Did You Know?
Before Facebook launched its Like button in 2009, the team that built it called it the "Awesome button." Mark Zuckerberg made the final call on the name "Like."
The Numbers Behind the Career
There were about 132,700 web and digital interface designer jobs in the U.S. in 2025.
The median annual salary for web and digital interface designers in the U.S. was $104,00 in 2025.
About 8,300 web and digital interface designer job openings are projected each year over the next decade.
Where This Career Is Headed
Over the next decade, designers will be asked to make products for more kinds of people, in more kinds of places, and even for software that acts on a person's behalf. By 2030, all baby boomers will be between 66 and 84 years old, and about 60 million of them are projected to still be living in the United States. Older Americans are already online in large numbers: only 14% of adults 65 and older used the internet in 2000, but 90% did by 2025, so products built mainly for younger users will need rethinking. Interfaces are also moving beyond the phone screen, from smart glasses controlled by a wristband that reads the electrical signals your muscles make to cars that now earn better safety scores in Europe for having real buttons for turn signals, wipers, hazard lights, and the horn. AI agents can now browse websites, click buttons, and fill out forms for people, so designers will increasingly shape experiences for both a person and the software working for them. Across all of these changes, designers will keep asking what a person needs in the moment and whether a screen, a button, or something else serves them best.
Age-friendly design could be a specialty with room to grow, since about 9 in 10 Americans 65 and older now use the internet and nearly 8 in 10 own a smartphone.
Since January 2026, Europe's main car-safety rating program has given higher scores to cars with physical controls for key tasks, which could create work for designers who understand how buttons and screens can work together.
Designers who can show people why an AI agent made a choice, and let them step in, may find a new kind of work.
Education & Certification
Education requirements for UX/UI designers range from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree, and employers may prefer candidates with a bachelor's degree in a field such as web design, digital design, or graphic arts. Many designers earn a degree, while others build their skills through bootcamps, online courses, or self-study, learning by designing real projects. No license is required, and some designers may not need a specific degree if they can show their abilities through past work and projects, often collected in a portfolio of case studies, wireframes, and interactive prototypes. Optional certificates, like the Google UX Design Certificate, require no degree or experience, and can show your skills alongside a portfolio; working designers can later earn credentials such as the Nielsen Norman Group's UX Certification. Designers with a bachelor's degree may advance to become project manager roles, and many keep learning new tools as their careers grow.
To Prepare...
Take art, psychology, computer science, and writing classes, since designers combine an eye for design with an understanding of people and the ability to explain their ideas.
Join a school group that designs for real people, like a yearbook, newspaper, or school website team, or a student organization with web design competitions, such as TSA or SkillsUSA.
Look for chances at school to build a portfolio, like redesigning a confusing sign or club sign-up sheet or volunteering to design for a school event, and save each project with notes on what you changed and why.
