【西方那一套】-听说你想做一个用户体验设计师
好文分享：文章翻译自美国视觉化内容聚合平台medium，文章作者@Suelyn Yu，这是我第一次翻译英文作家写的互联网文章。
So you want to be a UX designer…
A guide on how to get started
As a UX design manager at Opower, one of the most common questions I’masked is:
How do I become a UX designer?
To help answer this question, I’ve been collecting online resources and
stories—and now I’d like to share them with you.
如何开始
作为一个在Opower工作的用户体验设计经理，我被问到的最常见的一个问题就是：“你是怎样成为一个用户体验设计师的？”
为了帮助提问者们，我一直在手机在线资源和案例，现在我愿意将他们分享给你们。
My path to becoming a UX designer
In the past eight years, I’ve gone from design student, to intern, to job
applicant, to full-time designer. Currently I lead a UX team atOpower, where we use design to motivate people to save energy.For the past two years, I’ve also taught interaction design to undergraduatesat the California College of the Arts.
I started my journey as a mechanical engineering student interested inproduct design. When I applied for college, I had never heard of UX orinteraction design (I’ll use those terms interchangeably in this article).After studying abroad and doing some UX internships, I transitioned fromdesigning physical to digital products.
Times have changed though. The UX design industry has matured, as captured
byJohn Maeda’sDesign in tech reports. Art schools are shifting their graphic and web design programs tointeraction design. Venture capital firms are running internship programs tomatch students with startups. And young designers now have lots of mentors tohelp guide their career.
我成为一名用户体验设计师的途径
在过去的八年里，我从设计学生出发，到实习生，求职者，再到全职设计师。最近，我在Opower领到了用户体验团队，我们用设计来鼓励人们节约能源的团队。最近两年，我还在加利福尼亚大学的美术学院教学生们交互设计。
我以一个喜欢设计的计算机工程专业学生的身份开始了我的事业道路。在我申请大学时，我从来没有听说过用户体验或交互设计。在出国留学和做了一些用户体验实习之后，我开始从物理设计转型到数码产品。
尽管时代变了，用户体验设计产业变得成熟了，正如John Meada在学术期刊《Design in tech reports》中所反映的一样。设计学院开始将图形设计和网页设计项目转变为交互设计。风险投资公司还为创业学生们开启了实习项目，现在年轻的设计师们可以找到很多的导师来指导他们的职业生涯。
A guide to a UX design career
There are many well-trodden paths to becoming a UX designer. I’ve createdthis framework, with resources below, to help you find your own.
一个用户体验设计师职业生涯的指导
有很多老套的途径来成为一名用户体验设计师。我创建了这个框架与下面的资源，来帮助你。
1. Do you know what a UX designer does?
There are as many types of design as there are types of engineering. Industrialdesign is different from UX design, just like mechanical engineering isdifferent from computer science.
Before picking UX design, explore the range of other options. Look intoindustrial design, visual/graphic design, design research, and design strategy.Here are some online resources to help you understand the differences betweendesign disciplines:
1、你知道用户体验设计师是做什么的吗？
有许多类型的设计，像工程设计、工业设计就不同于用户体验设计，就像机械工程不同于计算机科学。
在选择用户体验设计之前，先扩展其他选择的范围。在工业设计、视觉/图像设计、设计研究、设计策略里面看看。有些在线资源能帮助你了解不同设计学科之间的区别：
Startups, this is how design works
Wells Rileycreated a great design primer that explains each type of design.（一个很棒的设计引导，解释了各种不同类型的设计。）
Understanding UX Skills: Part One
Irene Auwrote a 3-part series to help startups hire designers.（一个分为三个部分的系列来帮助创业者雇佣设计师）
UI, UX: Who Does What? A Designer’s Guide To The
Tech Industry
Fast Companyexplains what different design titles mean in companies likeGoogleandFacebook
Design.（Fast公司解释了像谷歌和脸书这样的公司使用的设计中，不同的设计标题意味着什么。）
Learn more about different disciplines by meeting practicing designers atlocal design events:
通过结识参与本地设计活动的设计师来了解更多不同学科：
happy hour
A casual UX gathering in many US cities.（一个在美国多个城市举办的用户体验休闲聚会。）
A group of all-women UX designers started by Google designerbrynn evans.（由谷歌设计师Brynn Evans发起的完全由女性用户体验设计师组成的团体。）
Many UX groups use Meetup to organize events. Some of my favorite ones in the Bay Area areAction designanddesign+startups.（很多用户体验团队使用Meetup网站来组织活动。在湾区，我最喜欢的一些活动就是“Action design”和“design+startups”。）
Every June, San Francisco hosts a design week with open studio tours and free events. Many other cities have these too.（每年七月，旧金山会举办一个有工作室旅游和免费活动的设计周。很多其他城市也有。）
2. Are you passionate about UX design?
To gauge your interest in UX design, start immersing yourself in UXcontent. Here are some classic books most people start with:
你对用户体验设计充满热情吗？
为了评估你对用户体验设计的热情，开始沉浸在用户体验内容中。这里有一些大多数人入门的经典书籍：
Design of Everyday ThingsBy Don Norman
The Art of InnovationBy Tom Kelly
The Inmates Are Running the AsylumBy Alan Cooper
Don’t Make Me ThinkBy Steve Krug
Once you have the basics, start learning about trends in the designindustry:
一旦你有了基础，开始学习设计工业的基础：
design digest
Invision, a popular prototyping tool, has a great weekly design newsletter.（Invision，一个流行的原型工具，每周有很棒的设计推送新闻。）
design weekly email
A curated list of UX design links every week.（一个每周的用户体验策划清单链接。）
news
Designer News.is the hacker news of the design world. It doesn’t have as many
active users, but it surfaces good, timely content.（设计界的黑客新闻。尽管没有多少活跃用户，但是他呈现出很多好的且具有时效性的内容。）
Julie Zhuois a prolific and insightful UX director at Facebook. I read
everything she writes.（Facebook的一个多产且有洞察力的用户体验主管，我会读她写的每一样东西。）
3. Do you have a design portfolio?
Having a portfolio is a critical part of getting a UX design job. Mosthiring managers will spend more time reviewing your portfolio than your resume.Look at some “best-of” portfolios to learn what’s expected.
你有设计作品集吗？
拥有一个作品集是获得一个用户体验设计职位的重要部分。比起你的建立，绝大部分人事经理会花更多时间浏览你的作品集。去看一些“最好的”作品集来学习你所要达到的预期效果。
Leung’s design portfolio
Includes case studies from DAAP projects and co-ops, and shows off Grant’s front-end skills.（包括DAAP项目和合作的案例学习，并且展示了Grant的前端技巧。）
Includes projects fromAmy
Wu’s time at the School of
Visual Arts and her previous career as a graphic designer. She uses a
clean and simpleSquarespace
Inc.template.（包含Amy Wu在视觉艺术学校的项目以及她之前作为一个图像设计师的职业生涯。她用了一个简洁的模板“Squarespace Inc”。）
Wong’s design portfolio
Features a strong personal brand and demonstratesBRian
Wong’s strong visual design
skills.（以强大的个人品牌为号召，并展示了Brian Wong的强大视觉设计技术。）
Many designers use a case study structure that describe each project’sdesign process before showing the final design. This showcases not only designcraft, but also the designer’s problem solving and storytelling abilities.
很多设计师在展示最后的设计时，使用一个描述了每个计划的设计流程的案例学习体系。这不仅展示了设计工艺，还展示了设计师解决问题和讲故事的能力。
Dayn Wilberding’s Mini Jambox & the Jawbone App
The sketches and iterations show howDayn
Wilberdingsolves
problems.（这些草图和交互展示了Dayn Wilberding是如何解决问题的。）
Andrew Kim’s America Elect Thesis
This portfolio is about 50% process and 50% final solution. The visuals make it easy to scan Andrew’s design process.（这个作品近包含了一半的流程和一半的最终解决方案。这些视觉资料让查看Andrew的设计流程变得简单。）
Before submitting your portfolio, ask an experienced UX designer to reviewit. Here are some more perspectives on what hiring managers look for:
在递交你的作品集之前，请一个有经验的用户体验设计师来过目。以下有几个更多的关于人事经理在寻找什么的观点。
Great Design Portfolios Are Great Stories
Simon Panwrites great advice and includes a collection of links at the end.（Simon Pan写了很棒的建议并且在最后包含了一个连接的整理。）
Hiring a designer: how to review portfolios
Chad Thornton/Google Venturesadvises hiring managers on how to conduct a portfolio review.（Chad Thornton建议人事经理怎样着手去浏览一份作品集。）
4. Where should you apply for your first job/internship?
Use your first job or internship as an opportunity to learn and grow. Whenapplying for jobs, look for places where you will:
Learn from great UX designers with the time and management experience to mentor you.
Work on end to end projects–from initial concept to shipping a product.
Work on variety of problems, platforms, and parts of the design process.
Be pushed tocreate a lot of design work.
Be valued. Look for companies where design is a valued at the top business levels. These tend to attract the best designers and give designers the time and resources to do their best work.
你该在哪里申请你的第一份工作或实习？
利用好你的第一份工作或实习来作为学习和成长的重要机会。当你申请工作时，寻找你将要去的地方：
向有时间和管理经验的优秀用户体验设计师学习来指导你。
致力于解决各种问题，抓住各种机会，参与设计流程的部分。
努力生产大量的设计作品。
变得有价值。寻找那些设计在顶级业务层面有价值的公司。这些公司会倾向于吸引最好的设计师，并提供设计师时间和资源来完成他们最好的工作。
Usually design firms and medium/large companies can provide these thingsbetter than small start-ups. Growing mid-sized startups can be a great place tolearn as well.
Here are some of the top digital product design firms:
IDEO
frog design
Smart design
Design continuum
Method
Cooper
Punchcut
Sequence
Artefact
These larger companies have well-respected and well-run design groups:
Apple
Intuit
通常大的设计公司和媒体公司能够比小的创业公司更能提供这些。成长中的中型创业公司也可以使一个很好的学习场所。
以下是顶尖的数码产品设计公司：
IDEO
frog design
Smart design
Design continuum
Method
Cooper
Punchcut
Sequence
Artefact
这些更大的公司有受尊重的且运营良好的设计部门：
Apple
Intuit
If you’re set on joining a smaller company, start with the VC-vetted startups—they oftenrecommend growing startups that value design.
如果你加入一家较小的公司，从处在VC投资放审核的公司开始。他们通常会推荐重视一些成长中的创业公司。
fund bridge startups
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers places “fellows” into paid internships with their portfolio companies（KPCB让他们投资的公司提供带薪实习。）
Khosla ventures design internship
Khosla ventures has a similar program put together by veteran designerIrene Au.（Khosla ventures有一个类似的项目，由资深设计师Irene Au整合。）
If you’re looking for a place to work with a strong social mission, my
managerDeena Rosenput together of list of 12 companies you should know about.
如果你在寻找一个拥有强大社会使命的地方工作，我的经历Deena Rosen整理了下面这12个你该了解的公司。
In conclusion,
As you know by now, there isn’t any “right” or “best” path to becoming aUX designer. There are a lot of options. It’s just a matter picking the right pathfor your own circumstances.
总结
正如你现在所了解的，没有什么“对的”或者是“最好的”成为用户体验设计师的途径。有很多选择，只要根据你自己的情况选择正确的途径就好了。
这篇文章中还有涉及到关于是否要选择读设计类大学以及在设计类大学学习有什么好处，考虑到中美大学教育差别很大，我特意没有拿出来给大家。
写在最后：感谢每一位读者，你们的阅读都会给我带来喜悦。如果喜欢，请麻烦大家点个赞或者分享一下，您的支持就是我持续分享的最大动力！
