5 Great Analogies To Highlight The Difference Between UX & UI
Let’s break it down.
Not many designers would deny the following statement.
“User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are some of the most confused and overused terms in our booming industry.”
People tend to use these terms interchangeably and don’t bother to distinguish. Believe me, it hurts.
Many a time, when you introduce people to these terms, the first question they ask is:
“Dude! what’s the difference?”
Now, you breathe heavily and take a pause. You close your eyes.
Both of them starts with U but how big is the difference. And at this moment, you don’t want to throw jargon or the technical definition with your eyes closed.
“Good Lord! show me some light”
Disclaimer: Neither am I gonna go deep into the technical definitions nor am I gonna claim that these analogies make the differences crystal clear. No single analogy could explain all the nuances between UX and UI design jobs. It’s almost impossible to extricate UX from UI or UI from UX.
Analogy 1: Kinds of Questions
UI — “What should be the color of this button?”
UX — “Do we even need this button? If yes, why? What should be the position of this button?”
Despite the fact that people hardly use it, in most cars, the button/switch that controls hazard lights is the most central, most visible button. One could easily argue that it should get a less prominent position.
NO.
In a high-stress situation, probably it’s the last beautiful sentence that you want to blurt out:
“where the f*ck that button is?”
Analogy 2: Blueprints of an Architect
UX designers are often compared with architects. UX designer creates wireframes and architect creates blueprints.
Blueprints are technical documents. They aren’t suggestions or rough sketches. They are taken very seriously.
A blueprint tells the builder how to execute the architect’s plan. Not which wallpaper or furniture to choose. Once the basic layout and structure are built, decisions related to interiors and aesthetics are taken, mostly on a later stage.
Analogy 3: Restaurant or Cafe
You are in Paris and you can’t stop appreciating how beautiful this city is. Now, your stomach growls and you start looking for a good restaurant.
As you enter the restaurant, you see the tables, chairs, plates, glasses, and utensils. Whatever you see my friend, that’s UI.
UX is everything from the food, to the service, background music, parking lights and so on. If you leave the restaurant with a smile on your face, that means you just experienced a good UX.
Damn it! I should visit this restaurant.
Analogy 4: Little Dude with Spikey Hair
This was posted by Jennifer Aldrich. She was burning the midnight oil working on a project. Her daughter snuck up behind her and peeked over her shoulder. And when that curious child asked the mighty question, this doodle came to her rescue.
Her daughter looked it over and said, “Oh! So the UI is the part you use, and UX is how you feel when you use it.”
Analogy 5: Ketchup Bottles and Trodden Grass (Something’s Wrong)
Don’t let these words flash in your brain — “Oh! I have seen these. I know it”
These are the pictures that are trending heavily, circulating widely and probably, they are being used without a thought. You shouldn’t compare the UX and UI side by side in such a naive way.
Avoid it, bro!
Although, you can use them for quick and easy explanations with clear explanations, don’t preach them. All we can infer from above-trodden grass pic is — Some people take the trodden path, some don’t.
And for the ketchup bottle — With the increase in usability, UX has improved, though the glass bottle looked aesthetically pleasing earlier.
In the end, some wise words.
There is a massive difference between these two yet a lot of similarities. Something that looks great but is difficult to use is exemplary of great UI and poor UX. While Something very usable that looks terrible is exemplary of great UX and poor UI.
