UI/UX Design Guide

What are UX and UI in the first place?

UX design refers to the term “user experience design”, while UI stands for “user interface design”. Both elements are crucial to a product and work closely together. But despite their professional relationship, the roles themselves are quite different, referring to very different aspects of the product development process and the design discipline.

What is user experience (UX) design?

User experience design is a human-first way of designing products. User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-users interaction with the company, its services, and its products

• User experience design is the process of developing and improving the quality of interaction between a user and all facets of a company.
• User experience design is, in theory, a non-digital (cognitive science) practice, but is used and defined predominantly by digital industries.
• UX design is NOT about visuals; it focuses on the overall feel of the experience.

What is UI?

UI is responsible for the transference of a product’s development, research, content and layout into an attractive, guiding and responsive experience for users.

• User interface design is a purely digital practice. It considers all the visual, interactive elements of a product interface — including buttons, icons, spacing, typography, color schemes, and responsive design.
• The goal of UI design is to visually guide the user through a product’s interface. It’s all about creating an intuitive experience that doesn’t require the user to think too much!
• UI design transfers the brand’s strengths and visual assets to a product’s interface, making sure the design is consistent, coherent, and aesthetically pleasing.

2. What’s the difference between UX and UI design?

• UX design is all about identifying and solving user problems; UI design is all about creating intuitive, aesthetically-pleasing, interactive interfaces.
• UX design usually comes first in the product development process, followed by UI. The UX designer maps out the bare bones of the user journey; the UI designer then fills it in with visual and interactive elements.
• UX can apply to any kind of product, service, or experience; UI is specific to digital products and experiences.

How Do UI/UX Designers Work Together?

While UI design and UX design require very different skill sets, they are both important components that must work in harmony to give the best experience to end users.

A UI design might be beautiful, but it can be clunky and confusing to navigate without a good UX design. On the other hand, the user experience of a product can be flawless, but it is nothing without a good looking user interface.

Any frontend development and design process should start with understanding the needs of the user. UX and UI designers should work in collaboration with other developers, managers, and product owners to understand what the end product should be able to do, how it should feel, and what it should look like.

Editors: Ritwik Bhagat, Smita Sen, Yashvardhan Singh