Hey designers!
Michał here and I'm answering your questions from the last two weeks! Remember that every two weeks you can submit another one - it can be about anything related to design, or just requesting some UI tips - in that case send in your academy project link.
If you finish all the challenges is there a way to keep submitting daily challenges forever?
Lee Beckwith
This is a very cool idea that we may try to implement - for you to be able to replace the “version 2” of a daily ui challenge every month or so, so you can see the further progress as you grow.
Which path gives a better return on investment: dedicating all my time to learning UX/UI design
to reach a top 10% skill level, or dividing time between UX/UI design and development to gain a competitive over anybody who can't do all 3?
Smith
Being a generalist that understands the UX/UI design process AND coding is likely the best path. You don’t need to be a full-on programmer though. I
t’s good if you know enough of both worlds to be able to design and code simple projects yourself. In most companies that already puts you ahead of the curve.
I would stick with frontend development,starting with just learning CSS, and potentially move to a little bit of Javascript or frameworks like React.
After practicing designing, when you know you are ready to start your portfolio project?
Yuvashri
Once most of the feedback you’re getting on your daily design challenges is positive I think you’re ready to start. You can also use some of the challenges for your first portfolio project.
Combine them into a simple product - especially using the skills around Information Architecture. In 2025 the best portfolios will be the ones that tell a story of how you solved a problem. Make sure to communicate that clearly.
Also be sure to include all parts of the process, including failed ideas, sketches, wireframes, flow diagrams and more
Hi Michal thanks for everything you do you’re my hero. I have a question about my portfolio. I have over 10 years of experience but I either did not keep most of my project files after the job was finished, keeping usually only a few screenshots, or, I do have files but I don’t like the work anymore because it’s dated and I’m way better now.
After doing your daily UI guided practice for a while and doing some other projects this year I am at a point now where I want to do new projects entirely.
If I did 3-4 new projects for my portfolio - not for a job - but they look really good and have compelling user problems they’re solving - will that be ok to make a portfolio out of those projects rather than my old work?
I’m really tired of trying to make these old dated projects fit into my portfolio when I’m not happy with that work. The names on my resume are eye catching for recruiters so they always ask to see what I did there.
So it will be a sacrifice to say I’m not using those anymore. But it’s a huge burden to try and turn these several year old projects where I have little or literally no files into something that reflects what I can do today.
I’d like to do these new projects and make that my portfolio and I’m hoping to get your feedback on this idea. Thank you again I really appreciate the help you give me and other designers!
Lee Beckwith
If you feel your new work better reflects your skills definitely go for putting those in the portfolio. You can however, mention your old case studies in your new ones. Just to show that you have some extra past experience.
Especially if the names are well known - you can mention that “working for a project for company X” a few years ago has given me a good understanding of a similar problem in this project.
Hi Michal, I like the daily challenges! And I have one request. I'd like to work on the same challenge on the same time every day. However, this is not possible, since I have to wait 24h. So if I finish at 11am, the next day can start at 11am and the next day at 13am etc.
This makes I don't seem to put it into a habit to work on a challenge on the same time every day. Is it maybe possible to unlock the next day of the challenge at midnight?
The effect for you will be the same, like I can only work out one challenge a day, but that will help me a lot to incorporate it into a daily habit! Whether you consider this or not, thanks for taking the time to read this!
Banana
We are looking into possibly enabling it at midnight but the problem is time zones - everyone is in a different one around the world. It’s not easy to keep track of the challenges, unless you manually specify your current time (not server time).
Hello, I am a beginner web designer and need some information about design software. Should I use Photoshop, or is there another software I should consider?
You can use photoshop for photo manipulation (like the name suggests). We’re still using raster editors for that purpose at Squareblack. But, for UI/UX design use others tools like Sketch, Penpot, Lunacy or Figma. They’re more suited for design jobs than Photoshop.
Hi Michal, loving your courses as always. Would you consider making a branding course or daily challenge? In a web design course you mentioned “this isn’t a logo course” and I thought, gee I’d love a logo course too! Or daily logo? Thanks as always.
Lee Beckwith
We do have a challenge around icons, so at some point we’ll probably have one for logo design as well :)
Hello Michal, I'm a mobile app developer who needs to learn design. There are a ton of challenges and resources on this site, and I'm curious as to where a total beginner like me should begin.
Terrence
The best way to start is with the first daily UI challenge as it’s the simplest. It allows you to grasp the basics of user interface design.
We’ll start on simple cards and components, slowly progressing to more complex projects.
After that there are other challenges worth taking like the information architecture one, the landing page ones (there are three), and more.
But for everyone, it’s best to start with the very first challenge.
Hi Michal, I've been struggling as an experienced designer on how to plan leveling up so that I can get another job. Since getting laid off over a year ago I haven't been able to land a full time job or contract.
Doing your challenges and courses are so far the best thing that I've found for actually improving my portfolio projects which I feel is the most important thing (so I hear) to get hired.
But apart from your courses, I really feel it's lacking out there how to find direction in terms of a growth plan for designers, especially designers who have been out of work for a while.
I know there are some certifications and online degrees and things (almost all of them for non-designers for entry level jobs), but it's all very confusing, like what to do, what to choose from them all. Especially since I already have a masters degree in HCI and don't need more paper qualifications (I don't think).
What would you suggest someone like me to do - out of work but not a junior - to improve their chances of getting hired and to improve their overall profile as a designer to get work now and keep getting work into the future?
I've just been grinding so much and still haven't gotten a job and it's all very confusing trying to make decisions on my own for my growth plan, so I'd really appreciate any direction you can give. Thank you!!
Lee Beckwith
I wouldn’t go for certifications. Instead try posting your work more on social media, show what you do and maybe even for a while try freelancing. It can be easier to get into a company if you first do some projects for them without time commitment.
The job market is slowly opening up in 2025, so I think this is the year to go at it! You’re doing quality work, so it’s more about believing in yourself and writing a lot of emails.
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The dark side of every creative individual is getting bored of repetitive tasks and looking for ideas out of the box. This doesn't sit well with the corporate world. How did you handle such situations.
Venkatesh
The easiest way is to not work for the corporate world. They’re getting left behind a little when it comes to design. Some try to innovate and that may be a cultural shift this year. But we’ll have to wait and see.
For now focus on delivering value where you CAN deliver value. Mostly small startups, small companies. Working there may be better suited for a UX/UI designer with ambitions anyway.
I have been working in UI/UX domain since 2 years. But I work as an only designer in a startup so I am confused about how can I improve my work and knowledge as I don't have anyone for guidance and social media sometimes makes it hard to filter out the useful information. I feel like I am stuck at the same level since 2 years.
Himani
Doing the daily design challenges is a great way of improving your skills. Another one is becoming a mentor and guiding others - that way you’re able to see problems, find solutions and communicate how to solve them. And you can become a mentor here at the academy if you’re eligible.
All those skills are necessary to be a truly great designer. It’s not just the UI design skills that matter. I think in 2025 it will be even more about communication and taking ownership of your design decisions.
Are there any guidelines (except years of experience) to define a balance between a good looking design that inspires user to use it and actually high usability design?
Denis Frizh
The main guidelines are coming from the fact that quite a lot of “good performing products” out there are well designed. In both regards.
If you take products by Apple, Uber, AirBNB and others you can analyze how they solve usability problems while remaining beautiful.
And the most useful interfaces are usually simple. This can make them quite good looking in terms of design.
What is the best order to take all of your video courses? I’ve almost collected all of them, but I want to make sure I go through them in the right order. My goal is to follow the proper sequence so I can grow efficiently and avoid skipping anything important.
Leonardo Escudero
The starting point is always the Mobile App UI courses (1 and 2), then you can progress to the Boring UI course (and then Auto-Layout).
After that you can do the web design courses and after that the order doesn’t really matter as much anymore - they all are useful in their own right.
Good luck on the journey!
So, I'm working to a company right now as a Junior UX designer and I see they are really attached to having only one color for button. For example. if the brand color is orange, all the ctas must be orange (default state, primary).
But what if this is an extremely complex dashboard or CRM platform with multiple actions with different hierarcy? only primary secondary and terciary buttons are enough to tackle this situation?
All of them must be the same color. And what if it is a two color brand? or a black and white brand? Thank you so much! Have a great day!
Gloria Oliveira
You should use the main colored button as the main action of the screen only. Which means all the other buttons can either be outlined, or much lighter in hue.
It’s definitely a bad practice to use the exact same color for all buttons. Not only on complex dashboards but even on simple landing pages.
Tell the people in charge about cognitive overload. We don’t want the users eye to keep jumping between high-contrast focus points like that.
We want to guide them to the right issue at hand quickly. Low friction and low distraction.
And that's it for the sixth round of Q&A. We will be doing these in a live-video form soon so stay tuned!
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