As a startup founder, it's crucial to make smart hiring decisions that align with your business goals and support your growth. When should you hire the first sales person? When should you add a product manager? Today, we tackle the question of the right time to hire a UI/UX designer in this blog.
Hiring a UI/UX designer is a big step for many startups, but it can also be a game-changer for companies that need to improve the user experience of their product.
In this post, we'll explore the five signs that indicate it may be time to bring in a UI/UX designer to help take your product to the next level. If you are hiring a UI/UX designer, check out our definitive guide to hiring UI/UX designers and how to evaluate portfolios.
The five signs it's time:
- Poor User Experience: If your customers are consistently complaining about the usability or design of your product, it may be time to bring in a UI/UX designer to help improve the overall user experience.
- Inadequate Product Design: If your product design is outdated or doesn't effectively communicate the value of your product, a UI/UX designer can help you create a more visually appealing and effective design.
- Slow Adoption: If your product isn't gaining traction with customers, it may be due to poor design and user experience. A UI/UX designer can help you identify and fix these issues to increase adoption.
- Lack of Consistency: If your product design is inconsistent across different platforms or devices, a UI/UX designer can help you create a more cohesive and consistent design that appeals to customers.
- Competition: If your competitors are attracting customers with better product designs and user experiences, it may be time to bring in a UI/UX designer to help you catch up and differentiate your product in the market.
Examples of the five signs with startups:
Here are examples of how these signs manifested themselves and how various startups solved them!
- Poor User Experience: Dropbox realized that their desktop application was cluttered and confusing, leading to poor user experience. They hired a UI/UX designer to revamp the design and make it more intuitive and user-friendly.
- Inadequate Product Design: When Airbnb first launched, their website was simple and functional, but not particularly visually appealing. They later hired a UI/UX designer to help create a more visually appealing and effective design that effectively communicated the value of their product.
- Slow Adoption: Slack struggled with slow adoption for their team communication tool, despite having a functional product. They hired a UI/UX designer to improve the design and user experience, resulting in faster adoption and growth.
- Lack of Consistency: LinkedIn realized that their product design was inconsistent across different platforms and devices, leading to a confusing user experience. They hired a UI/UX designer to create a more cohesive and consistent design that appeals to customers.
- Competition: When Trello was first introduced, it faced tough competition from other project management tools with more visually appealing designs. Trello hired a UI/UX designer to improve the design and user experience, which helped them differentiate their product in the market and attract more customers.
By paying attention to the signs outlined in this post, you can make a more informed decision about whether to hire a UI/UX designer and ensure that your product design is working in your favor. Whether you're facing poor user experience, inadequate product design, slow adoption, lack of consistency, or competition, a UI/UX designer can help you overcome these challenges and create a more appealing and effective product that meets the needs of your customers.
With the right designer on board, you can position your startup for success and bring your vision to life.
About Rocket
Rocket pairs talented recruiters with advanced AI to help companies hit their hiring goals and knows technology recruiting inside out. Rocket is headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley but has recruiters all over the US & Canada serving the needs of our growing client base across engineering, product management, data science and more through a variety of offerings and solutions.
