5 UI Designer Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Want to learn how to write a strong UI designer resume?

As a UI designer your work can make or break a product in today’s internet-based world.

Visual communication is everywhere from simple websites to advanced mobile apps and online softwares.

Without you, UX is just a skeleton without flesh or skin.

Web developers need your design skills to complement their back-end work.

Even copywriters can’t craft compelling content, as how their work gets displayed has a direct impact on views, shares, leads and revenue.

That’s why you deserve your dream job.

But wherever there is opportunity, there’s competition.

And that’s where things start to get tricky.

To stand out from the rest, you need a UI designer resume that shows you have:

• A strong portfolio that highlights the work did with past clients.
• Proven work experience operating with teams and UX designers.
• Expert knowledge in design software like Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Adobe Fireworks.

This UI designer resume will teach you:

• 7 UI designer resume examples to real-candidates used to get interviews and jobs
• How to talk about your past design deliverables and completed projects to showcase your experience
• The right way to feature your UI design expertise while highlighting your past work through a portfolio
• 20 crucial technical and soft skills to include in your UI design resume

Looking for related resumes?

• UX Designer Resume Example
• Graphic Design Resume Example
• Motion Graphics Resume Example
• Film Production Resume Example
• Front End Developer Resume Examples

How to write a UI Designer resume

The most important advice here is this:

Use an original design in your UI Designer resume.

There are dozens of other UI designers applying for the same job. Imagine a hiring manager reading two different resumes with the same layout, font type, and colors.

You’ll set yourself for failure by overlooking the design style you use.

Create an interesting visual hierarchy to flawlessly lead the recruiter’s eye throughout different sections of your resume.

Use a professional font family with different weights and variations to serve an easy experience.

Your resume is your chance to highlight your strongest qualities and show that you’re a UI design expert.

Each of these sections will paint a small part of a bigger picture that your recruiter sees after they’re finished reading your resume.

Perfecting every single section will set you apart from the rest and maximize your chances of getting the role at their company.

For more information on the best resume formats, read our guide: The Best Resume Formats You Need to Consider (5+ Examples Included).

UI designer resume header: How to make it attractive

As you’re probably aware, UI design is a pretty competitive field due to its importance in the business world.

Therefore, it’s reasonable for Maria — the hiring manager at the company you’re applying to — not to scrutinize every single cv in her inbox.

She’s only going to take a quick look at each resume to pick her final list of applicants to consider.

And that’s what we’ll focus on in the header.

Your main goal, at this point, is to catch Maria’s attention so that she’d give your resume a chance into the next step of the process.

But how?

Here’s how not to do that:

It’s true that you are a UI designer, but so is everyone applying to this job. It helps you stand out if you can find a more creative way to name what you do.

Also, a header like that provides very little context. It’s no different from what everyone else has.

A link to your online portfolio is a huge game-changer in your resume.

It doesn’t matter that you have the most experience compared to other applicants. If your portfolio doesn’t show that, you’re probably never going to land the job.

Ideas for the link you can include in the header:

• Complete your LinkedIn Profile and include the link in your header.
• Link to your portfolios on Behance, SquareSpace, and Dribble to showcase your talent as a UI designer.
• Include a link to your website to give the recruiter the option to learn more about you and your past work if they wish to.

If you want more ideas for stand-out resume headers, read through our guide Perfecting Your Resume Header so You Get Noticed.

UI Designer Summary: Tell Your Story

Now that Maria has checked out your header, visited your portfolio, and decided to give your resume a chance — it’s time for us to move to the next important section.

The summary. Keep in mind that at this point, you’ll still be competing with dozens of UI designers that are just as good as you at branding, visual design, and prototyping.

And that’s where your UI Designer resume makes the difference

Your summary needs to introduce who you are, highlight your creative skills and achievements, and summarize your experience as a UI designer. As shortly as possible.

When writing your summary, make sure it is:

• On point: You only have a few sentences to leave a positive impression.
• Specific: List your design skills, show your expertise, and emphasize your strengths
• Focused: Highlight your best completed design projects working with past clients.

Always starting with what to avoid.

Don’t do this.

This is bad for a million reasons. But to mention the most obvious ones to your recruiter, it’s not communicating how you can help.

On top of that, it’s too vague and provides no context on what your duties are going to be.

So, let’s give it another shot.

At first glance, this might seem better. But it doesn’t do the job.

Why — you ask?

First off, it’s too focused on you personally. Thus, it barely shows how your design work history can help the hiring manager’s company grow.

But even when talking about you, it doesn't feature any of your UI design skills and expertise.

And to make things worse, it doesn’t show your creativity as a UI designer — neither does it mention any details about the wireframes and mockups you created.

Now get this:

This one works best and will make you shine from the rest. It has everything a winning-UI Designer resume needs from relevant skills, work experience, and accomplished results.

For more tips on crafting an attention-grabbing resume summary, check out our guide Resume Summary: How-To Guide (30+ Examples You Need To See).

How to frame your UI designer experience the right way

When applying for design-related roles, your resume will generally be reviewed by art directors or senior graphic designers. And as a UI designer, you should think of them as an end-user looking for the best product. Your goal should be to make it easy for them to find the best UI designer to handle the creation of wireframes, mockups, prototypes, and various design elements. So, what you have to do is show them that that’s what you specialize in. To do that, you need to:

• List your most important design projects and the results they drove.
• Be specific about the design tasks and the deliverables you were responsible for. Then, show how they contributed to produced outcomes.
• Showcase your creative thinking abilities and technical skills with design tools while focusing on what the job you’re applying to demands.

To put that into perspective, let’s take a look at some examples:

While this example does cite some of your duties at your past job, it doesn’t feature the completed projects. Also, it lacks proof of how well you did when performing your tasks. Now, let’s add some measurable achievements:

This sample gives the hiring manager a better feeling about hiring you. Because it has everything the previous version lacks. It shows the results you achieved and how you helped your former employee achieve them.

For more ideas on how to create an actionable resume experience section, check out our guide How to Describe Your Resume Work Experience.

How to describe your duties on your UI designer resume

In the following list, we’ll provide you with a variety of responsibilities to list in your experience section for your UI designer resume:

• Developed user-friendly design concepts for a new mobile app.
• Illustrated design ideas using sitemaps, storyboards, and process flows.
• Created original graphics (sketches, images, tables, etc) for more than 12 projects.
• Executed A/B testing and conducted product adjustments based on the gathered data.
• Worked with UX designers and creative directors on evaluating user requirements.
• Prototyped UI for 7 local businesses in 9 months.

What to do if you are an entry-level UI design applicant

When it comes to UI Design, most hiring managers wouldn’t care about your education or work experience in other fields.

But, that doesn’t mean you can’t impress them with what you’ve achieved. Even if you’re an entry-level candidate.

All you have to do is flip the script.

Experience is indeed a major aspect of the hiring process. A bad UI designer with a weak portfolio won’t land the job — even if they mention working at the best creative agencies in the world.

If you’re good enough but don’t have the experience, focus on making them check your portfolio.

Every sentence in your resume has to encourage the recruiter to check your past work.

Once they’re there, they’ll realize how experienced you are with UI design.

And that will amplify your chances of getting the job.

UI designer resume education section tips

As we mentioned earlier, education doesn’t matter that much when it comes to graphic design.

Especially your high school history and other irrelevant degrees.

Therefore, it isn’t a fundamental section to include in your resume.

But, every UI designer on this planet wasn’t born with the skill and knowledge. You all had to learn the principles of design, color theory, design elements, etc.

And it could be the case that you’ve invested time and money in completing graphic design courses.

If that’s true for you, you should include completed programs and design-related education.

Browse more essential tips on how to feature education on your resume, in our guide Perfecting the Education Section on Your Resume.

15 skills to showcase in your UI designer resume

UI Design requires a set of skills that, when put together, would allow the designer to complete each step of the work process with ease.

There are two types of skills to focus on when creating your UI designer resume:

• Technical skills
• Soft Skills

Technical skills are super-specific to your role and responsibilities as a UI designer. They constitute the working knowledge you need to possess so you can perform your daily tasks.

Here’s a list of technical skills that recruiters look for when hiring UI designers:

Soft skills, on the other hand, are part of your personality and day to day interactions with the outside world.

They may not be job-specific to UI design — but without them, there’s no way you can work in teams and complete projects efficiently.

Are you still not sure what skills will win recruiters over? Check out our guide on How to Create A Resume Skills Section To Impress Recruiters (+10 Examples You Need to See).

Certifications

Let’s be honest.

Certifications wouldn’t matter if you are the only candidate applying for a job.

Having a certificate doesn’t necessarily mean you’re qualified.

But when compared to dozens of applicants, it might be hard for the recruiter to come up with a fair evaluation process.

And that’s where you may come short.

So, why risk it?

If you have certifications to include in your cv, there’s nothing to wait for here. Add them now! If not, it’s never too late to get some online UI design certifications.

Here are two certificates that most UI designers have today:

For more information on how to properly list resume certifications, we recommend reading our guide How To List Certifications On A Resume (Examples Included).

Other sections to include on your resume

Depending on the company, job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your UI Designer resume:

• Language skills
• Hobbies and interests
• Projects
• Volunteer work
• Highlights
• References
• LinkedIn on Resume
• GPA

What are the tricks for the best UI designer resume?

• Your portfolio comes first. It’s much easier to look at pictures than to read words. So, it might be the case that the portfolio is the first line of evaluation your hiring manager goes through.
• Craft a friendly, yet professional resume summary to highlight your expertise and show your experience as a UI designer.
• Having experience is a must. But it’s nothing without achievements and results.
• You can always flip the script and focus your talk on completed projects in your portfolio.
• Soft skills are just as important as technical skills. Use them both to land the next job you dream of.