Ever heard about UI/UX design? You probably have heard about UIUX design, but what are they and what is the difference between the two? In simple words, UI and UX designs cover the inside and outside of a company’s products and services.
UI stands for the user interface, it includes screens, pages and visual elements such as buttons and icons, that allow a person to use a product or service.
UX stands for the user experience, it refers to the overall experience a consumer has when he/she uses a particular product or service.
This article will discuss what are UI and UX and the major differences between the both.
What is UI Design?
In simple words, the user interface or UI is anything that a customer may come across while using any digital product or service. The elements of the user interface include screens, touch screens, keyboards, sounds and lights etc, pretty much everything that a user may come across.
What is UX Design?
Designing a user interface is not enough. How a user feels after using that interface also counts. This feeling that a user has after using a user interface is called user experience. The UX or user experience can be good, bad, positive, negative or neutral and can predict how good was a user interface.
Surprisingly, the term user experience was put for by cognitive scientist Don Norman back in the 1990s, and here is how he defined user interface:
“User experience covers all kinds of experiences a user may have while interacting with a company, its products and services”
This definition cover quite broad aspects, it covers the whole range of experiences, not just the experiences limited to a particular product or service. Due to its wide range, some experts even call user experience customer experience while others refer to this as the field of experience design.
UI and UX designers usually work together to ensure that the products and services a company delivers are up to the mark and work efficiently for the customers.
Major Differences Between UI and UX
You may have gotten an idea about the basic difference between UI and UX design. Don Norman described the difference between the two:
It is crucial to differentiate between UI and UX design. Although UI designs are crucial, UX is even more important. For example, if someone is using a website for movie reviews, UX could be compromised if the user is looking for a small movie, while the UI includes only big movies.
Here are some of the major differences between UI and UX as stated by industry experts:
UX is User-Focused & UI is Product Focused
Imagine that you are going to solve a problem, UX design here is mainly focused on the elements focused on the user’s journey whether this is on-screen or off-screen, while the user interface is only one piece of the fragment. For example in a restaurant, UI would be table, chair, utensils etc. While the UX is everything including food, service and music etc.
UX is focused on the Conceptual, While UI is focused on Tangible Elements
In professional terms, a user experience designer is mainly concerned with the concept of a design, and the skills for this require practice. On the other hand, a user interface designer professionally focuses on the physical elements of the design.
According to the experts, a UI designer possesses the skills such as research, and a deep understanding of architecture, interaction and information.
The UI designer possesses the skills such as motion design, information design and brand.
UI and UX Designs Are Not Comparable
While other experts keep on pointing out the different skills of UI and UX designers, other experts have the opinion that there is no comparison between both. For example, asking the difference between the two is like asking the difference between the red paint and the ingredients the red paint is made of. In the same way, user experience is the combination of different elements, while the user interface is just one element of that combination.
Another example to differentiate between the UI and the UX is that, if someone is eating a delicious cake, UI is the cake presentation, plates etc while the UX is the reason why people are prioritising that cake over others.
UI is the Bridge to Reaching a Destination, and UX is the How We Feel Reaching that Destination
As the world is advancing, so are the UI and UX designs. UI designs are not limited to the four corners of the screen anymore, and neither the UX is limited to the backend of that screen generating conversions.
To understand this better, experts explain UI as the bridge that can take us to a destination, and UX on the other hand is how we feel using that bridge, such as how secure the bridge was, how tightly the bridge was connected, and how well-built the bridge was.
Although user experience and user interface are highly interconnected, still a good user experience is possible without a good user interface. But a good interface somehow depends on a good user experience.
UI is time-focused, while UX is a Journey
UI only requires time and effort for a limited time. It is focused on the product, so the effort is required until the product is completed, while UX goes all the way throughout the user’s journey. UI is only limited to the features of the screen such as visual style, labels and structure. UX is the pathway towards the elements of UI, justifying why those elements are there in the first place.
UX Covers the Range of Customer Experiences, While UI is Limited to the User’s Interaction With a Product
Since user experience covers a whole range of experiences a customer may go through, collecting data about the user experience may include doing in-depth research on the positive and negative points of a product and pointing out the areas for improvement.
To better understand this, consider you are ordering food online. Now the UX will not be limited to going to the website and ordering the food, but will also include experiences such as food delivery, customer care, food quality etc. while UI will only include the “ordering food” part of the journey.
UI may seem limited or narrow, but it is deep, it includes elements such as visual designs, typography colour selection etc.
Wrapping Up
UI stands for the user interface, it includes screens, pages and visual elements such as buttons and icons, that allow a person to use a product or service. UX stands for the user experience, it refers to the overall experience a consumer has when he/she uses a particular product or service.
Both are different in many ways with UX being a broader concept and covering the whole journey and UI being a narrower and deeper concept being the one element of the journey.
FAQs
Is UI better than UX Design?
No one is better than the other, both have their importance playing a vital role in the overall experience of a product and service.
Should I choose UI or UX?
The answer lies entirely in your preferences. If you are passionate about the user’s overall journey. you should choose UX, if you are interested in design elements only UI is for you.
Is UI or UX harder?
UX is harder than UI.
