Defining your UX skillset: T-shaped vs. I-shaped vs. M-shaped vs. X-shaped

UX design is a broad term that encompasses various disciplines. There’s research, interface design, branding, testing, animations — and more. Which means it’s practically impossible to be equally good at everything. There are points in one’s career when we have to make decisions about which skills to double down on and which ones to ignore.

It’s easy to get lost in this whole process. That’s when a skill categorization framework comes to the rescue.

By visually mapping the level of expertise you have in each of the core UX design skills, you can better understand your current skill as a designer and plan your next steps more strategically.

Let’s look deeper at different ways to develop as a UX designer.

Types of UX skillsets

There are four main skillset archetypes in UX design (or any other profession to be fair). One can become an

• I-shaped designer — Deep specialists who focus on excelling in one primary skill
• T-shaped designer — Experts in one area with a solid understanding of related disciplines
• M-shaped designer (or comb-shaped) — Designers who develop expertise in multiple areas
• X-shaped designer — Connectors who excel at synthesizing insights across disciplines

Each archetype has its own strengths and trade-offs, and no single path is better than the others — it’s all about aligning your skills with your goals and the needs of your team or organization. Let’s explore all of these in depth.

I-shaped skillset

An I-shaped designer is a specialist in one specific area.

An example could be a UI designer who can deliver amazing visuals but can’t really handle the UX or strategic part of the process or a UX researcher who is great at getting insights but struggles to make anything tangible out of them.

It doesn’t mean that an I-shaped designer knows only one skill. By exposure alone, they’ll develop a breadth of UX-related skills. However, I-shaped designers put most of their focus on developing skills in their single area of choice.

Pros

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• High expertise in a single niche skillset
• Effectiveness and speed of execution

Cons

• Can’t effectively fill the gap in other areas if needed
• Collaboration with other specialists is more difficult due to a lack of holistic understanding

T-shaped skillset

T-shaped designers, similarly to I-shaped ones, have a single area of expertise in which they shine. However, they also dedicate effort to developing a strong foundation in other skills related to their work.

For example, one can be primarily a UI designer but still possess a decent skill set in user research to conduct interviews on their own. They might not be as skilled in research as specialized UX researchers, but they can still do the job.

There are many types of T-shaped designers. Some have two or three secondary skills, while others are multi-tools with a solid baseline in any area of UX design.

Pros

• Specialized in a particular area
• Ease of collaboration due to interdisciplinary mindset

Cons

• Not as specialized in their main area as I-shaped designer

N-shaped / M-shaped / comb-shaped skillset

A T-shaped designer with more than one area of expertise is often referred to as

• N-shaped (2 areas of expertise)
• M-shaped (3 areas of expertise)
• Comb-shaped (4+ areas of expertise)

You don’t have to be an absolute expert in all those areas. You can be 10 out of 10 researchers and 6 out of 10 branding gurus, and I would still consider you an N-shaped designer.

It all comes down to being able to comfortably call yourself “above-average” at more than one thing.

Pros

• Multiple areas of expertise allow one to easily fill gaps whenever needed
• In smaller teams, one person can wear multiple hats

Cons

• The more areas of expertise one designer has, the weaker they usually are compared to focused I-shaped designers

X-shaped skillset

An X-shaped skillset is quite a recent term, and it might be problematic to grasp at first, so let me put it in simple terms.

X-shaped designers have solid fundamentals across all areas of UX design (similar to T-shaped designers), but they excel at connecting the dots between them rather than executing in any of those areas.

For example, X-shaped designers understand research, data analysis, branding, and prototyping, but they don’t necessarily excel at executing in these areas.

What they shine as is understanding how these areas inform each other and how to connect the dots.

They don’t have to be great at data analysis or conducting user research, but they know how to connect these two disciplines for the best results, including

• When to use which method
• How to share learnings and insights
• How to avoid repetition and maximize results by combining both methods

While an M-shaped designer can perform greatly in many more areas, an X-shaped designer excels at making various design areas contribute to a shared goal.

So they’re connectors first and executors second.

Pros

• Ability to innovate by connecting the dots
• Effective at streamlining processes and understanding dependencies

Cons

• People who sit at intersections of various disciplines are often jacks of all trades… but masters or none

Choosing your path

So, what type of designer should you be?

There’s a common belief that the progress is linear. That is

• You start as an I-shaped designer developing one skillset
• You then expand to T-shaped design by getting a broader understanding of the discipline
• Over time, you develop more areas of expertise and become a comb-shaped designer
• Until you get yourself a leadership position and focus on X-shaped connections

Although that’s one of the ways to develop, it’s not the only path. There are exceptional I-shaped experts who earn way more than M- and X-shaped leaders.

It’s more about figuring out what gives you the most joy:

• Do you want to nail your craft and don’t mind not seeing the bigger picture? Double down on your expertise and become I-shaped
• Do you love your area of expertise but want to work more cross-functionally? Go T-shaped
• Do you get bored quickly, or don’t have any specific niche you truly love? Go N+ shaped and develop skills as needed
• Do you like playing with processes and design ops, or does design management spark your interest? Learn how things connect as an X-shaped designer

Also, keep in mind it’s not a lifetime decision. You can be a well-rounded T-shaped designer today, but double down on a newly learned skill and become an I-shaped designer tomorrow.

Adaptation is the key.

As long as you are consciously making decisions about what type of designer you want to be and why, the exact path you choose doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t work, you can change that.

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