(UXB Bonus) The UX Ladder - A Framework For Learning UX

BONUS RESOURCE
The UX Ladder
Learn UX in half the time using a framework to understand the
different levels of user experience.
Introduction: Why Climb the UX Ladder?
Hey designer - thank you for signing up to get this resource. It’s my honor to serve
UX beginners embarking on an exciting design career.
The UX Skills Handbook
Most students are excited to dive into the world of UX, learn design skills, and
eventually get their first job in this field…
But they rush into it headfirst without surveying the landscape, lacking the mental
framework to understand UX in the first place.
This creates a trickle-down effect that starts new designers on the wrong foot…
● Confusing user experience (UX) with user interface (UI)

● Equating wireframing to design
● Forgetting the “user” in user experience!
If you’re like me, then you’d rather get a strong start on the right path than running
in circles.
This is why I created the UX Ladder - the one framework to learn upfront that
makes the rest of your UX learning journey much easier.
Stick through with me on this 10-page read, and I promise you’ll have a much
stronger start to this field. Well then, let’s waste no time.
Let’s climb the UX Ladder!

Oz, founder of UXBeginner.com
The UX Ladder: Understanding UX at Different Levels

When first exploring UX, it’s crucial to take a high-level view of the industry.
The UX ladder is a means of getting this perspective, from high level to the day to
day UX work.
1
There are three main steps of the ladder, that each provide a different perspective
of the user experience field.
Step 1: UX Design as a Philosophy
When you look at the term “user experience,” it’s extremely broad. This term
literally includes the user’s entire experience with a product or service.
It may sound obvious now, but businesses figured out that instead of building
want they want, it’s much more profitable to solve - and anticipate - their
customers’ needs.
In the history of software development, technical teams also had a similar

realization. Simply adding more features didn’t make a product better...in fact, this
would create bloated software that frustrated users.
As a philosophy, UX elevates the user. UX is the obsession over users and

building solutions tailored to them.
Product development isn’t cheap...so why waste money building things that users
won’t use? If customers are the ones who are ultimately paying for the product,
wouldn’t it make sense to design things that are easy - perhaps even delightful -
to use?
Much of the UX industry was born from the desire to apply common sense to
product development, with the user seated at the center.
With this context of what UX is as a philosophy, it is now easy to permanently

understand the difference between UX and UI.
User experience is the whole pie. The user interface is one slice of the pie - the
visual layer of that entire user experience.
2
UI is part of UX, but is not UX.
Step 2: UX Design as a Field
It’s important to understand that UX is a copycat field.
Our industry is a mishmash of psychology, library science, visual design, human

factors...the list goes on:
Interaction design is the core discipline of UX, since it is the practice of designing
how users interact with products.
From this core of interaction design stems different branches...different focuses -

some lean heavily towards visual design, while others towards research.
Understanding that UX is a hybrid, mix-and-match field helps the beginner

designer understand 2 major opportunities...
OPPORTUNITY 1
UX is dynamic and always changing, which adds longevity to the field. As long as
software products and digital experiences need to be created and maintained for
the use by humans, UX will be relevant.
OPPORTUNITY 2
The flexible nature of UX means that designers can build their own unique
combination of skills and interests to carve out their own niche in design.
3
There truly is no career as fluid and customizable as UX; professionals from nearly
every industry can find a relevant entry point into user experience.
Step 3: UX Design as Practice
With an understanding of UX as a philosophy (step 1) and the fields that comprise

it (step 2), designers can try to affect the user experience through a variety of tools
and processes.
This is where the practical skills of UX come in….
● Doing research to figure out user needs.

● Redesigning a website’s menu to make it easier for users to navigate
● Experimenting with different flows throughout a product, and wireframing
multiple variations.
(We’ll explore the top critical skills to learn by the end of this guide).
It’s important to know that we can’t control the user’s entire experience - that’s too
broad and subjective.
But we can, to the best of our ability, create design solutions for users, informed
by users.
In fact, let’s get a taste of how designing for users feels like, with a practical
exercise...
Bonus: A Quick UX Design Exercise.
If you’re going to be in UX, then you have to think like a designer. How do
designers think?
4
Question everything through the lens of design.
Design thinking is not magic. It’s just problem solving using creative methods.
These methods include, but are not limited to brainstorming, sketching,

interviewing users, creating prototypes and most importantly, asking why a lot.
UX Exercise Part 1: Design Thinking SUGGESTED TIME: 15 minutes
Open your device of choice, and think about which applications you use the most.
It can be a mobile app, website, or other utility.
Thus begins a series of design-related inquiries...
● Why do you use this application so much?

● What makes this application easy to use? Not easy to use?
● Can you identify the most important functions and features?
● Break down these features into steps. Can any steps be removed or
rearranged?
Question why a product or feature is designed a certain way. Can it be better?

What can be improved?
All that design thinking requires is a sense of curiosity.
Spend 25 minutes picking apart your application of choice.
UX Exercise Part 2: Usability Testing SUGGESTED TIME: 45 minutes
Identify the top 3 tasks that users can do in the application you’ve chosen.
Let’s say for Netflix, the top 3 tasks are:
5
1. Browse through the catalog of shows

2. Search for a specific show
3. Watching a show
The next step is to generate questions for the purpose of testing these tasks on
real users:
Tasks Questions
Browse through the catalog of shows Can you tell me what you’re seeing in
front of you?
Search for a specific show Let’s say there’s a specific show you want
to watch. Can you show me how you’d
find it?
Watch a show If you want to skip ahead to a later part of

a show, how would you do it?
Then, find a family member or friend to test this script on.

As they carry out the tasks you ask them to do, observe how they’re actually
doing the task without ever correcting their natural behavior.
If they struggle, take a lot of time completing a task, or get confused - those are
strong signals of user experience problems.
If users get frustrated, dig deep for insight. “Can you share what’s going through
your mind right now?”
Spend 45 minutes on testing the application on real users.
Hey, you’re already doing UX!

You’ve now experienced what it’s like to “do” user experience work.
The 3 steps of the UX Ladder take you from a theoretical to practical

understanding of user experience:
1. UX Design as a Philosophy
2. UX Design as a Field
3. UX Design as a Practice
6
In a nutshell, UX work is using design to solve problems, while involving users.
Hopefully this served as an “appetizer” that gave you a taste of the user
experience field.
Master the UX Fundamentals...
There are numerous skills to master, so treat the UX field like a buffet: get an
overview of everything that’s available first, then dive into what interests you.
If you liked the mix of theory + practical approach of the UX Ladders framework
here, then you’re going to enjoy a course I’ve built specifically for you.
The UX Fundamentals Course
So if you’re…
7
● Trying to learn UX but don’t know past the buzzwords

● Breaking into UX but not sure where to start
● Wondering what’s the minimum knowledge required to become a UX
Designer…
Then you’re going to want to pick up UX Fundamentals to give yourself the

strongest possible start in the field of UX.
See you on the other side,
Oz, founder @ UXBeginner.com

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BONUS RESOURCE

Introduction: Why Climb the UX Ladder?

● Confusing user experience (UX) with user interface (UI)

Let’s climb the UX Ladder!

The UX Ladder: Understanding UX at Different Levels

Step 1: UX Design as a Philosophy

In the history of software development, technical teams also had a similar

As a philosophy, UX elevates the user. UX is the obsession over users and

With this context of what UX is as a philosophy, it is now easy to permanently

UI is part of UX, but is not UX.

Step 2: UX Design as a Field

It’s important to understand that UX is a copycat field.

Our industry is a mishmash of psychology, library science, visual design, human

From this core of interaction design stems different branches...different focuses -

Understanding that UX is a hybrid, mix-and-match field helps the beginner

Step 3: UX Design as Practice

With an understanding of UX as a philosophy (step 1) and the fields that comprise

This is where the practical skills of UX come in….

● Doing research to figure out user needs.

Bonus: A Quick UX Design Exercise.

Question everything through the lens of design.

These methods include, but are not limited to brainstorming, sketching,

UX Exercise Part 1: Design Thinking SUGGESTED TIME: 15 minutes

Thus begins a series of design-related inquiries...

● Why do you use this application so much?

Question why a product or feature is designed a certain way. Can it be better?

All that design thinking requires is a sense of curiosity.

Spend 25 minutes picking apart your application of choice.

UX Exercise Part 2: Usability Testing SUGGESTED TIME: 45 minutes

Let’s say for Netflix, the top 3 tasks are:

1. Browse through the catalog of shows

Watch a show If you want to skip ahead to a later part of

Then, find a family member or friend to test this script on.

Spend 45 minutes on testing the application on real users.

Hey, you’re already doing UX!

The 3 steps of the UX Ladder take you from a theoretical to practical

In a nutshell, UX work is using design to solve problems, while involving users.

Master the UX Fundamentals...

The UX Fundamentals Course

● Trying to learn UX but don’t know past the buzzwords

Then you’re going to want to pick up UX Fundamentals to give yourself the

See you on the other side,

Oz, founder @ UXBeginner.com

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