Understand the Difference Between User Experience and User Interface

The 3 Big Differences Between UX And UI Design - Usability Geek

Consumers today are exploring the internet with high expectations for websites that are responsive, fast, and seamless. New technological innovations are pushing the boundaries of what technology can do and what online users expect, requiring businesses to think further about what they can deliver to their audience. With that, you may start investing in your web design Brisbane, particularly in UX and UI, as a way to meet the demands of modern consumers and succeed in digital transformation. 

Many people use user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) interchangeably, but these two are different fields. In general, you need both elements for your digital products to be successful. UX focuses on the experience of a person with a product or service, including the user journey, usability aligned design, information architecture, user-friendliness, etc. Whereas, UI centres on the aesthetics that a person gets with a product, including menu bars, colours, typography, etc. 

What Is UX Design?

UX web design is learning about the journey of your target market and making it a product. UX design means the experience of a user with your offerings from beginning to end. It aims to help consumers accomplish their goals in the most straightforward way. A good UX design is valuable, usable, credible, accessible, useful, and findable. 

UX design attempts to answer these questions:

Does the website or app fulfill the wants or needs of a customer?

Is the website easy to find and is the service easy to use?

Do all users have the same experience when using the product or service?

Is the experience positive and to the point?

How fast and efficient can a visitor perform what they came to do?

The processes of UX web design include:

Develop the user flow. UX pinpoints the needs of the users and then creates the best user flow to help them complete their tasks efficiently. 

Wireframing. A wireframe functions like the interface skeleton. It requires the bare minimum to understand how a web design will perform on a functional level. You can create it digitally or draw on paper.

Analysis. Usually, this process means the UX designers working together with the researchers and product managers to analyze the results so they can decide on the next steps. 

Testing. One way for a UX designer to know if they are doing their job effectively is to test with real users. By testing early in the web design process with a rough prototype, they can gather data and information from users to validate their assumptions and ideas.

Best practices to follow when designing a website for user experience are:

  • Use an attractive, flat design but easy to create
  • Use color patterns effectively
  • Choose the right system of the image icon
  • Offer background textures
  • Highlight essential elements
  • Remove unnecessary web pages that ruin the user experience of the site

What Is UI Design?

The user interface utilizes visual design elements to transform a simple interface into something usable and comprehensible. UI web design makes a polished graphical user interface from wireframes. It aims to improve the usability of a product, creating an emotional connection between the product and the end-user. 

You can say that UX comprises of many user interfaces, all coming together in a perfect flow to create a product. 

A good UI design impresses and pleases the user by being attractive and supporting the experience of the user. You know you are doing a good job with your UI design if a user does not need to think or look where something is. 

The processes of UI design includes:

Responsive design. UIs have to adjust seamlessly to all screen sizes, devices, and platforms in terms of function and form.

Animation and interactivity. The UI designer can use interactive elements such as animations or transitions to design the UI interactivity. 

Prototyping. This showcases every element and design interaction of the user interface in real-time. A UI designer usually creates them for user testing and to have an idea about how the product will work.

Best practices to follow when designing a website for user interface are:

  • Take into consideration the journey of the end-users
  • Use basic UI elements and create consistency
  • Use color and texture strategically
  • Display specific information on a specific screen
  • Stay consistent in page layout
  • Examine and monitor the flow of the application

UX and UI Two Very Different Things

Most likely, you are beginning to see and understand the difference between user experience and user interface. To summarize:

UX web design identifies and solves the problems of the user; UI design builds intuitive, interactive and aesthetically pleasing interfaces.

User experience typically comes first in the process of product development, and then the user interface follows afterward. The UX designer outlines the basic elements of the user journey, while the UI designer fills it in with interactive and visual elements.

UX applies to any kind of experience, product, or service; UI is specific to digital experiences and products.

UX design works in accordance with the needs and requirements of a client while UI design is in line with research and the needs of a user.

How Do UX and UI Work Together?

In spite of being different, user experience and user interface are not separate entities altogether. In fact, the two work together to determine the function and appearance of a product, influencing each other during the process.

Imagine creating a beautiful web design and find out that people struggle to navigate and cannot see what they are looking for. It means that an attractive interface will need UX to prevent users from getting frustrated and leaving your website. 

On the other hand, after conducting testing and research to ensure an optimum user experience, you see that people are struggling to read your content because of too light text. It means the good UX cannot stop users from getting discouraged if the UI is not accessible or pleasing. 

All things considered, one cannot exist without the other. The relationship between the user experience and user interface is crucial to the success of your project. You need both elements when developing a user-centric product. This ensures that people can use your product with pleasure and ease. The entire process requires the UX and UI web design to work collaboratively to meet the needs and expectations of the users.