Crafting a CV that effectively showcases your UX/UI design skills can be a formidable challenge, often requiring you to balance the visual elements with detailed insights into your design process. Our guide provides tailored tips to articulate your design philosophy and project experience, ensuring your CV stands out to potential employers.
- Design and format your professional ux ui designer CV;
- Curate your key contact information, skills, and achievements throughout your CV sections;
- Ensure your profile stays competitive by studying other industry-leading ux ui designer CVs;
- Create a great CV even if you happen to have less professional experience, or switching fields.
When writing your ux ui designer CV, you may need plenty of insights from hiring managers. We have prepared industry-leading advice in the form of our relevant CV guides.
How to ensure your profile stands out with your ux ui designer CV format
It's sort of a Catch 22. You want your ux ui designer CV to stand out amongst a pile of candidate profiles, yet you don't want it to be too over the top that it's unreadable. Where is the perfect balance between your CV format simple, while using it to shift the focus to what matters most. That is - your expertise. When creating your ux ui designer CV:- list your experience in the reverse chronological order - starting with your latest roles;
- include a header with your professional contact information and - optionally - your photograph;
- organise vital and relevant CV sections - e.g. your experience, skills, summary/ objective, education - closer to the top;
- use no more than two pages to illustrate your professional expertise;
- format your information using plenty of white space and standard (2.54 cm) margins, with colours to accent key information.
Once you've completed your information, export your ux ui designer CV in PDF, as this format is more likely to stay intact when read by the Applicant Tracker System or the ATS. A few words of advice about the ATS - or the software used to assess your profile:
- Generic fonts, e.g. Arial and Times New Roman, are ATS-compliant, yet many candidates stick with these safe choices. Ensure your CV stands out by using a more modern, and simple, fonts like Lato, Exo 2, Volkhov;
- All serif and sans-serif fonts are ATS-friendly. Avoid the likes of fancy decorative or script typography, as this may render your information to be illegible;
- Both single- and double-column formatted CVs could be assessed by the ATS;
- Integrating simple infographics, icons, and charts across your CV won't hurt your chances during the ATS assessment.
PRO TIP
Be mindful of white space; too much can make the CV look sparse, too little can make it look cluttered. Strive for a balance that makes the document easy on the eyes.
The top sections on a ux ui designer CV
- Professional portfolio showcases design projects because visual proof of skills is crucial.
- Design tool proficiency details UX/UI tools expertise, essential for practical work.
- Relevant work experience highlights previous design roles that form the career backbone.
- UX/UI project achievements focus on successful outcomes and design impact.
- Education and certifications confirm formal training and ongoing professional development.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Showcase a strong portfolio with your CV by including links to your work and projects that display your skills in UX and UI design. Employers look for practical evidence of your design prowess and your problem-solving abilities in real-world scenarios.
- Highlight your knowledge of design tools such as Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, or Figma, as familiarity with these software is essential for a UX/UI designer role. Mention any certifications or courses you have completed that are relevant to these tools.
- Emphasise your understanding of user-centred design principles and methodologies by describing how you incorporate user research, personas, and user testing into your design process. Provide examples where your design decisions were guided by user data and feedback.
- Include any experience you have with cross-functional team collaboration, as UX/UI designers often work with developers, product managers, and marketers. Illustrate how your communication skills and ability to incorporate feedback from various stakeholders led to successful project outcomes.
- Demonstrate your ability to prototype and iterate quickly by describing specific instances where you turned concepts into user flows, wireframes, and prototypes. Highlight how iterative design and rapid prototyping helped in finding the most effective design solutions for the users.
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Tips and tricks on writing a job-winning ux ui designer CV header
The CV header is the space which most recruiters would be referring most often to, in the beginning and end of your application. That is as the CV header includes your contact details, but also a headline and a professional photo. When writing your CV header:
- Double-check your contact details for spelling errors or if you've missed any digits. Also, ensure you've provided your personal details, and not your current work email or telephone number;
- Include your location in the form of the city and country you live in. If you want to be more detailed, you can list your full address to show proximity to your potential work place;
- Don't include your CV photo, if you're applying for roles in the UK or US, as this may bias initial recruiters' assessments;
- Write a professional headline that either integrates the job title, some relevant industry keywords, or your most noteworthy achievement.
In the next part of our guide, we'll provide you with professional CVs that showcase some of the best practices when it comes to writing your headline.
Examples of good CV headlines for ux ui designer:
- Lead UX/UI Designer | UX Strategy & Innovation | Certified HCI Specialist | 10+ Years of Experience
- Senior UI Designer | Mobile & Web Interfaces | Visual Design Expert | Adobe Certified | 8 Years in Tech
- Junior UX Designer | User Research & Usability Testing | HCI Graduate | Passion for Accessibility | 2 Years' Experience
- Mid-Level UX/UI Designer | Interaction Design | User-Centric Solutions | Agile Methodologies | 5 Years Professional Design
- Senior UX Architect | Complex Systems Specialist | Certified UX Professional | Data-Driven Design | 12 Years' Achievement
- UI/UX Designer | Branding & Identity | Prototyping Wizard | Masters in Design | 4-Year Industry Trailblazer
Opting between a ux ui designer CV summary or objective
Within the top one third of your ux ui designer CV, you have the opportunity to briefly summarise your best achievements or present your professional goals and dreams. Those two functions are met by either the CV summary or the objective.
- The summary is three-to-five sentences long and should narrate your best successes, while answering key requirements for the role. Select up to three skills which you can feature in your summary. Always aim to present what the actual outcomes were of using your particular skill set. The summary is an excellent choice for more experienced professionals.
- The objective is more focused on showcasing your unique value as a candidate and defining your dreams and ambitions. Think about highlighting how this current opportunity would answer your career vision. Also, about how you could help your potential employers grow. The objective matches the needs of less experienced candidates, who need to prove their skill set and, in particular, their soft skills.
Still not sure about how to write your CV opening statement? Use some best industry examples as inspiration:
CV summaries for a ux ui designer job:
The best formula for your ux ui designer CV experience section
The CV experience section is the space where many candidates go wrong by merely listing their work history and duties. Don't do that. Instead, use the job description to better understand what matters most for the role and integrate these keywords across your CV. Thus, you should focus on:
- showcasing your accomplishments to hint that you're results-oriented;
- highlighting your skill set by integrating job keywords, technologies, and transferrable skills in your experience bullets;
- listing your roles in reverse chronological order, starting with the latest and most senior, to hint at how you have grown your career;
- featuring metrics, in the form of percentage, numbers, etc. to make your success more tangible.
When writing each experience bullet, start with a strong, actionable verb, then follow it up with a skill, accomplishment, or metric. Use these professional examples to perfect your CV experience section:
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Anchored the redesign of a leading e-commerce website, enhancing user experience by 30% as measured by customer satisfaction surveys and reduced cart abandonment rate by 15%.
- Conducted over 50 user testing sessions for a variety of mobile applications, identifying key usability issues that informed iterative design improvements and boosted user engagement metrics by 25%.
- Led a cross-functional team in the agile development of a SaaS platform's UI, resulting in an intuitive interface that reduced training time for new users by 40%.
- Implemented a responsive design strategy for a media streaming service, achieving a seamless user experience across devices and increasing mobile viewership by 20%.
- Deployed advanced knowledge of typography, colour theory, and branding to create visually compelling UI elements that increased brand recognition and user trust.
- Utilised Sketch and Adobe XD to create comprehensive wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs, that streamlined the design process and cut production time by 30%.
- Collaborated closely with product managers to translate business requirements into user-focused design concepts that addressed key pain points and drove feature adoption.
- Analysed user data and feedback to iterate on existing product interfaces, leading to a 10% improvement in customer retention for our main software suite.
- Presented design concepts and prototypes to stakeholders, effectively communicating design rationale and user benefits, which facilitated buy-in and secured approval for development.
- Led a team of 5 designers to overhaul the user experience of Company A’s flagship product, increasing user satisfaction by 35%.
- Designed and implemented a user testing framework that increased customer feedback by 50%, allowing for more data-driven design decisions.
- Developed a responsive design system that reduced time-to-market for new features by 20%, enhancing the agility of the product development cycle.
- Redesigned the e-commerce platform for Company B, leading to a 40% increase in conversion rates through improved user flows and interface clarity.
- Created interactive prototypes for user testing, which improved feature approval rates by 25% and accelerated the design phase.
- Conducted comprehensive user research for a cross-platform mobile application, optimizing usability for over 500,000 users.
- Initiated and led a user experience redesign for Company C’s internal CRM system, enhancing daily user engagement by 30%.
- Collaborated with product managers to integrate user-centered design principles into the development process, shortening project timelines by 15%.
- Employed A/B testing to validate design decisions, resulting in a 20% increase in user task completion efficiency.
- Designed and launched a successful mobile app for Company D that achieved 100,000 downloads within the first three months of release.
- Optimized mobile app interfaces to adhere to the latest standards in accessibility, achieving a 95% compliance rate.
- Integrated user feedback into the iterative design process, resulting in a 30% improvement in user retention.
- Developed an innovative user onboarding experience for Company E’s software, which reduced drop-off rates by 25% during the first quarter post-launch.
- Facilitated workshops with stakeholders to align business goals with user needs, effectively increasing project stakeholder satisfaction by 40%.
- Implemented usability enhancements that led to a reduction in customer support tickets by 20%, lowering operational costs.
- Redesigned the user interface for Company F’s web portal, which translated into a user base growth of 20% in six months.
- Analyzed website analytics to identify UI bottlenecks, successfully eliminating 5 major user pain points.
- Crafted high-fidelity mockups and interactive wireframes for a major product feature release, ensuring a seamless roll-out to over 10,000 users.
- Directing the design vision for Company G’s suite of products, fostering an innovative user-first culture across the organization.
- Pioneered the adoption of a new design toolset, improving team productivity by 30% and strengthening collaborative efforts.
- Spearheading a cross-functional initiative to integrate UX principles into all phases of product development, leading to a 45% improvement in customer NPS scores.
Swapping your professional experience (when you have none) with skills and more
Never underestimate the importance of relevancе when it comes to your ux ui designer CV. Even if you don't happen to have much or any standard (full-time contract) professional experience, this doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for the role. Instead of a bespoke CV experience section:
- Showcase more prominently any internships, part-time roles, and volunteer experience that are applicable to the role and have taught you job-crucial skills;
- Feature a strengths or achievements section with your transferrable skills or talents you've obtained thanks to your work or life experience;
- Write an objective statement that clearly outlines your values as a candidate and defines your career ambitions;
- List your education or certificates that match the job profile closer to the top of your CV.
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PRO TIP
Talk about any positive changes you helped bring about in your previous jobs, like improving a process or helping increase efficiency.
Hard skills and soft skills to showcase your unique skill set on your ux ui designer CV
Did you know that your CV will mostly likely be assessed by recruiters based on skill alignment? And that means that the way you feature your key skills across different CV sections will play a crucial role in landing you that first interview. We recommend you add your:
- technical capabilities or hard skills in your CV experience, certificates, projects, etc. Use your past accomplishments to prove your technical capabilities. List up to a dozen different software or hardware in your dedicated skills section to match the job keywords;
- personal and communication skills or soft skills in your CV strengths, achievements, summary/ objective, etc. Soft skills are a bit more difficult to prove. How do you define your aptitude in active listening? So, instead of just listing the skill name, include a tangible metric to show your success.
On a final note, when you're in a hurry to create your profile, you may misspell a particular technology or soft skill. That's why we suggest you copy and paste the particular skill name (or keyword), directly from the job advert. This would also help you to pass any initial Applicant Tracker System (ATS) tests.
Top skills for your ux ui designer CV:
User Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
User Interface Design
User Experience Design
Interaction Design
Usability Testing
Responsive Web Design
Information Architecture
Visual Design
Creativity
Problem-Solving
Communication
Empathy
Collaboration
Attention to Detail
Adaptability
Time Management
Critical Thinking
Presenting
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Focus on describing skills in the context of the outcomes they’ve helped you achieve, linking them directly to tangible results or successes in your career.
Further professional qualifications for your ux ui designer CV: education and certificates
As you're nearing the end of your ux ui designer CV, you may wonder what else will be relevant to the role. Recruiters are keen on understanding your academic background, as it teaches you an array of hard and soft skills. Create a dedicated education section that lists your:
- applicable higher education diplomas or ones that are at a postgraduate level;
- diploma, followed up with your higher education institution and start-graduation dates;
- extracurricular activities and honours, only if you deem that recruiters will find them impressive.
Follow a similar logic when presenting your certificates. Always select ones that will support your niche expertise and hint at what it's like to work with you. Balance both technical certification with soft skills courses to answer job requirements and company values. Wondering what the most sought out certificates are for the industry? Look no further:
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Use mini case studies or success stories in your CV to demonstrate how your skills have positively impacted previous roles or projects.
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Key takeaways
Impressing recruiters with your experience, skill set, and values starts with your professional ux ui designer CV. Write concisely and always aim to answer job requirements with what you've achieved; furthermore:
- Select a simple design that complements your experience and ensures your profile is presentable;
- Include an opening statement that either spotlights your key achievements (summary) or showcases your career ambitions (objective);
- Curate your experience bullets, so that each one commences with a strong, action verb and is followed up by your skill and accomplishment;
- List your hard and soft skills all across different sections of your CV to ensure your application meets the requirements;
- Dedicate space to your relevant higher education diplomas and your certificates to show recruiters you have the necessary industry background.
