It goes without saying that UX design has become one of the most competitive fields in the last couple of years, which requires designers to constantly improve themselves and keep their industry knowledge up to date. In this article, I’ll share some topics I recommend you look at and resources to study them. By mastering them, you’ll set yourself apart in the UX Design job market. Let’s get started!

Gamification

Gamification is the use of game-like incentives in everyday or non-game activities. We enjoy playing games because they make us feel accomplished. It’s difficult to compete with the feeling you get when you finish a good game. By tapping into human behavior and emotions, gamification empowers UX design. If done properly, it increases user engagement and increases the likelihood of the product becoming a huge success.

You can check out Gamification: Motivation Psychology & The Art of Engagement, a 3-hour course that will teach you the fundamentals of gamification and how to apply them to your designs.

Design thinking

Design thinking is an iterative process that entails comprehending obstacles and reframing problems in order to generate alternative solutions that may not be immediately evident with our initial level of comprehension. However, Design thinking is more than a process; it introduces an entirely new way of thinking and provides a collection of practical techniques for applying this new mindset.

IBM offers a free Enterprise Design Thinking course. The course will just require two hours to finish. You can also earn a badge if you pass all quizzes.

Coding (HTML and CSS)

Understanding measurements and code structure, i.e. how pages are shown, will increase comprehension of the front-end development procedure. This will prompt designers to consider their designs and how to make them more efficient for the process in greater depth. They will know what can be accomplished simply and what will be more difficult.

I joined 30 days coding challenge in December to learn HTML and CSS with zero coding knowledge. In just one month I can create basic websites. And yes, it it that easy! 30 minutes of studying a day for 30 days is all it takes.

The course I took was Understanding HTML and CSS. However, it is more theoretical than practical, so I would recommend looking at other options too.