UI vs UX Design: How does it differ? 🤔

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two words that you may often hear in technology circles, But what do the words really mean, and what does it mean to be a UX or UI designer?

User interface (UI) design: Is the process used by designers to create interfaces in computers, appliances, mobile devices and other electronic devices, focusing on appearance or style.

User experience (UX) design: Is the process by which design teams create products that deliver meaningful and relevant experiences to users, this involves the design of the entire product acquisition and integration process, including brand aspects, design, ease of use and functionality.

Who is an UX designer?

The UX designer role is to make a product or service usable, enjoyable, and accessible. The term UX design is most often associated with digital design for websites and apps. While the exact process varies from product to product and company to company, the general phases of design tend to stay the same.

Who is an UI designer?

The role of user interface designer is to take creativity in a digital environment and use technical skills to translate an idea on the screen.
A successful user interface designer relies on a wide range of skills.You probably already have some of those core competencies.

Difference between UI and UX

User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design often go hand in hand, but the both fields have some important differences. While user experience encircles a user’s overall experience with a product or service, the user interface focuses on graphical design and interface.

Developing a product that people love often requires a good user interface as well as a good user experience. For example, you might have a food delivery application that looks great with perfect colors and smooth animation (UI), But if the application loads slowly or makes you click through many screens to order food (UX), it doesn’t matter how good it looks. You’ll probably never want to use it.

In addition, a website could be loaded with unique and useful content organized in a logical and intuitive manner.
But if it seems dated or you may not easily understand how to move between screens or scroll through the options, you are likely to click away from the site.

Essential skills

There are two kinds of essential skills, workplace skills and technical skills.
While the UI Designer and UX Designer have different technical skills, they have the same skills in the workplace.

Workplace skills

• Communication skills allow you to efficiently interview users and introduce your solutions to clients
• Empathy allows you to consider problems and solutions from the user’s point view
• Collaboration skills enable you to work in harmony with your team, receive feedback, explore solutions and build on your expertise
• Critical thinking encourages you to challenge your assumptions and find new ways to solve them

Technical skills

UX Designer

• Research including the use of interviews, surveys and observations, will help you make the best decisions in the design process.
• Information architecture helps you organize and prioritize large and complex sets of information
• Wireframing lets you explore design solutions efficiently
• Prototyping is essential to test the feature and identify issues

UI Designer

• Design and prototyping tools: The exact tools you use may vary depending on the company you work for, the product you’re designing, or your own personal preference.
  Some of the popular user interface design tools you can become familiar with include Sketch, Figma, InVision, Balsamiq and Adobe XD
• Color theory: Some of the more important choices you will make as a UI designer are about colors and color palettes.It is not only about what seems good.Colours may also refer to the support brand’s function and identity
• Typography: Over 90 percent of the information on the Internet is in text format. Because it plays a key role, typography can mean the difference between a good and a bad UI
• Design patterns: UI design patterns offer general solutions to common design problems. Being familiar with these common patterns and components will save you time and allow you to concentrate on more specific user issues

Does UI/UX Designer exist ?

Yes there is, Many companies and organisations choose to combine these roles into one position, this allows more potential for candidates to enhance and expand skills in the capability they are not as fluent in.

Hiring a UI/UX designer is highly attractive to smaller teams, particularly when there is only one design opening available.

You may be a successful hybrid designer, but those two areas need attention and commitment. Because some of it has more to do with visual aesthetics.