Market Statistics
Since 2022 we’ve seen the number of UI/UX Designer roles decrease, and the drop was considerable over 2023. This decrease aligns with a similar decrease in the rest of the UK.
Things are looking up. There are signs that the demand for UI/UX Designers is increasing as companies look to invest more in technology this year.
Evolving technologies like VR/AR and AI are also creating new spaces for UI/UX Designers to use their abilities. 2024 is expected to be a big year for these kinds of tech, which will likely bring more demand for UI/UX Designers.
Salary / Rates Information
By the end of 2022 salaries for UI/UX roles were high. Through 2023 we’ve seen average salaries drop and over the last few months we’ve seen them get back to the same levels as early 2022.
Over the last few months UI/UX Designer salaries have dropped by almost 15%. A big drop that has lined up with a reduction in the demand for UI/UX Designers. The average salary is at around £55k.
Rates had remained high into the middle of 2023 but the recent reduction in demand for UI/UX Designers across the board has resulted in a big drop in rates in recent months. An Almost 20% reduction brings the average rate to £480/day.
We’re expecting to see the demand for UI/UX designers increase going into 2024, and so we’re likely to see increases for salaries and rates alongside the demand increase.
Hybrid Working
UI/UX Designers positions are mostly either fully remote, or hybrid. We only infrequently see a position that requires UI/UX designers on site fulltime.
When looking at hybrid UI/UX roles, most roles expect 2/3 days in the office. This is a standard for the IT sector and we don’t expect it to change much in 2024.
Trends
The skills that are in high demand for UI / UX Designers as we head into 2024. Core skills remain really important but with the emergence of new technologies, there’s more to learn.
AI
Last year was a massive year for AI and 2024 is set to be just as massive. Disruption is likely as AI streamlines processes and increases the productivity of designers. Because of this, looking at how you can utilise AI is going to be an important part of keeping up.
There’s also likely to be new areas of UX / UI open up, looking specifically about how users interact with different types of AI.
VR / AR
The VR and AR spaces continue to evolve with the release of Apple’s new Vision Pro, and ongoing projects at Samsung and Google. As hardware continues advancing, there will be more options for software and more areas for UI/UX designers to improve.
There’s going to be lots of areas of designing for VR/AR that are similar to designing for current platforms, but it’s worth brushing up on 3D design.
Soft Skills
For UI and UX designers, soft skills are vital and will be continue to be useful going forward. Empathy with users of a product is obviously massively important when designing for them, and good communication and collaboration with your team means they understand why changes are important.
Coding
You don’t need knowledge in any programming languages to be a great UI/UX Designer, but having an understanding of some aspects of coding can help you produce implementable designs off the bat.
Top Locations
Manchester is a major location for UI/UX Designer roles with some of the surrounding counties also having decent numbers of positions. The other hotspot for UI/UX Designers in the North of England is West Yorkshire, where Leeds tech has driven a large demand.
Contact
To request more specific information about the market or to talk to us about your next role, get in touch via our contact form, send us an email, or give us a call.
Contact Form – 4itrecruitment.co.uk/contact/
Phone – 0113 259 0949
Email – tom.shuttleworth@4itrecruitment.co.uk
For information about roles we are actively recruiting for, click here to head to our jobs page.