Technology has been interwoven into almost every aspect of our lives, blending technological and creative fields and making their lingo part of our vocabulary.
As a result, previously unheard of terms, such as “UI” (User Interface) and “UX” (User Experience) are being used on a daily basis. These terms have been used in their respective fields for years and are only now being used in their abbreviated form by the masses due to their growing popularity.
While it is a positive development to have these abbreviations become a part of our vocabulary it is also dangerous because many of the people using these terms are not doing so correctly. They are using these two words interchangeably and incorrectly, causing confusion among laymen and industry professionals alike.
Individuals seeking employment in one of the many jobs associated with these terms, such as designers, product developers and software creators are often frustrated due to the misconceptions associated with these two terms.
While they do share a relationship UI and UX are both separate entities that need to be clearly defined in order to create and use them successfully.
The major problem with using these words interchangeably is that it creates problems within the workforce. When you treat these two terms the same you assign them qualities they don’t have. This leads to employers mistakenly believe a UI and UX designer both perform the same duties and posses the same skill set, leading to flabbergasted job candidates and aggravated employers who seem unable to find what they think they need.
Often times there will be job postings for a UI designer requiring them to have qualifications normally attributed to a UX designer, like research abilities and experience mapping. On the flip side many UX designer job listing will ask for skills such as visual design or design language capabilities.
Since these terms are being used erroneously, their meaning is becoming more and more misconstrued, creating a dilemma on the job market that needs to be corrected to ensure the right candidate gets the right job.
UI and UX do share similarities and each depends o the other on many levels, but they are both different in their creation and those differences need to be recognized. While a user interface is a main component of UX, it is not the only one. User experience is complex and draws on a myriad of features to cone to fruition.
What’s user experience?
User experience is a person’s reaction to a service or product. Think of user experience as how you feel when ride a motorcycle or hang glide. It is not the act of what you’re doing, but your reaction to what your doing.
It is your thoughts, feelings and attitude about what you are experiencing. User experience is what determines whether or not an individual trusts a product/site and wishes to use it in the future. It evaluates all aspects of the human-computer relationship to come out with the best experience.
User experience is based on many factors for and individual, such as how easy it is to navigate a site, whether the information needed is readily available and how all the different parts work together.
A large part of user experience is contingent on an individual’s perceptions and can be affected by outside forces as well as site functionality. As a result user experience must be constantly updated as user needs change on a continual basis, as do consumer trends.
The basis of a successful user experience design lies in understanding who your user-base is and building a design around the main ‘personas’ associated with that user-base. From there you can gather all pertinent information architecture to build a working prototype. Doing the design this way will save money and allow you to get real-time feedback.
The UX Designer
A UX designers main focus is how a product feels when its used. It is their job to create a positive user experience that will make users continue to use the product. To that end they must employ their critical and creative thinking skills to figure out different approaches and solutions to user problems.
A user experience designer must wear many hats, testing various models of a product to determine which one works most logically and easily for the user. Through testing they can see first-hand what road blocks may exist and can fine-tune the product until it is at its most productive and friendly for the user.
The UX designer should be able to work with other team members, such as visual designers, context guys, audio designers and others to help create the ultimate user experience.
They should be able to spell-out user task flows and UI specifications as well as explain how the experience should flow from start to finish through design and various interaction models. They also must be able to explain and justify these needs to business stakeholders that makes sense.
The UX designer is like the conductor of an orchestra: they dictate how all the other working parts should be constructed based on their extensive research and testing. They are a user advocate, as they have a firm grasp of what the users want and need and can best help the team configure the product/service to meet those needs while still satisfying the needs of the stakeholders.
Through the UX designer the UX architecture is built, showcasing the users experience by creating a functional, eye-catching product or program. All of this is formed through determining user personas, primary usage, architecting hierarchy, user flow and more. As you can see these two terms interact throughout the creative process, but the bottom line is the user interface is built based on what the UX designer determines the brand should look and feel like.
User Interface
The user interface, quite simply, is the area were human and machine happens. The interface can be your computer, tablet, smartphone or any other technological device. It is the configuration of the UI that will help determine a users overall experience. It is how a user can access and use the product/service in question.
The main purpose of the user interface engineering is to provide individuals with a space that makes it easy to navigate, through simple commands and easy to operate buttons.
The interface should be able to read the users mind and anticipate what they need, providing it without them having to search and dig. In other words, the UI should clearly show what they may be looking for, eliminating guesswork and providing a pleasant way to use the product.
The GUI is the visual layer that is formed as a result of the UX architecture, but contingent on the desired brand/style and design principles. GUI and UX can each be formed independently, without consideration of the other, but GUI works best when it is molded based on problems that were solved during the UX process. UX design is rarely affected by the creative, but when it is it produces a more accurate result.
The UI Designer
The user interface designer, in contrast to the UX designer, is focused solely on the layout of the product. They are not concerned with how the layout feels when used; they are only concerned with producing the layout as described in the UX design.
They are there to construct the actual pages and make sure they function right. They decide where information is laid out, where button are placed and what they control.
To give you a better understanding, a UI designer that is creating a banking UI might place various accounts, such as checking, savings and IRA’s across the top for easy access.
Company information, meanwhile, would most likely be buried at the bottom. They would also make sure the overall design fits well with individual components and that similar actions are used throughout.
To sum it up
UI design is a primary component of UX and a vital one, but it’s not the only one. UX is much more comprehensive and dictates the overall flow of the UI. However, each has its own separate identity and UX is not UI.
These two terms are closely related, but not interchangeable. They can and should be spoken of together, as long as the terms are understood and used in the right context. These two terms should go hand-in-hand in the workplace to create the best overall product and make the job of both designers easier.
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