What’s the difference between UI design and UX design?
UI and UX are two terms that are normally used interchangeably but really mean very distinct things. At its most basic, user interface (UI) is defined as a series of pages, screens, and visual elements such as buttons and links through which an individual can interact with a product or service. On the other hand, UX is referred to as the internal experience of an individual when they interact with each aspect of the product or service of a company. So this article reflects on the difference between UI and UX designs.
Discussion about UI
In a nutshell, UI is anything that a person interacts with in order to use digital goods or services. It involves everything from keyboards, touchscreens, sounds, and even lights. UI designs are about applying typography, pictures, and other visual factors to shift a basic interface into something usable and digestible. It is the procedure of transforming wireframes into a polished graphical user interface. This contributes to the enhanced usability of the product and forms an emotional connection between the product and the end-user. Moreover, UI designers form the graphical portion of mobile applications, devices, and websites—the factors that have direct interactions with users.
Following are the main activities of UI designers:
Design research: Information regarding rivals and users can be obtained through research, which consequently offers insight into the current design trends. It is important to identify inspiration and form interfaces that satisfy the expectations of users.
Visual designs: UI designers are responsible for designing the layout of the product and the entire visual elements of the user interface, including colors, icons, fonts, and many more.
Branding and graphic advancement: UI design is approximately informed by the brand positioning of the overall product. It is required by designers to strike the right balance between usability and continuously demonstrating the identity of the brand set up by the marketing team. Consequently, UI design is proximally connected to graphic design.
Design system: In order to confirm brand and product consistency, UI designers form style guides, pattern libraries, and elements that point out the manner in which every element shall look, such as fonts, icons, and many more.
Discussion about UX designs
UX designs evolved as a result of UI improvements. Once there was something for users to interact with, their experience, whether positive, adverse, or neutral, altered how users felt regarding those interactions. UX design is about recognising the overall journey of users and translating it into products. It refers to the whole experience or feeling someone has with a product, from initiation to completion. In other words, UX designs are basically concerned with the overall user-friendliness of the whole customer journey. Therefore, a UX is created from numerous UIs that come together in a constant flow to form a product. Furthermore, UX designers are particularly concerned with the user’s interaction with a product.The objective is to create products that are functional, accessible, and enjoyable to use.
Following are some of the main activities of UX designers:
Plan: At the start of the UX design procedure, it is required by designers to form a strategic plan that confirms the alignment of stakeholders and works toward common goals.
User research: While most people think of design as something visual, UX designers mostly work on conceptual problem solving based on research and data.
Information architecture: It emphasizes organization and labeling the content of a website, application, or product. The objective is to help users identify information and complete their goals.
Difference between UI and UX designs
It is very significant to differentiate the total user experience from the user interface, even if the UI is genuinely a significant part of the design. For instance, take into account a website with movie reviews. Even if the UI for identifying a film is perfect, the UX for a user who wants information about a small independent release would be poor if the underlying database only included movies from the big studios.
UI is made up of whole elements that help people interact with products or services. On the other side, UX is what the individual interacting with those goods or services takes away from the overall experience. Furthermore, UX promotes goal achievement, whereas UI promotes emotional connection formation. Aside from that, the following are the primary distinctions between UI and UX design:
- UX design is all about user identification and addressing user problems. On the other hand, UI design is all about the creation of natural and interactive interfaces.
- Usually, UX designs come first at the time of product development, followed by UI. The UX designers identify the bare bones of the user journey, and then the UI designer completes it with visuals and interactive elements.
- UX could be implemented for any form of product, service, or experience, while UI is particular to digital products and experiences.
- UX designs include the entire experience an individual has with a good or service, while UI is particular to the means through which individuals interact with a good or service.
- UX designs focus on the user and their journey with the product, whereas UI designs focus on the goods or services, which are represented by a series of snapshots in time.
- UX is the feeling we achieve when we reach, while UI is the bridge that gets us where we wish to go.
- UX is emphasised on the journey of the user to address a problem, while UI is emphasised on how the surfaces of a product appear and function.
- Sometimes, UX design is performed first, and UI design is performed subsequently. Once the prototype has gone through numerous iterations and is significantly finalized, UI designers come in and start working on the micro-interactions and visual designs.
Overall, it’s nearly impossible to separate UX from UI or UI from UX. Though, if we try, it can be concluded that:
- UX design supports users in completing meaningful activities across platforms and services.
- UI design creates a compelling and pleasing interface that establishes a link with humans.
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