UX/UI Unfiltered – Live Discussion

🎨 DesignerHub UX/UI Unfiltered – Panel Session Summary

Speakers: Alok (Fintech/Clear), Utkash (SaaS/Neutrinos), Kushi (Logistics), Shre (Food Tech), Abijit (OTT/Entertainment), Karan (OTT Consultant)

🚀 How Everyone Started

• Most panelists started as graphic designers and self-taught their way into UX/UI
• Nobody planned to be a product designer — it happened through curiosity and passion
• Practical learning alongside experienced designers beats courses in most cases
• Google UX Design & IDF courses are good for fundamentals only

🤖 AI & New Skills to Learn Right Now

• AI is shortening the design-to-development cycle drastically
• Learn MCP (Model Context Protocol) — it’s the key to connecting AI with your design workflow
• Use AI to visualize multiple design iterations faster before committing to one
• Learn how to write skill files (.mmd) to control AI models and reduce hallucination
• Use AI to summarize long BRDs, user interview transcripts and research documents
• Tools being used: Claude, Figma Make, Cursor, Lovable, ChatGPT
• Don’t switch off Figma — layer AI on top of your existing workflow instead
• Automate repetitive tasks (layer renaming, QA testing, UI validation) using AI plugins

💡 One Thing Everyone Wished They Knew Earlier

• Utkash — Learn to balance user needs vs business goals (TBD Framework)
• Kushi — UX research and case study thinking from day one
• Shre — Planning and design process fundamentals; asking the right questions in user interviews
• Abijit — Learn prompt engineering and how to train/constrain AI models properly
• Karan — Build patience and prepare yourself for rejection and poor feedback culture

📁 Portfolio Tips

• 2 to 5 case studies is enough — don’t overload
• Real project case studies always beat hypothetical ones
• Focus on storytelling — how you identified the problem and solved it
• Show business impact — reduced clicks, increased retention, better conversion
• Don’t make it visually fancy — keep it minimal and focused on the work
• Don’t wait for a full end-to-end project — even a single feature improvement works
• Back your decisions with data or at least logical estimations
• Best resource to study portfolios: Wall of Portfolios
• Don’t just apply on job portals — find people inside target companies and share your portfolio directly

🔍 Interview Process Breakdown

1. Assignment round — Always ask clarifying questions before submitting
2. Phone/HR screening — Casual culture fit check
3. Portfolio walkthrough — Be ready to go deep on every detail, don’t fake anything
4. Whiteboarding round — Given a problem on the spot, they check your thinking process
5. Founder/senior round — Confidence, communication and cultural fit check
6. PM/team round — Live problem solving to verify your skills are real
7. HR negotiation — Always do market research before discussing numbers

Pro tip: Before applying, build a mini case study specific to that company’s product and present it during the interview. It immediately grabs attention.

💰 Salary Ranges in India (2025)

• Entry level: ₹20k–₹60k depending on city and company
• Bangalore — ₹20k to ₹80k for freshers (design college grads valued higher)
• Delhi — ₹30k to ₹60k average
• Ahmedabad — ₹30k to ₹40k starting range
• Top product companies like Zomato, Blinkit, Cars24 pay above average
• Don’t chase money early — chase skills and learning, money follows automatically

🎓 Should You Join a Design College?

• Most panelists say no for UX/UI specifically
• College curriculums are outdated — AI is not even part of IIT interaction design syllabus yet
• Fundamentals still matter deeply — without them you can’t prompt AI effectively
• Self-learning + practical experience + good mentorship beats expensive degrees

📐 UX Process in Real Companies

• Nobody gets time for full end-to-end UX research — that’s the ground reality everywhere
• Most companies do fast design → AB test on small user segment → iterate → roll out
• Data from analytics teams itself takes a week to compile — plan around that
• Design systems are built in pieces by product/feature, not as one giant system
• Getting heat maps, drop-off data, user recordings through tools like Clarity helps

🛣️ Learning Roadmap for Beginners

1. Start with UI skills first — gets you into entry level jobs faster
2. Then learn UX fundamentals — research, empathy mapping, user journeys, UX laws
3. Add prompt engineering and AI tools to your workflow
4. Learn domain knowledge of the industry you want to work in
5. Build case studies around real or feature-level problems (not full apps)
6. Study Behance case studies of your target domain for insights

🔑 Key Skills Companies Look for Today

• Storytelling and communication
• UX research and user interview skills
• Cross-team collaboration
• Business thinking — balancing user needs vs company goals
• AI integration in workflow
• Growth mindset — don’t limit yourself to just one tool or skill
• Understanding how machines read and interpret design (designing for AI agents)

📌 Final Advice from the Panel

• If you have passion for both logic and creativity — UX/UI is absolutely the right field
• AI will not replace designers who know how to use AI well
• Say “I don’t know but I’m happy to learn” in interviews — it’s respected more than bluffing
• Show up consistently — opportunities come to those who put their work out publicly
• Build in public on LinkedIn — many hiring managers reach out directly through content

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