“We are seeking a UI and UX developer.” Nowadays it’s possible that you are very familiar with this sentence if you are going through job postings. But is this a correct definition for that job? In other words, someone who knows User Interface Design means that he or she is also a User Xperience expert? Are they the same people? Here are the answers let’s start!
What is the meaning of User Interface?
As an end user, all the things which are related to design on a web site, an app or a digital product that you interact is the main topic of user interface (UI) design. For example, let’s think about an app that allows you to buy plane tickets. All the colors, buttons, images or illustrations are the main duties of the UI designer.
Shortly an UI designer mostly deals with the “How” question.
What is the meaning of User Xperience?
User experience or UX deals with the results of interaction of users with the app, web site, digital products or even any kind of product. Let’s continue from the plane ticket buying app example. We said that all the graphical things like buttons, colors etc are the job of UI design but showing the most used routes on the homepage is the work of UX. In other words, UX designer is the person who has to know everything about the target group. Like marketing manager, he or she has to examine the behaviors of the target group and give them a reason to use the product, app or service.
For example, pretend that our plane ticket app has the most beautiful user interface on the earth, but when you try to buy a ticket it takes too much to buy a discount ticket. This is a case of bad user experience making that beautiful user interface useless.
A UX designer mostly deals with the delivery of a product which is made by the UI team and examines the outcome if it meets the end user’s demands and solves their problems and present solutions to that problem.
What is the difference between UI and UX ?
Basically, there is no difference because they are totally different disciplines which feed on each other every time. Deciding the material of a laptop and designing the keyboard of the laptop are totally different job descriptions. So UI and UX design are not the same work. Both disciplines are collaborating with each other and try to put a product which meets the end user’s demands.
What did they say about UI and UX?
Ken Norton – Partner at Google Ventures, Ex-Product Manager at Google
“Start with a problem we’d like to solve. UX design is focused on anything that affects the user’s journey to solve that problem, positive or negative, both on-screen and off. UI design is focused on how the product’s surfaces look and function. The user interface is only piece of that journey. I like the restaurant analogy I’ve heard others use: UI is the table, chair, plate, glass, and utensils. UX is everything from the food, to the service, parking, lighting and music.”
Scott Jenson – Product Strategist at Google
“I don’t get too wrapped up in this distinction as they frequently are used interchangeably. However, when pressed, I see the UI as focusing on the product, a series of snapshots in time.
The UX focuses on the user and their journey through the product. The UI tends to be the specifics of screens, focusing on labels, visual style, guidelines, and structure.
The UX is the path through a product, escaping the screen and articulating the user’s journey and motivation, justifying why things are in the UI and even more importantly, why things are left out. The UI copes with constraints; the UX challenges them.”
Source: https://www.usertesting.com/blog/ui-vs-ux/