UI vs UX: Do they mean the same thing?

It’s common to hear people speak of UI and UX as if they mean the same thing. But that’s not correct. The two terms mean different things and are not interchangeable.

We’ll cover the definitions of both terms, the differences between them, and what designers in both fields typically do. We’ll also list some of the skills required for a role in UI and UX design. Ready? Let’s begin…

What is UI?

In very simple terms, the user interface (UI) refers to all the visual elements that a person interacts with when using a digital product or service. This includes everything from screens and touchscreens to keyboards, sounds, and even lights. 

In the context of websites and applications, UI design considers the appearance, feel, and interactivity. It’s all about making the user interface of a product as intuitive as possible. 

A user interface designer considers icons and buttons, typography and colour schemes, spacing, images, and responsive designs. He carefully considers every visual and interactive feature that the user may encounter. 

What is UX?

User experience, or UX, evolved as a result of the improvements designers made over time to the user interface. When there was something for users to interact with, their experiences, good, bad, or neutral, changed how users felt about those interactions. 

The ultimate goal of UX design is to produce simple, efficient, relevant, and enjoyable user experiences. For instance, how easy was it for users to check out items in their shopping carts? Can users see all the items in a catalog at a glance?

A UX designer considers how the experience makes the user feel and how simple it is for the user to perform actions. He also works closely with UI designers, UX researchers, marketers, and product teams to monitor analytics to see how users finish tasks in a user flow.

What’s the difference between UI and UX design?

Although both UI and UX designers create interactions, UX designers build the features while UI designers create the details that enhance them. Nick Babich says it better:

“The best products do two things well: features and details. Features are what draw people to your product. Details are what keep them there”. 

You can think of a user interface design as a combination of visual design and interaction design. The visual design is the appearance, feel, and personality of the website. The interaction design refers to how visitors interact with your website. 

A UX designer would most likely create user flows, such as the steps a user would take to sign up for your newsletter. What actions will they take, and how will they know whether they are successful?

The design is then passed on to the user interface designer. He will polish those interactions by adding color and emphasis to the original design. Then, he provides users with the information they need to effectively complete the newsletter sign-up process.

In summary, UI vs UX: Do they mean the same thing? these are the differences between UI and UX design:

• A UX designer makes interfaces useful, while a UI designer makes them beautiful.
• UX focused on helping users achieve goals while UI creates emotional connections.
• A UX designer works across products, interfaces and services, while UI designers only work on interfaces.
• The UX design is often done first before the UI design

Job skills required for UI and UX design roles 

Often, UX designers discover that many companies want them to have not just UX expertise but also UI design skills. There are several reasons for this demand but an understanding of both gives design applicants an edge in the pool.

While UX and UI design work hand in hand, you don’t have to be an expert in both. The following as some of the day-to-day responsibilities of both UX and UI designers. 

How To Maintain Cybersecurity For Your Remote Workers

What UI designers do

If you appreciate the notion of creating amazing user experiences but consider yourself to be a more visual person, UI design may be for you. These would be some of your day-to-day activities:

• Customer analysis
• Design research
• Branding and graphic development
• User guides and storylines
• UI prototyping
• Interactivity and animation
• Adaptation to all device screen sizes
• Implementation with developers

Recent Articles

How To Use Email Marketing To Boost Your Business

Binance Suspends Nigerian Accounts Over Security Concerns

Where Will The Technology Industry Be One Year From Now?

What UX designers do

A UX designer typically does the following tasks:

• Competitor analysis and user research
• Product structure and strategy
• Content development
• Wireframing 
• Testing and iteration
• Development planning
• Coordination with UI designers and developers

In conclusion, it is nearly hard to separate user design from user experience design. However, UI design creates visually appealing and captivating interfaces while UX design helps users complete important activities across platforms and services.