Is UX/UI Design In Demand?

Deciding to invest time, money, and effort into a new career can be risky and nerve-wracking. Many aspiring UX/UI designers worry about a potential shortage of entry-level job opportunities. Some even fret that it’s too late to join the UX/UI design industry, believing they missed their chance to join a dynamic and rewarding field.

We’re here to put your mind at ease. While we can’t predict the future, evidence suggests that UX/UI design opportunities will not dwindle in the coming years.

Here are a few key indicators that new UX/UI professionals (like you!) don’t have to worry about job security:

1. Demand For UX Continues to Grow

One simple way to predict the future of a job market is to look at past trends. After all, most roles do not experience sharp rises and declines in demand. Sans a market crash or groundbreaking invention, the tech industry will probably continue to thrive as it has over the last decade.

Similarly, many reports have lauded UX/UI design for its healthy job outlook in recent years. A 2017 Adobe survey found that the demand for UX designers rivaled the demand for software engineers. Eighty-seven percent of the 500 managers surveyed said that hiring more UX designers was their top priority, and in 2020, LinkedIn also ranked UX design fifth among companies’ top ten most desired hard skills.

Looking forward, many sources also predict excellent growth for UX/UI design. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts faster than average growth for digital designers over the next decade, and Glassdoor also ranks UX designer at #24 in a list of best jobs in the United States in 2021.

If the recent past and these projections are any indicators of what’s in store, then the future of UX/UI is bright. 😎

2. UX/UI Designers Are Well-Paid

Companies see UX/UI as a good investment. A study from Forrester Research showed that for every $1 invested in UX, companies bring in about $100 in return. High-quality user experience design can even boost conversion rates as high as 400%. For these reasons alone, companies are unlikely to stop hiring UX designers, whose valuable skills help them turn an impressive profit.

Compensation is another good indicator for the future of UX/UI designers. On average, UX designers make about $74,500 annually, but many designers can crack six figures with just a few years of experience. If companies didn’t value UX/UI designers, they wouldn’t pay them so well!

3. There Will Always Be New User Experiences to Design

Many newcomers to the UX/UI design industry get a little spooked when they see articles like this one from Forbes, which claims the title “UX Designer” will die out.

While specific job titles may go out of fashion, the core UX design skillset will not become obsolete. If demand for UX design does dwindle, it will likely be replaced by parallel career paths that UX designers can easily occupy. Interaction design, AI design, and more specialized UX work like UX writing are just a few opportunities that UX designers may drift towards in the coming decades.

Like all tech jobs, UX/UI will adapt to the changing technology of our time. The internet of things, voice assistance, and artificial intelligence are just a few budding fields that will increasingly need UX/UI professionals as they expand.

Where there’s a user, there’s a need for a user experience designer. If you’re thinking about starting a career in UX/UI design, you can trust that this adaptable and promising field will only become more interesting as our technology progresses.

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