Lauren Liss on Preparing Students for the Future of UX/UI

As our world becomes increasingly digital and we spend more time online, there is a growing interest in understanding the underlying structures of these digital spaces. Northwestern’s online MS in Information Design and Strategy (IDS) UX/UI specialization explores how to design these digital environments in ways that are intuitive, human-centered, and aligned with audience motivations and organizational goals.

Despite technology constantly changing in this field, the demand for UX/UI professionals remains strong. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for web developers and digital interface designers is projected to grow 7% from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations.

We sat down with Northwestern SPS faculty member Lauren Liss, who is a human-centered designer and educator, to discuss how the IDS UX/UI specialization prepares students for UX/UI career paths and why a collaborative spirit, deep empathy for users, and a mindset focused on understanding business problems before proposing solutions are still essential.

What roles do experience design, interface design, and design systems play in UX/UI?

The IDS UX/UI specialization offers electives in each of these areas.

• Experience Design looks at the overall narrative of engagement across modalities and channels.
• Interface Design explores the specific interaction points between the user and the product or service.
• Design Systems & Operations demonstrates how this works at scale within organizations and collaborative teams.

These three courses are built upon the foundation of the IDS 401 User-Centered Design (UCD) course, which introduces the concepts of working together in service of an audience to explore a problem frame and research data-driven solutions.

What skills do students develop in the UX/UI specialization?

Collaboration and iterative development are essential, as design has evolved into an ongoing process involving continuous research, prototyping, and assessment of enhancements and features. This approach necessitates embracing ambiguity and the non-linear nature of the workflow, which may require a mindset shift.

Additionally, empathy and a commitment to understanding the audience’s needs, context, and motivations help create designers who can effectively advocate for users within the business environment, while also collaborating with internal stakeholders who may have varied or conflicting objectives.

What career paths are available to Information Design and Strategy students with UX/UI expertise?

• UX Designers are often responsible for the experience that an audience participates in across interfaces or touchpoints, combining research and execution to create deliverables like user flows, wireframes and prototypes, and information architecture.
• Product Designers are often more closely aligned with business and strategy and may be more focused on outcomes and metrics in the product or software development lifecycle.
• User Researchers focus on collecting the information needed to make data-informed and user-centered design decisions, often conducting studies like interviews, surveys, and usability tests.
• Interaction Designers are often much closer to the creation of UI, and likely have specialized skills in multimedia, animation, and the narrative logic underlying experiences. 

However, job titles can vary depending on their context within a specific organization and often overlap in their responsibilities. A smaller organization may have a single role of “UX Designer” that encompasses all four of those roles, while a larger organization may have defined roles and responsibilities for each job title.

What tools should UX/UI students explore to stay current in the field?

I don’t know if I have any specific platform recommendations, but the willingness to learn and experiment with new tools and platforms is key. Supportive technology in this field is constantly changing. The one certain thing is that the tool I recommend today won’t be the tool I recommend next year or in five years.

Figma is one of 10+ prototyping environments I have learned over my career, and I still only consider myself an intermediate at best. Within that tool, new features like Figma Make and Dev Mode provide some insight into the full product development lifecycle. Exploring those areas can be helpful for designers that may be comfortable designing UI but are less comfortable with developing deployable applications. Claude Design was recently released and offers an intuitive experience for rapid prototype development that feels high fidelity and polished. Vibe-coding on its own can only get you so far and should be used as a method for sandboxing your learning (and not shipping software from a few text prompts).

How can Northwestern Information Design and Strategy students prepare for the future of UX/UI?

Technology and tools like AI have sped up prototyping, allowing designers to rapidly prototype concepts in high fidelity without the need for technical development competencies.

However, the value in design still rests in the ability to work collaboratively. Skills like sketching have never been more valuable. Designers can bring together cross-functional teams and end-users of a product to sketch together and co-create concepts and ideas to explore. Vibe-coding tools allow anyone with access to them to create functional software demos from brief text prompts, but you can also use paper sketches as a starting point for these tools. This process can increase the access of voices and perspectives in the technical development process, resulting in more user-centered outcomes.

With evening and online options available, Northwestern’s MS in Information Design and Strategy is designed for working professionals who want to build practical skills and apply them in real-world settings. To learn more about how the program can fit your goals, fill out the form below, and we will be in touch with you soon.