and Enterprise. InVision works on both macOS and Windows.

Figma

Figma is another design application. It includes FigJam which provides an online whiteboard for collaboration to let your design team plan, define, and workshop together. You can use the pen tool for vector graphics or plugins like an instant arc design. Auto Layout moves and stretches items automatically, and Figma makes the work move along efficiently. Figma runs on a browser so it will work with macOS, Windows, or Linux systems.

How to Find a Remote UX Design Job

Finding a job as a remote UX Designer is similar to finding any other UX design job. You need to build a strong portfolio of work displayed on a website to show to prospective employers. You will also need to apply for jobs on websites like Indeed and LinkedIn. Remote.co and Weworkremotely.com are two of many job websites that specialize in remote employment.

Small companies are more likely to offer a remote option than large companies. If you can’t find a fully remote job, you might be able to compromise and negotiate a partly remote position. Job sites advertise jobs that are fully remote, and some are partly remote.

Where to Learn UX Design

If you would like to learn more about UX/UI design to switch to a new career, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn design software and other applications. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.

The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and will cover motion graphics and animation in much more depth than tutorials can. Another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality sample video portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.

Conclusion

It’s easy to learn UX design and start a new career. Check out Noble Desktop’s UX design classes. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design courses and attend from anywhere. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other UX design bootcamps in your area.