Difference between UX and UI: let's find out with concrete examples
Creating a website or a mobile app is not easy, but it is even less simple to design one that fully meets the needs and requests of our future users. Not only users, but also future customers, if the study of UX and UI is done correctly: but what is really the difference between UX and UI Design? Let's find out together with concrete examples.
What is UX Design?
UX Design (User Experience Design) includes those processes aimed at increasing user satisfaction improving the ease of navigation and making the consultation of web pages more intuitive. The term was coined in the 1990s by Donald Norman, a scholar of cognitive science and psychology, to indicate a set of aspects concerning theinteraction with a product or service.
UX Design, therefore, "dictates the rules" for correct implementation of functions and elements that a site or an app should have to meet the public's liking (SEO, social media marketing, content production, etc.). It is therefore a varied discipline that oscillates between marketing, design, project management and psychology.
UX Design is a very important aspect to take into consideration when creating a site or an app, since the first impression that the tool arouses in the viewer can affect the chances of completing the conversions. Creating a website that guarantees a more intuitive and smooth experience can lead to measuring increases in engagement statistics and, consequently, also in profitability.
UX Design guides us towards the creation of websites and applications in the name of simplicity, from the practicality, from the consistent with user expectations. This discipline aims to implement the best path and the best browsing experience in order to increase the probability of transforming a User into a Customer.
The User Experience is fundamental, for example, in the ecommerce, to help users find an answer to their needs as quickly as possible, such as quickly finding product models, solving problems in loading orders and easily requesting information.
User Experience Design encompasses several activities that impact the navigation and the use of applications:
- usability, or the intuitiveness of access and use;
- psychology, which means understanding which psychological levers affect navigation;
- information architecture, ie how to structure the information in order to be more understandable for the user.
The user experience is essential in the purchasing processes, to make them more intuitive and immediate. Think of all those times you have to click once, and again, and again to get to complete the order: isn't it true that you feel relieved when you feel "exempt" from going on for a long time ? Thanks to studies aimed at improving usability, activities are optimized to become easier and faster to complete.
What does a UX Designer do
The UX designer is not an artist, but his goal is to create usable products that leave users satisfied with the experience with the product.
Basically a UX designer:
- does not invent needs but study the problems And find the best solutions;
- he doesn't think in terms of drawing but in terms of functions;
- it does not adopt solutions that are liked but looks for them solutions that work;
- adopt methodologies optimization of usability and effectiveness (for example with A/B tests);
- creates and designs products that respond to real needs and are satisfactory to use;
- analyze your competitors, markets, needs, potential;
- develop and analyze mechanics of using a product.
What is UI Design?
UI design (User Interface Design) is the "visual rib" of UX design and essentially includes the way in which the web product presents itself, primarily the interface from a visual point of view.
UI design studies the interaction between man and device and aims to make more inviting and attractive navigation, in accordance with the style and communication of the brand.
The UI includes the elements that act as an interface between humans and the content, such as the call to action button and the data entry windows, and inspires their implementation in a coherent and reasonably predictable perspective from the point of view of the user. 'user.
This attention to the user's expectations and cognitive "comfort" is by no means obvious, how many times have you found yourself disoriented, not knowing how to complete an action on a website or an app?
The UI design pushes to take the better choices in terms of language and style and to make them consistent with the brand's identity. This discipline guides us, for example, toadoption of fonts and pleasant colors and effective for users, to placing elements in the most easily identifiable positions and al make the retrieval of information quick and intuitive. There are tons of free UI design tools on the web that allow designers and developers to choose from a wide range of visual elements (fonts, icons, etc).
The modeling of the visual elements makes it possible to influence the possibilities of conversion, guiding the user to find what interests him in an intuitive way. For example, in a lead capture landing page it is essential that the buttons are readily responsive to user interactions, but they must also be aesthetically stimulating to generate a real impulse to use them spontaneously.
Optimizing the User Interface means ensure a more pleasant navigation, with the aim of increasing the time spent by users on the channel and, consequently, increasing the probability of leading it to a conversion.
What does a UI Designer do
A UI designer is in charge of physically draw the interfaces of using a product, so he dedicates himself to the dress while the UX designer thinks about the structure. So the UI designer takes care of the graphic lexicon making sure this is consistent with the target audience and business objectives.
Basically the UI designer:
- design a website or an app in accordance with the logic defined by the UX designer;
- takes care of defining the graphic language;
- deals with build layouts and adapt them to use cases.
In summary, what is the difference between UX and UI?
The difference between UX and UI can be summed up with one simple concept: the UX is “the body”, while the UI is “the face” and together they form the whole entity, i.e. the site or app in question and what concerns its use.
UX is the experience that the user lives and constitutes a real way of thinking and acting when it is very characteristic. The UI concerns the "interface" that arises between the object and the user and its settings contribute to forming the user experience as a whole.
While UX design includes front-end development skills, UI design essentially requires graphic skills to adapt the visual aspect to what is desired, but also psychological skills to direct the user towards pleasant and positive experiences.
UI and UX must therefore work jointly to make an application both operationally functional and aesthetically attractive.
Therefore, the care of a web project requires to enhance and carry forward both aspects, both visual and functional, to meet people's needs and promote their conversion goals.
A good data analysis from Google Analytics allows us to study people's behavior to understand if they respond positively to the site's graphics and functionality.
So let's remember to dedicate ourselves to the appropriate A / B tests for monitor how people's appreciation changes for our site and applications as we change graphics or functionality.
Now that we have understood the difference between UX and UI Design, only one question remains: does your website respond to all the requests/needs of your target users? In other words, you have to analyze your website to understand if navigation is simple and clear and especially if it easily leads to a conversion (e.g. purchase or registration).
If you are not sure that your site is usable and provides good navigability to the user, it is essential to consider an overhaul of the website in order to make it as effective and efficient as possible. Contact us to learn how you can improve your website.
