31 Dec, 2021
Guides • Vansha Kalra • 17 Mins reading time
The success of a UX design project does not solely depend on beautiful screens, a UX project requires different skills at different stages meaning a well-balanced UI UX team structure.
Indirectly, the success of a UX project is highly influenced by the UX team structure and their skills to offer strategic solutions, creative ideas and dedication to execute them.
Design studios or agencies form a cross-functional team of experts from various domains such as research, psychology, visual design, marketing and engineering.
This ensures that they build the right product which fulfils users’ needs in a pleasurable way and at the same time, achieves business goals.
In this article, we will share how we build a high-performing UI UX team for projects and leadership approaches at Octet Design Studio.
Let’s begin.
Once you have secured the project, you must assess the requirements of the project with the perspective of the types of talent you would require.
Ideally, our cross-functional UX team structure comprises of the following professionals:
We will now take a look at how each professional handles their role and contributes to the entire UI UX team.
The UX team’s responsibilities involve taking charge of the overall project and directing all the other team members on how the project will be executed. The leader ensures that the team moves in the right direction.
He/She should have enough knowledge and experience to fill the gaps, in case any team members can’t perform their roles due to unforeseen circumstances.
The UX team lead shouldn’t only be well-versed in design but should have an in-depth understanding of business too so that he/she can direct the team to align the product that meets business needs.
The team leader needs to be an excellent communicator and decision-maker to address the issues raised by other team members. Parallelly, the leader should be the spokesperson to handle all the communications with the client’s team.
At times during internal disputes or disagreements, it’s the leader’s responsibility to mitigate the conflict and bring everyone back on track.
Following are the UX team lead roles and responsibilities:
As a UX team leader, he/she should be adept in using any of the following tools in each category:
A user experience researcher has an instinct to understand user needs and goals. One of their key and foundational skills is being able to empathise with the users.
UX researchers help in providing actionable and meaningful data-driven insights that represent the voice of multiple users.
They collaborate with design, development and marketing teams to evaluate current and upcoming user research needs that help to improve product definition and drive business goals.
A UX researcher is well-equipped with planning, data collection, analytical and presentation skills. These are just a few of the core skills but UX researchers build up a picture of target users based on their needs, wants motivations, and pain points.
A UX research team structure is mainly tasked with the following responsibilities:
If you are starting your career as a UX designer or UX researcher in the UI UX team, then this article will help you in planning effective UX research.
A UX Researcher and a UX designer together are also responsible for UX audit, user testing, and quality check of implementation. They also plan for the next phase, improvement, and further optimization required to align business goals.
As UX researchers, they should be adept at using any of the following tools in each category:
UX designers are involved at every stage of the UX design process and work in close collaboration with UX researchers and UI designers.
They generate ideas through ideation techniques such as brainstorming and the best possible idea to solve the users’ needs in a way that provides value to the company.
Not only that, they analyze complex data to produce design goals that align with the business goals.
UX designers are highly skilled in product strategy & UX strategy, competitor analysis, user research, wireframing and prototyping.
A UX designer is mainly tasked with the following responsibilities:
As UX designers, they should be adept at using any of the following tools in each category:
You can create both – low and high-fidelity wireframes in other designing and prototyping such as Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, Justinmind, Mockflow, Mockplus etc.
The UX designer should be well versed in any of the popular design software like Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, etc.
Content strategists deal with all types of content that are created, published or governed.
They are well-versed in search engine optimization (SEO) and organizing the information architecture.
They possess sharp analytical skills, think strategically, and look at the details within a wider context including where the company is heading and how competitors are shifting across the playing field.
A content strategist prepares a content strategy, an editorial calendar and templates, creates or collaborates for content, evaluates and checks the produced content and hands over the finished product to the marketing team.
The role of a content strategist is profound in a content-heavy website/app where designers rely on their inputs to structure the entire website/app.
Content strategists differ from UX writers in a manner that content strategists ensure that the content reflects the brand’s voice and tone. They work closely with marketing to ensure a consistent voice across the entire user journey, while constantly adjusting that voice as the user base grows and changes.
A content strategist in a UX team structure is mainly tasked with the following responsibilities:
As content strategists, they should be adept in using Google Analytics and MS Office Suite or Google Suite.
Graphic designers help UI designers with creating custom visuals – be it images, icons, or illustrations for the website or an app.
They are creative visualizers who create custom imagery that complements the UI design.
A graphic designer/illustrator in a UI UX team is mainly tasked with the following responsibilities:
As a graphic designer/illustrator, they should be adept at using any of the following tools in each category:
Graphic designers don’t need to know video editing software, but it helps UI designers when they want to add animations to a website or an app.
An important point to note is that content strategists and graphic designers may not be required in every UX project. It will depend on the project’s requirements and the nature of the digital product.
UI designers are part of the creative lot who deal with the visual aspect of the digital product.
They design all the screens through which a user will move and create the visual elements and their interactive properties that facilitate this movement.
UI designers are experts in colour psychology, typography, design principles and heuristics. They are conversant in various design and prototyping tools such as Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, Invision Studio, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator.
They also might know how to animate the objects and designs using video editing software like Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, etc.
UI designers take inputs from UX designers in the form of information architecture, user flows and wireframes and then create the visual design of the product.
A UI team lead responsibilities involve:
Just like UX designers, they should be adept in any of the popular design tools such as Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, and Invision Studio.
Front-end developers convert the UI designs into code, which will take the product live on the internet.
The most rudimentary skills for a front-end developer are HTML, CSS, and client-side Javascript. But this domain is highly dynamic, as new and new updates roll out and new coding languages and frameworks are created. Hence, they need to stay updated with the latest development technologies.
They are proficient in using different JavaScript frameworks, such as Angular, React, VueJs, Flutter, etc. and also know how to make responsive design, for example, the one that adjusts to screens of different sizes.
A front-end developer or UI engineer is mainly tasked with the following responsibilities:
As a front-end developer, they should be adept at using any of the following tools in each category:
Zeplin is a collaboration and handoff solution, which enables enterprises to share ideas, organize projects and create products using a digital workspace.
You may want to read on: How to Validate Your Startup Idea?
Once you have formed your power UX team, it is time to understand how to lead a UX team and take a path that will utilize their skills the best and provide avenues for growth and development.
As a UX team or a project manager, you must have trust in your team members. It is the only way to be receptive to their thoughts, ideas and opinions and in the process, the members will trust you back.
At Octet Design Studio, we trust every decision of the team member and then advise accordingly.
This way we have built an unshakable foundation of trust which, at any given point in time helps us navigate through project complexities.
Providing the team members freedom to experiment with their ideas and thoughts breeds innovation, and this is a culture that we have cultivated over the years.
When encountering with a complex problem, our team lead acts as a compass, enabling the team to think in the right direction.
Instead of forcing your thoughts on the team, you should try to provide them with opportunities to come up with their ideas, which in many cases prove simple yet effective.
This is a great way to keep them motivated and instil a sense of accomplishment among them.
The job of the leader is not just to shout out instructions and then breathe down the neck of the team members.
Instead, as a leader, you should roll up your sleeves and get down on the ground to show how it’s done.
You can provide samples of your past work to your team so that they can get a fair idea of what are your expectations and how things should be done.
In case of a new project, you can create the first screen by yourself and instruct the team members to create the rest of the screens in similar lines.
The way to create delightful designs and happy clients is to keep pushing your teams to strive to do better in every iteration. It is not that you should have unreasonable expectations but to set the bar high enough.
This helps your team to develop a strong mindset of not being satisfied with the designs if they feel it is too mediocre. They will challenge themselves to create better and better every time; growing & learning in the process
As a leader, one of your prime responsibilities is to keep the environment free from any kind of negativity and toxicity. You should actively look for any team member who is adversely influencing others. Or it can be a criticism that may demean, demoralize or disrupt the delicate creative environment.
If there is an issue that can cause or has caused a dispute between any of the team members, you should intervene and try to resolve it prudently. Otherwise, it can quickly spiral out of control and adversely affect other team members as well.
You can maintain a healthy, creative environment by regularly engaging with team members in an informal discussion, can go out together to a movie or lunch/dinner, play games or celebrate small achievements.
These small breaks are rejuvenating and play an important role in enhancing team bonding and creativity.
Understanding how to build a design team is central to the success of any project. In the case of user experience design projects, strong teams are the foundation.
So, if you own a UI/UX agency or you are looking to start a new UX design project with an agency, you would certainly find our team structure highly relevant. Properly organizing the team will bring more clarity and consciousness to your design decisions is the first step.
At the same time, structuring the team isn’t enough. You must also lead them well to ensure that their talents and skills are materialized.
Also, read our blog on:
Most Popular UI UX Design Tools
Beginner’s Guide to Design System
UI UX Designer
Vansha Kalra, a seasoned UI UX designer, adeptly combines her expertise in graphic design with a passion for creativity to craft innovative user interfaces.
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