Many people in the tech world think that coding and UI/UX design are completely different skills. Some designers don’t touch code, and some don’t see why they should. They believe that UI/UX design is for creative people, while coding is for analytical people, and there is no overlap between them.

But this is a wrong assumption, as a basic knowledge of coding is very useful for any designer. In this article, you will discover six benefits of learning to code as a UI/UX designer and the essential coding skills you will need along the way.

1. Better Communication With the Developer

One of the common challenges in many projects and teams is the gap between the designer’s vision and the developer’s implementation. Sometimes, designers are not happy with how developers execute their designs, because of misunderstandings or poor communication.

Therefore, learning to speak the same language as the developer helps you explain your design choices and requirements more clearly. This way, you can avoid confusion, fix errors, and understand the developer’s perspective, leading to smoother project delivery.

2. More Realistic and Feasible Designs

Man drawing wireframe on white paper

As a UI/UX designer, you need to be creative and make your work stand out. But a beautiful design is worthless if it’s not possible to build it on the developer’s side.

Learning to code as a designer helps you check if your designs are realistic and practical. With this knowledge, you can design with programming principles in mind and have a clear idea of how the final product will look like before the developer starts working on it.

On the other hand, without the basics of coding, you risk creating designs that are too complex or beyond the developer’s technical capabilities.

3. Increased Productivity and Speed

You might think that you can always ask for a revision if a project doesn’t meet your expectations, but doesn’t that affect your team’s efficiency and speed? Repeated mistakes on the developer’s side due to miscommunication or misunderstanding mean wasting time and money on a project.

When you understand coding, you can communicate your exact instructions and, therefore, spend less time making corrections. This way, you’ll finish projects faster and move on to the next one, generating more profit and building trust with clients. Getting it right the first time improves your overall productivity, not to mention that nobody likes constant errors and reviews.

4. Improved Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

Woman on a call staring critically at a laptop screen

A UI/UX designer’s main responsibility is to understand the user experience. You have to research the user’s problem and come up with logical design solutions for that issue.

The analytical and problem-solving nature of coding helps you develop deeper insights into addressing user challenges and enhancing your reasoning skills. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you’ll be a bad designer without coding; many successful UI/UX designers have no coding knowledge. But, it will strengthen your ability to break down a big, complex task into smaller, more manageable problems.

5. Easier to Switch to Other Career Paths

You may love your UI/UX profession now, but you never know if you might want to change careers in the future. Many people look for new challenges and excitement in their tech journey. Since design and development are closely related, you might get interested in coding over time.

If you have coding skills, you will be ready for any possible changes in the development field. If you ever decide to become a full-time developer, you will have an easier time learning new programming languages and more advanced concepts with these basics mastered. On the other hand, starting from scratch will take more time, effort, and dedication.

6. Wider Career Opportunities and Higher Employability

Two happy people having a conversation

Learning how to code as a designer makes you more valuable to employers because you can do two jobs in one. The more value you offer, the more your earning potential increases.

It’s also worth noting that many top companies require basic coding skills for a UI/UX designer role. Although this is not the norm, having these skills gives you an advantage when applying for such roles and competing for regular design jobs.

Additionally, coding helps you become more analytical and a better problem-solver, so you’ll inevitably improve your design process. This extra experience boosts your chances of getting promoted or advancing in your career. So, if you dream of becoming a “Senior Design Lead” someday, coding may help you achieve your goal.

Basic Coding Skills UI/UX Designers Should Know

Although some people are naturally gifted, most people need to focus on one skill and refine it to become experts. Programming is a complex field, and balancing these two worlds without a clear strategy can be more harmful than helpful to your design career.

You’ve seen some of the many reasons why knowing how to code benefits UI/UX designers. So, what level of coding knowledge do you need to avoid future confusion? We’ll explain it below.

1. HTML

HTML (or Hypertext Markup Language) is the basic building block of the web. In other words, it’s used to write what the browser shows or displays and forms the main content you see online.

Learning HTML will help you better understand how your elements are arranged and how the final product looks on your user’s screen. As we mentioned before, this will help you create more realistic designs and also enable you to code your work yourself if you want to.

Note that despite its name, HTML is not a programming language and is very easy to learn.

2. CSS

While HTML determines what goes on your web page, CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets) improves its visual appearance. As the name suggests, CSS styles and adds color to a typically plain webpage.

HTML and CSS are the most important coding skills to know, as they mainly implement your UI designs. Visual elements like color and shape and the more practical aspects of your design are handled using them. A good grasp of both will help you visualize the exact outcome of your work.

3. Basic JavaScript

This is where your main challenge in coding lies. While HTML and CSS are not programming languages, JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages today. It has many uses and applications in programming, scripting, and creating animations and interactive UX prototypes.

JavaScript adds functionality to a webpage and can change your style, position, and more. You’ll also need it to impressively model your design for developers and clients, especially for your more complex work. Keep in mind that JavaScript is deep and endless, so unless you want to be a full-time developer, you only need the basics.