Although many of us have “design” in our titles, we’re not necessarily creative or artistic people and don’t have to be.

In the world of UX, many titles are often combined into one role. Often differentiation is hard to make, which makes it hard to choose your title. We’ve seen the infamous “UX/UI designer” job title. Under the umbrella of UX design falls product designers, web designers, graphic and type designers, UI designers and the list goes on. Many of the purposes of each role intersect quite heavily.

It can be confusing to know whether you need to only be strong at visuals, good at research, good at painting, drawing, wireframing or all of the above. The scope of your work and the decision on your title are dependent on what type of designer you’re aiming to be. Here’s how you can help figure out what type of designer you are.

How much do you research?

When it comes to UX, generally you won’t be doing much of your design work without some preliminary research or data. At least, you’d hope not to. The difference between UX designers and other types of designers or artists is that we’re not necessarily inherently artistic. We’re “experience” designers. Meaning, the “why?” of the issue is how we decide on designs. Nothing we make is solely or even primarily meant to focus on aesthetics. If you find yourself enjoying the research, UX research or design is likely your realm.

UX Researchers don’t often have to do much designing. Or many times, any. Although many of us have “design” in our titles, we’re not necessarily creative or artistic people and don’t have to be.

Many of us are researchers. UX Researchers create data charts, personas and data-driven information to inform design decisions. UX Designers will have a similar role but will be likely responsible for creating user flows or low to high fidelity wireframes based on research and information. Ultimately the focus of the UX Designer is on creating seamless experiences.

Are you great at visuals?

That being said, while you can focus on the research and acknowledge its importance, maybe it’s not your favourite part of the process. If you come from an artistic background and enjoy painting, graphic design, or drawing and are creative, UI design could be more your preference.

Outside of creating usable experiences, visuals are very important. Strong UI is how users immediately decide whether they’d like to engage with a product or not. Before UX even comes into question, users judge a system based on its appearance. Good UX can be ignored without a strong UI. UI communicates identity and branding to the user.

When it comes to creating appealing, usable and clean design UI designers focus largely on creating this strong aesthetic experience in accordance with strong UX. A talent with visuals is very important to the success of a product.

Maybe you’re good at it all.

In this field, we don’t really have to pick. Sometimes you want to be a part of every part throughout the entirety of the project. You also may be very interested in understanding and contributing to Information Architecture. If you’d like to see projects all the way through and have a part in each aspect of a product, you’re likely going to enjoy Product Design.

When it comes to product design, it can be a bit harder to break into than UX or UI Design. A good method to working in product design is gaining information by working as a UX or UI Designer. When it comes to design work there’s no better teacher than learning on the job. Much of what there is to learn in Product design is within the combination of UX and UI.

Ultimately, the type of designer you are can be hard to define. If you’re early in your career you don’t have to rush to label yourself. Follow your passions and your talents and the right role will find you.

It may not be your first, second or even third role. For many of us, the only way to figure this all out is trial by fire. Try new things and be open to every aspect of the journey. You’ll end up right where you’re meant to be.