Differences Between UI/UX
Have you ever wondered if the terms UI/UX mean same thing? If not what exactly are the differences between the two?
The terms User Interface and User Experience are two of the most often confused terms, but in the actual sense they mean completely different things. I believe the mix up comes from the fact that in most cases they work together and other times a UI designer can also be a UX designer and vise versa.
What is User Experience(UX)
User Experience (UX) is the study of users in their context, in order to design products they can use to complete their goals. User Experience as the name implies deals with the overall experience of the user when they are using your product or service. It deals with what, when, why, where and how users interact with your product. UX can be used by any industry, but it is mostly seen in the digital world.
The main idea behind UX is making things easy for your user, and as a User Experience designer you should always ask yourself what you can do everyday to make things easy for the people using your product or service. A UX designer goes through a series of processes to ensure users have the best experience when using a product.
What is User Interface(UI)
User Interface on the other hand refers to anything the user may interact with to use a product or service. It is the visual appearance of the product. It consists of the buttons users click, images, text, text fields, and every other thing the user interacts with while using your product.
UI design, can be described as a small aspect of UX mainly concerned with colors and typographical aspect of mobile or web Design. UI designers concentrate more on the visual part of an app or website.
The goal of a user Interface designer is to create compelling, beautiful interfaces that stir emotional responses from the user. They decide what the application would look like.
However UI and UX have a close relationship in product design, even as they serve different roles. An app design should efficiently combine text, graphics, and interactive components to make sure users get the best experience.
The benefits of having a well-designed product is that you’ll have a higher user retention rate, and that is why it is important to combine UI and UX in order to create great products that serve users needs.
Differences Between UI/UX
- UX design focuses on the internal parts that keep the design working, while UI design focuses on the external parts that keep the design visually stunning.
- UX design solves problems, while UI creates the interfaces themselves.
- UX is a process while UI is a deliverable.
Simply put UI is how things look, while UX is how things work
Conclusion
UX and UI are two different skillset in the design industry, they are both really very important, and are fundamental to each others success. A great user experience can be sunk by bad visual interface design that makes using the app unpleasant.
I hope you have been able to get a good understanding of how they are related and what differentiates them.
Thank you for reading.