UI vs UX – What’s the difference?

What is UI design (User Interface)?

User interface design is focused on the look and layout — how each element of the product (mobile app or website) will look, including color combinations, buttons, placeholders, text, images, animations and any visual interface elements users interact with.

This job falls to UI designers. They decide how the application is going to look like. They have to choose color schemes and button shapes — the width of lines and the fonts used for text. It’s up to them to make sure the product’s interface is attractive, visually-stimulating and themed appropriately to match the purpose and/or personality of the app.

What is UX design (User Experience)?

User experience is the overall experience a user has with a product. User experience is determined by how easy or difficult it is to interact with the user interface elements that the UI designers have designed.

This job falls to UX designers. They are in charge of determining how the user interface operates. Is the user flow smooth, seamless, and intuitive, or is it confusing and unwieldy? Does the button color and position encourage people to click, or make them hesitate?

UX design mainly involves research to understand things like customer pain points, potential market gaps, and competitor analysis.

Key difference between UI and UX

• UX is a science and UI is an art

• UX are wireframes of product and UI represents real look and feel of product.

• UX searches for solutions and UI determines the look.

• UX focuses on the user journey while UI focuses on product snapshots.

• UX helps people achieve predefined goals, UI makes users connect to the product.

Though serving the same business goals, UX and UI require different thinking processes and strengths. UX design is based on an audience’s wants and needs, while UI design is based on the research, recommendations, and requirements of the UX designer.