With so many websites and apps today, yours must be phenomenal to stand out. The first point of contact between your digital platform and the users is the interface, which is why it deserves special attention. To ensure your website or app is appealing, accessible, and easy to use, you should hire a UI designer.
These professionals can use their keen eye for aesthetics and knowledge of target user psychology to help you build a digital platform that your visitors will enjoy using, presenting your brand in a positive light and boosting sales.
This guide will help you recruit a top-notch UI designer. You’ll learn what their role entails, what traits you should look for, and how to find a UI designer that suits your business needs. We’ll also introduce you to MarketerHire, a platform that makes it simple to connect with top-notch UI designers and marketers.
What Is a UI Designer?
A UI designer is a professional who builds the user interface (UI) of your app or website. The interface allows users to get around the platform and use its features, and it consists of elements like action buttons, typography, and menus.
The interface needs to be:
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Intuitive, even for first-time users
- Accessible to users of all ages and abilities
While great design often goes unnoticed, inconsistencies and bugs on your website or app can make your brand seem unprofessional and deter potential customers. That’s why you need a skilled UI designer when building your platform.
With their keen eye for design and knowledge of usability and design principles, UI designers can ensure your platform is user-friendly, on-brand, and appealing.
UI designers can also use their knowledge of user behavior to create effective marketing funnels and ads and help turn visitors into paying customers.
What Does a UI Designer Do?
A UI designer’s job depends on the context they’re working in. It can encompass a wide range of responsibilities, including:
- Research: The designer must first understand your brand and the vision of the user experience (UX) designer. UX designers conduct in-depth research on target users’ preferences, and the UI designer’s job is to implement their findings and bring their wireframes to life
- Designing: A UI designer's job mostly revolves around designing elements, such as buttons and icons, and then composing screens. They also need to select the color palette and typography and create a style guide. They begin with rough sketches that they later turn into polished, interactive prototypes
- Testing: To assess the usability of their designs, the UI designer will test them with select users and analyze performance metrics to understand their behavior. They can then fine-tune their designs before handing them off to developers
- Collaboration: Besides developers and UX designers, UI designers usually work with UI writers, user researchers, SEO experts, and product managers
When and Why Should You Hire a UI Designer?
You need a UI designer when you want to build a website or app, add new features, or redesign your existing platform. These professionals ensure a smooth, intuitive, and pleasant experience for your users.
You should consider hiring a UI designer especially if:
- You need a complex interface with many features and users
- You plan on updating the platform often
- Your business relies on the platform
- You have a crucial marketing campaign coming up and expect a user spike
- You’ve had usability issues
- You’ve had engagement and retention problems
If you hire an excellent UI designer, you can expect the following benefits:
- A visually appealing, professional-looking, and on-brand website or app
- A platform that’s functional across devices, accessible, and intuitive for all users
- Better ratings and fewer customer support calls
- Continuous improvement of the platform and innovation
- Higher user engagement, retention, and conversions
- Reputation boost and competitive edge
In-House vs. Freelance vs. Fractional UI Designer
If you’re you urgently need design services on a tight budget, you can hire a freelance UI designer or engage them on a fractional basis. Check out the table below to learn how these arrangements differ from in-house hiring:
Some designers specialize in both UI and UX, so if your business is small, you can recruit these experts and avoid the overhead of two full-time hires.
How To Choose the Best UI Designer
Here are eight traits to look for in your potential UI designer during the hiring process:
- Experience: They have a vast and diverse portfolio of past design work and know which elements work for which contexts and audiences
- Tool proficiency: They are adept in common design, prototyping, and analytics tools, such as Figma, Sketch, InVision, and Applause
- Design expertise: They understand all the design fundamentals, such as composition, color theory, iconography, and typography
- Data-based approach: They make decisions based on performance and behavioral data, not only aesthetics
- Empathy: They can put themselves in the users’ shoes and design with them in mind
- Communication skills: They convey their ideas effectively and listen to feedback from teammates
- Creativity: Their designs are innovative enough to help your app or website stand out from the competition
- Curiosity: They follow industry best practices and trends and hone their skills by attending conferences and certification courses
How To Hire a UI Designer
Follow the process below to hire a qualified UI designer for your business:
- Advertise the vacancy: You can find a UI designer for hire on job boards, freelancing sites like Upwork, or social media. Another great way to source reliable candidates is via recommendations and referrals. In any case, make sure your job description is clear and detailed to avoid confusion
- Screen and interview: Look at all the CVs and portfolios and shortlist experienced candidates whose style matches your vision most closely. Interview top candidates to assess their soft skills and learn more about their approach
- Hire and onboard: Once you’ve zeroed in on the best candidate, make them an offer quickly as UI design is a competitive field. Before they start working, go over the terms, such as deliverables, timelines, and benefits. Help the designer integrate by providing them with company documentation and introducing them to the team
Pitfalls of the Traditional Approach To Hiring a UI Designer
If you’re short on time or lack the design expertise to effectively evaluate UI designers, you may be better off partnering with an on-demand marketing recruiting platform such as MarketerHire. Learn how this approach compares to in-house recruiting:
Why Is MarketerHire the Best Choice for Hiring a UI Designer?
MarketerHire has been in the recruiting game since 2018 and has made over 30,000 successful matches so far. With clients such as Forbes, Unilever, and Netflix, it’s established itself as one of the leaders in connecting businesses with expert marketers and designers across all industries and verticals.
The platform offers a white-glove, concierge-style service. You only need to describe your project and let MarketerHire’s experts handle the recruiting process and guide you through it. Using the proprietary MarketerMatch system that combines AI and human insight, they’ll pick the ideal candidate from their elite pool of pre-vetted talent.
Experts from MarketerHire’s network have worked with some of today’s biggest brands, such as Sephora and PayPal. Still, they’ve all undergone a rigorous, expert-led vetting process that comprises skills assessments, live interviews, and test projects. Only around 1% of applicants get admitted into the network.
You can decide whether your match checks all the boxes during a two-week trial. If you’re not happy with their work, MarketerHire will find a replacement for free.
UI designers are far from the only professionals you’ll find on the platform. The network consists of various experts, including marketers such as fractional CMOs, social media managers, and SEO specialists. You can also recruit an Expert Assistant if your design, marketing, or sales team is bogged down by any repetitive tasks.
How MarketerHire Works
The recruiting process with MarketerHire includes only three steps:
- Describing your project: Meet with your dedicated growth manager to discuss your company, project, and hiring needs
- Meeting your designer: The platform will find you a match within 48 hours
- Hiring: If you’re satisfied with your recommended UI designer, you can hire them within three days
Give your business the expertise and commitment it deserves—hire best-in-class UI designers and marketers with MarketerHire.
Other Hiring Guides To Check Out
See the table below to discover other guides on hiring marketing talent: