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UI vs UX Design: What's the Difference?
UI and UX explained in plain language, and why both matter for a website that converts.
What is UI Design?
“UI” in UI design means “user interface”. The user interface is the graphical appearance of an application. It consists of the buttons that users click on, the text that they read, the images, the sliders, the text input fields, and all the other elements that the user interacts with. This includes screen layout, transitions, interface animations, and every micro-interaction. Any visual element, interaction or animation must be designed.
This is up to the UI designers. They decide what the app will look like. You have to choose the color schemes and shapes of the button – the width of the lines and the fonts used for the text. UI designers create the look of an application’s user interface.
UI designers are graphic designers. They are concerned with aesthetics. It is up to them to ensure that the application interface is attractive, visually stimulating and themed to suit the purpose and / or personality of the application. And you need to make sure that every visual element feels united, both aesthetically and purposefully.
What is UX Design?
“UX” means “user experience”. A user’s application experience is determined by how they interact with it. Is the experience smooth and intuitive or clumsy and confusing? Does navigating the app feel logical or arbitrary? Does the interaction with the app give people the feeling that they are effectively performing the tasks they set out to do, or does it feel like a struggle? The user experience is determined by how easy or difficult it is to interact with UI elements created by UI designers.
So UX designers are also concerned about the user interface of an application and this is why people get confused about the difference between the two. But while UI designers are responsible for deciding what the user interface will look like, UX designers are responsible for determining how the user interface works.
They determine the interface structure and functionality. How it is organized and how all the parts relate to each other. In short, it designs how the interface works. If it works well and feels perfect, the user will have a good experience. But if navigation is complicated or lacking in intuition, it’s probably a reckless user experience. UX designers are working to avoid the second scenario.
There is also a certain amount of iterative analysis involved in UX design. UX designers will create a playback of their interactions and receive user feedback. They will integrate this into their designs. It is important for UX designers to understand holistically how users prefer to interact with their applications.
How do they work together?
How they work together
So a UX designer decides how the user interface works while the UI designer decides how the user interface looks. This is a very collaborative process, and the two design teams tend to work closely together. Because the UX team creates application flow, how all the buttons navigate your tasks, and how the interface effectively serves the needs of the information user, the UI team is working on how all of these interface elements will appear. on screen.
Let’s say, at some point in the design process, it was decided that additional buttons should be added to a given screen. This will change the way the buttons need to be organized and may require a change in shape or size. The UX team would determine the best way to put the buttons while the UI teams adapt their designs to fit the new look. Constant communication and collaboration between UI and UX designers helps ensure that the end-user interface looks just as good, working efficiently and intuitively.
Research is the key
Research is vital for both UI and UX designers. It is important for both disciplines to gather as much information as possible to help them make the right drawings, and both follow a similar approach.
Both will search for what users want. What to expect from such applications developed. This research is often iterative, involving usage sessions, in which real users will interact with scaled versions of certain features or visual patterns tested to determine if designers are moving in the right direction. Feedback is integrated with each iteration.
This process involves the generation of low-fidelity prototypes, such as the rendering of interface elements via tabs to measure a user’s response strictly to the tested functionality. It may also involve rapid visual prototyping and A / B testing of different possible versions of the interface layout to determine what users prefer.
In all cases, the research helps guide the steps that designers take while building their contributions. However, the information that UI and UX designers are looking for is very different.
Research in UI designs
UI designers need to make sure that the visual language they choose matches the class of applications they are writing. Try to predict user expectations. If your team is designing a travel app, it’s important to research how other travel apps have been developed in the past. Which ones worked? Which doesn’t? There are design lessons to be learned from the work of others beforehand.
Research may indicate that people prefer contoured icons to bold shapes. This is a visual shortcut that people are comfortable with and enjoy. UI designers would do well to incorporate that lesson.
The exact aesthetics they choose depend on them, but the “basic rules” or the need to comply with users’ expectations is something that designers ignore at their own risk.
This does not mean that the risks should not be taken. UI designers want their interface designs to stand out and be memorable. But this must be balanced against assuring people that they recognize the purpose of the items you place on the screen.
Research for UX design
UX design is especially interested in user expectations. All the experiences and interactions that users have had with every application they have used in their lives have helped to set their expectations for how interfaces should work. If a UX designer is not very familiar with these expectations, they may be mistakenly designing an interface interaction that seems logical to them, but which violates commonly accepted conventions. Users do not like when an interface behaves very differently than they expected, and this could have a negative impact on their experience.
If a UX designer decides to do something different, he must have a very good reason, because breaking a expected and trained logic will cause people to make frequent mistakes.
UI vs. UX: Two very different disciplines that work in harmony
UI design and UX design involve very different skill sets, but they are integral to each other’s success. A nice design can’t save a clunky and confusing navigation interface, and a brilliant, perfectly appropriate user experience can be sunk by an improper interface design that makes the application unpleasant. Both UI and UX drawings need to be perfectly executed and perfectly aligned with the expectations of pre-existing users to create an excellent user interface / experience. And when these stars line up, the results can be amazing.
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