While entering a product designing world, one would inevitably face the words Ui and Ux thrown around very commonly. Ui and Ux are used interchangeably by most people, but the terms have different meanings. Both Ui and Ux are necessary for a product or a digital product design. It helps in making the products appealing to humans.
Ui vs Ux
The main difference between Ui and Ux is that Ui is related to the aesthetics of a product’s design, while Ux defines the whole product design. Ui and Ux differ in their approaches to product design. Ui is concerned with the user’s visual and interactive experience and, Ux is concerned with the user’s complete experience.
User Interface or Ui is a commonly used phrase in today’s digital designing world. The term Ui refers to the user’s interaction and visual experience of the product. With visual experience, the designer puts efforts to make the visuals pleasing, aesthetic, and attractive. Interaction comprises the user’s overall interaction with the product.
The concept of User Experience or Ux is decades old. Ux is a user’s overall experience of a company’s products and services. It includes the user’s opinions, feelings, and emotions about the product and the company. Ux is not just a digital concept and can be found in physical product designing too.
Comparison Table Between Ui and Ux
| Parameters of Comparison | Ui | Ux |
| Purpose | User interface or Ui is required to serve the visual aspects of a product, which allows the user to interact smoothly. | User experience or Ux tells the story of a user’s experience with a product and the company as a whole. |
| Significance | Ui emphasizes more on creating aesthetic product typography with attractive colours. Also, it focuses on providing visual and interactive elements. | Ux is not limited to the visual and interactive elements. It encompasses the overall user experience and user-friendliness of the product and the company. |
| Types | Ui designers aim to create a visually pleasing digital product. Websites, digital advertisements are some of the products by Ui designers. | Ux design is not limited to just digital screens and products. User experience applies to physical product designs too. |
| Design | To create an attractive Ui design, the designer requires wireframes and prototyping. And having performed researches and understood the user’s expectations. | Ux designs are more important as they satisfy the user’s basic needs from the product. Ux designers use layouts and mockups. |
| Goals | User interface designers aim to create aesthetically pleasing, simple to use, adaptable to different digital screens and, clearly interactive products. | The goal of a Ux design is to change, improve the user interaction and user experience of a product and the company. |
What is Ui?
Ui stands for the User interface. Ui designs are designs made with human’s visual and interactive approach. Ui designers are more focused on creating a visually pleasing digital product with decorous looks. It also aims to invent user-friendly products with precise placement of buttons, texts, and images.
This type of design has been a general feature that can be spotted since the inception of the digital era. The computers of the 1970s required the user to input several codes to perform basic tasks. The current graphical user interface was developed around the 1980s.
Ui designs were first seriously considered by Apple Macintosh computers, and the focus towards improving the user interface to attract more customers emerged. User Interface has come a long way since the 1980s, and Ui designs are required everywhere, from mobile phones to smartwatches. The Internet was significant for creating a vacuum for Ui designers to take over.
User Interface designers understand the user’s expectations for a digital product by staying updated on people’s tastes, preferences, graphical patterns, and latest design trends. Ui designers learn to adapt to the recent customer trends and exceed the expectations of the users. Ui in the Digital era continues to be an influencer.
What is Ux?
Ux can be defined as User experience. The Ux designers look after the whole user’s experience of a company and its products. Ux designs are created to improve the existing user experience. They maximize the user’s pleasure while minimizing the user’s dislikes.
User experience is not a recent designing concept as it has existed over decades. Importantly, Ux designs are not limited to digital designs. Ux designs are applied in several physical products like laptops and mobile phones too. Focusing on user experience is an age-old tactic to improve the product and the user’s experience.
It does not emphasize much on the visual elements of design. Ux designs are more concerned with the question of the difficulty of the usage of a product rather than the aesthetics. Ux designs work towards making the products easiest to access, smooth to use without any confusion. The Ux designers make sure that the products can be understood by anyone and is clear.
Ux designers are also involved in research to identify and improve the overall customer experience. More than visual aspects, Ux designers engage in market research to understand the company and its competitors. Most importantly, Ux designers research customer’s needs and try to satisfy the basic requirements.
Main Differences Between Ui and Ux
- The Ui designer is more focused on tangible elements like visuals and interactivity. The Ux designer provides more emphasis on the conceptual aspect of designing, like attempting to make an ideal product that satisfies the users.
- The user interface designer is concerned with the visual elements like the looks and the feel of the product. The Ux designer is in constant search for finding a solution that solves the question of user experience.
- Ui designer only works on designing digital products. Ux designer is not limited and works on physical products too.
- Ui designer works to match and exceed the user’s expectations of a product. Ux designer works to improve the overall user experience and match the basic need of the user.
- Ui designers perform customer research to understand their tastes and trends. Ux designers perform market research to understand the business aspects.
Conclusion
Designing in the digital era has pushed the requirement for Ui and Ux designers. The terms Ui and Ux can be seen being used interchangeably, even in business and designing circles. Ui and Ux are not synonymous and are used to denote two different types of designs. Ui is concerned with matching the user’s expectation of a product, providing aesthetic and visual pleasure to the user.
Meanwhile, Ux is concerned with matching the basic needs expected by the user and works on regularly improving the product and the user’s experience. An ideal product will require both Ui and Ux designers to work together to satisfy the customer’s needs and wants.
References
- http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer17/ijaerv12n20_96.pdf
- https://doi.org/10.1109/CONMEDIA.2017.8266051