How do I get experience as a UX/UI designer?

I hope this helps.

I think, to begin, it would be a benefit to look into User Interface Design, and User Experience Development. The two are often wrongly misinterpreted and misrepresented by staffing and recruitment agencies, heck, some companies are so new to it as a "buzzword" they don't really understand what it is a User Experience Professional should be doing for them.

From a Graphics Design background, your interest may lie more in UI Design. In a small container, I would interpret this to be designing the interface components, buttons, faces, screens, widgets and whatnot. Much like layout for a poster or typeset print materials. UI Design is about getting the user the access to what they need as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Form and Function.

User Experience Development and Research can often contain UI Design Work, (you hear the terms, wireframes and mockups and "sketches of workflows" or "living prototypes" thrown about on the myriad conference calls). However UXD is a realm which encompasses a gamut of toolsets. It can be Interface Architecture or Data Architecture, it can be understanding mechanics of the buttons and their functions. It can encompass analytics research and forming scientific and testable hypothesis (By doing this, we expect... as an outcome to improve _____ . We will know we have proven or disproven this hypothesis when our user does ___.) I personally believe User Experience is what being a "Computer Scientist" is all about.

Personally, I moved into User Experience Development from years as a systems administrator, Network administrator, Web Developer and Consultant, among many other hats. My experience was composed of interacting with end users, either through customizing transitions from Windows to Mac or through client meetings focused on determining sales goals. Advertising (and Graphics Design) has a lot of elemental resource one can pull from for their UXD tool belt.

When you, as an artist, compose a Poster, Direct Mail, Sign, Menu or Pamphlet. You have a goal, to increase Walk-ins, Sales, Product knowledge or general public interest. In UXD when you plan a change (not make) to a site or application, you have a goal to decrease bounce rate, or drop offs or increase user retention and User Experience.

My Suggestion to get into the roles, spend time in UI Design, buff up your Portfolio for your Graphic Designs and show metrics (in a well designed one-sheet) on how your design piece increased sales or public knowledge. This will get you in with a company who hopefully understands UXD. From there, you should have the opportunity to train with a User Experience Researcher or Analyst, or a UXD.

Moreover, talk with (not to) people and listen more than speak, it's an empaths gig. Attend conferences that pique your interest and learn as much as you can about the field of interest before pursuing a life in it. UXD is not for the feint of heart, as you said yourself, it's a term that is relatively "new" on the job market, however it has been around forever.

You will need to understand the languages you want to work in, with a focus on HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a Web environment. At some places, you may be expected to know as much as a Front End Developer, but truthfully you need to be able to speak the developers language as a UXD without getting funny looks. You need to be able to give direction without a question, sometimes the hypothesis are formed from a mix or balance of experience and gut instinct, and sometimes they are formed from research and Business goals.

Also, one last Note; Read, Read, Read. Read everything you can get you hands on and set your input sources to (eyes & ears & hands) sometimes reading is tactile. Read Design blogs, Hacker News, Tech Crunch. Read about Consumer Electronics, Automotive Interfaces, Computer Interface History.

Invest in & Read: Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge ISBN-13: 978-0262134743 ISBN-10: 0262134748

When you feel you have a good grasp, and know more than your peers, write blogs about interfaces or workflows that bug the heck out of you. But don't "Throw a grenade" and walk away. Play Legos with it; disassemble the interaction and offer solutions to make the workflow better. Like any criticism you had to do in art school, be constructive and offer solutions.

This path will make the world a better place for everyone around you.

There are lots of ways to attain the job, but it will be the knowledge and research you do that sets you apart from the rest, and it will show in your work.

Also, watch this Course from Lis Hubert; here on TeamTreehouse: teamtreehouse.com/library/ux-basics

Good Luck!