How to Get Into UI/UX Design: Gurkiran Kaur’s Path at Parul University

UI/UX design, shaping how people interact with digital products, has become one of the most sought-after paths in design. Gurkiran Kaur, a product design graduate of Parul Institute of Design, moved into it and, during an internship at Shreetik Infotech, ended up as the company’s only designer, handling UI/UX and brand design single-handedly. Her experience is a realistic guide to what the field asks of you and how to prepare for it.

UX/UI design is related to how applications, websites, etc., look and work. UI is User Interface, and it is related to how a digital product looks, including how it looks on the screen, layout, and visual elements, while UX is User Experience, which focuses on how it works, how it feels to use and the flow, the logic that goes behind making it, and the ease of the whole journey. The two are adjacent areas, different but inseparable: an interface that is smooth and elegant but confusing fails to find its usability, and a logical flow that looks unfinished also struggles to win.

A UI/UX designer holds both together, which is why it is as much about thinking clearly as designing attractively.

Also Read: Industrial Design Career at Parul University: Puja Sarmah on Designing for Manufacturing

Gurkiran studied the market well, built an industry-standard toolkit during her studies and brought it directly into use in her role. Her software spanned Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, Fusion, and Blender, with Figma at the centre of interface work. But tools are only half of it. She designed an entire digital platform from scratch; she made this as the role tested her on it. It also included a project in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector, and present her work to share what decisions she took in high-stakes meetings. Through this, her skills, such as designing, communication and problem-solving, were tested.

Gurkiran’s path is a useful counter to the idea that you must choose your specialisation and never move.

Her initial instinct was inclined towards visual communication; she spent the initial few months in it, then made the shift to product design and found herself settling in UI/UX. As the different fields of design share a common foundation, the shift was not dramatic. The common foundation focuses on visual thinking, user thinking, and problem solving, so skills built in one transfer to another. Many UX/UI designers come to the field from different starts and unrelated or related fields.

Focus on one or two core skills and master them so completely that no one can replace you.
– Gurkiran Kaur

Gurkiran’s strongest advice is about depth over breadth, and she ties it directly to artificial intelligence. She advised taking up one or two core skills and becoming advanced in them. As AI is quick with automating routine and average-level work, she argues, a designer whose skills are just average will struggle. It is best to master the core skill and level up, as it is hard to replicate. She urges students to stay updated with the industry and work on the roles and skills that are in demand related to their skillset rather than investing in skills the market no longer needs.

Like others, Gurkiran noticed a gap between classroom theory and practical knowledge: Students, after studying the theory, struggle with solving real problems. They struggle with practical work, the live projects. Real work demands constant adaptation, thinking about ideas on the edge, staying on your toes and combining ideas to solve problems that don’t come with a textbook answer. The point isn’t that theory is useless; it’s that theory only becomes real skill through actual projects, internships, and live work. How students can find that kind of experience is covered separately in how design students actually get hired.