UX and UI design, a team effort
September 22, 2022
You've probably heard of UX and UI, also called User Experience and User Interface. However, different, UX design and UI design are often confused, and their recent status as a profession does not help understanding. Our digital agency NS Growth Solutions brings you its insights on their meaning and especially how they work.
UX Design (User eXperience Design: UXD) describes the user's experience when interacting with a human-computer interface. It is a holistic approach that is not limited to efficiency, ergonomics or the graphical aspect of the user interface, but also addresses a deeper human and empathetic dimension.
UI Design (User Interface Design) focuses on the visual aspect of the digital product. This approach is about designing an HMI interface that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also provides the user with a more enjoyable interaction with the system.
UI design is a component of UX design, the combination of which ensures an impactful user experience.
What is UX design?
UX Design combines the concepts of user experience and design. Namely, the user's experience, including his various reactions and interactions with the digital product, and the design process adopted to offer the most optimal user experience possible.
UX design is a user-centric approach that focuses on the emotions, needs and requirements of users. The aim is to make the interactive system more useful, more user-friendly and easier to use, while applying the ergonomics and usability guidelines in force.
UX refers to a rich body of scientific knowledge (such as HMI ergonomics and cognitive ergonomics), with the objective of establishing a deep understanding of the user's mental model and behaviors. This allows us to perfect the interactions with the digital system and to ensure maximum comfort when using this device.
What is UI design?
UI design encompasses all the graphic components that make up the digital interface: typography, images, color code, layouts, buttons, animations, texts, icons, etc.
This approach uses the harmony between the UI elements to compose a responsive, user-friendly, aesthetic and intuitive digital interface, which represents the point of contact between the user and the digital system.
UX and UI design: two complementary expertises
The UX designer and the UI designer are two inseparable professions. The UI designer acts as a front-end in the design process. His role is to create the interaction interfaces between the user and the system. On the other hand, the UX designer acts in the background to implement the appropriate functionalities, to fully meet the customer's needs and gain his satisfaction.
The UI/UX designer is often referred to as the designer's job because of the strong dependency that links the two disciplines to provide a perfectly personalized experience, even though they are two different disciplines. Sometimes the UX designer fulfills the functions of a UI designer, however, this does not mean that we can exclude the prominent role of the interface designer to trigger a strong first impression in the user, at the first contact with the interface.
Although UX is a main component in the design process, however, UI design is an unavoidable part of the design process. Indeed, it allows acquiring the user's satisfaction, using creative interfaces that stimulate his senses. We can therefore say that UI design is an inseparable component of UX.
These two professions go hand in hand with the objective of creating the most complete user experience possible. Each professional brings his or her own solution to create an impeccable user-centered design.
