The information on a page: why is it arranged this way? Starting from this question, look at how a role connects needs, execution, and feedback.
Understanding today's problem
Map out in what situation a user completes what task. Organize the information and actions into paths that are easy to understand, and identify the places that would confuse people.
Moving forward with the team
Discuss with the team using sketches and prototypes. Design the normal state, and also the empty, error, waiting, and insufficient-permission states. Consider the experience of text, the keyboard, and different screens.
Delivery and continuous improvement
Check the implementation with engineering, and revise the design based on usage feedback. Write down the interaction conventions, so similar problems get a consistent way to be solved.
Role names help us see how work is divided; everyday collaboration is what truly connects those divisions.
A day in the role
The work, step by step
01Map out task paths
Figure out in what situation a user completes what task.
02Design every state
Account for the normal, empty, error, waiting, and insufficient-permission states.
03Prototype and review
Discuss with the team using sketches and prototypes, and consider the keyboard and different screens.
04Build up interaction conventions
Give similar problems a consistent way to be solved.
Across the eras
Where this work appears in the timeline
- Web
1994–2000
Web graphic artists and web designers, whose daily work was slicing images, laying out pages with tables, and making Flash animations.
- Community & Search Era
2001–2008
Splits into interaction design and visual design, doing user research and usability testing, and establishing the UED way of working.
- Mobile Era
2009–2015
UI design moves from skeuomorphic to flat (iOS 7 in 2013), centering on app interfaces and icons, and design guidelines start to become systematic.
- Cloud & Intelligence Era
2016–2022
Design systems, design tokens, co-building component libraries with engineering, and measuring experience.
- Large Model Era
2023–present
AI-native interaction (conversation, multimodality, presenting uncertain results), with AI-generated assets entering the design workflow.
Occupation records
Recognition, mappings and market data
Design indicators belong to named proxy occupations. U.S. Web and Digital Interface Designers and Graphic Designers are listed separately. The global WEF position is for UI and UX Designers, not a standalone user-research statistic.
Occupation names and classifications
China · Occupation classification / mapping · A
VR Product Designer
Classification code · 4-04-05-11.
中国就业网（人社部）China · Occupation classification / mapping · A
Digital Media Art Professional
Classification code · 2-09-06-07.
中国就业网（人社部）China · Official occupation listing · A
Industrial Product Digital Modeler
Occupation listing · 2026.
上海市人民政府网站（上海发布）
Pay, hiring and outlook indicators
United States · Proxy occupation · A
Web and Digital Interface Designers
Median annual pay： US$104,000
2025 median (P50) · USD/year
O*NET OnLine（美国劳工部资助） · 15-1255.00 Web and Digital Interface Designers
United States · Proxy occupation · A
Web and Digital Interface Designers
Projected growth / sample change： Faster than average (5% to 6%)
2025–2035 projected growth band
O*NET OnLine（美国劳工部资助） · 15-1255.00 Web and Digital Interface Designers
United States · Proxy occupation · A
Graphic Designers
Median annual pay： US$62,960
2025 median (P50) · USD/year
O*NET OnLine（美国劳工部资助） · 27-1024.00 Graphic Designers
United States · Proxy occupation · A
Graphic Designers
Projected growth / sample change： Decline (-1% or lower)
2025–2035 projected growth band
O*NET OnLine（美国劳工部资助） · 27-1024.00 Graphic Designers
Global · Proxy occupation · B
UI and UX Designers
List position / share of job postings： #8
WEF Future of Jobs Report · 2025–2030 fastest net-growing roles list
Report list position; no in-chart percentage is shown.
World Economic Forum · The Future of Jobs Report 2025 (PDF)
Role record
History notes
These notes preserve the occupation names used by their sources. Era groupings and adjacent occupation names provide historical context; they do not mean those occupations are identical to this site’s role.
网页设计师 · Web designer
The role report lists “网页设计师” (web designer) in its 1995–2000 commercialization era. This is an era grouping in the report, not a verified first-appearance year or official recognition.
Related evidence · L1 · 8 papers
Contemporary research
These papers directly discuss responsibilities, skills, or tools relevant to the role. Topical relevance alone does not establish role history or replace employment and hiring data.
Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior
Generative agents as tools for interaction prototyping.
Abstract“prototyping tools”
Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Reliable, Safe & Trustworthy
A human-centered AI framework for designing human control into systems.
Abstract“The Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) framework”
Questioning the AI: Informing Design Practices for Explainable AI User Experiences
UX and design practitioners’ work on explainable AI product experiences.
Abstract“UX and design practitioners”
The Design and Implementation of XiaoIce, an Empathetic Social Chatbot
System design and user interaction for social chatbots.
Abstract“intelligent quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ)”
Design Guidelines for Prompt Engineering Text-to-Image Generative Models
Interaction guidelines for prompts in text-to-image systems.
Title“Design Guidelines for Prompt Engineering”
AI Chains: Transparent and Controllable Human-AI Interaction by Chaining Large Language Model Prompts
Editable LLM chains and interactive human–AI systems.
Abstract“interactive system where users can modify these Chains”
How should my chatbot interact? A survey on human-chatbot interaction design
Research on interaction design for chatbots.
Title“human-chatbot interaction design”
Social Simulacra: Creating Populated Prototypes for Social Computing Systems
Social-computing prototypes as a method for design validation.
Abstract“Social computing prototypes probe the social behaviors”