user experience

UX designer jobs are part of the fastest-growing career fields in the United States for reasons that should come as little surprise. Quality user experience design (UXD) can lead to an increase in site conversions of up to 400 percent,1 which can greatly impact brand loyalty and sales, and most web users say they won’t recommend a business with a poor mobile experience.

When people interact with computers they do so through interfaces. These interfaces are designed by humans, and in the optimal situation, they are user-friendly and easy to navigate. As more of us use computers and machines daily for everything from work to shopping and social interactions, user experience (UX) is more critical than ever before.

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Drew Shipka works for the Office of Continuing and Distance Education and has helped improve online classes at Kent State University for over a decade. He leads a team of instructional designers whose primary responsibilities are developing fully online graduate programs. He earned master’s degrees in Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, and Library and Information Science, and Information Architecture Knowledge Management from Kent State University.

User experience design (UXD) is a strategic undertaking. At minimum, it requires a fundamental understanding of digital sociology and the principles of storytelling and website design. While UX designers are often exceptionally intelligent people, there are always ways in which they can improve their overall output.

Kent State User Experience Design (UXD) Instructor Kelsey Pytlik has an undergraduate degree from Miami University of Ohio and a master’s degree in User Experience Design from Kent State University. After her early career with creative agencies and e-commerce retailers, she became the sole UX designer for luxury furniture retailer Frontgate. She is now the CEO of Gild Collective, which is dedicated to empowering women through inclusion and leadership.

If you’re wondering how to become a UX designer after years working in another field, Kent State University alum Brian Parsons, MS ’18, has one piece of advice: “Take on any roles you can with a UX-related title in them, even if it’s volunteering.”

Kent State online Master of Science in User Experience Design (UXD) student Kendra Jobes, MS ’19 candidate, has always wanted her work to make an impact on people. When her undergraduate degree in design led to an initial user experience job after college, she quickly learned that she enjoyed developing and using the artistic and technical skill set required for a UX role.

With a projected 10-year job growth rate of over 20 percent,1 the field of user experience (UX) design is exploding right now, and a graduate-level UX degree can help you get into the fast lane of this ever-expanding career track. If you’re forward thinking, curious about UX design trends and someone who thrives in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, you just might have what it takes to be a successful UX designer—at least according to Ben Woods, a UXD professional with nearly two decades of experience and a faculty member at Kent State University.

Good user experience (UX) is good business. The average American internet user spends nearly 24 hours per week on the internet, and best practices in UX design have become crucial not only to success online, but also in the physical world, where online brand and service experiences carry over into other real-time interactions.1 But since the internet is where we largely work, study, socialize and shop today, implementing proven UX design principles can make the difference between successfully engaging users and losing them to competing sites and services.