User Experience (UX) design VS. User Interface (UI) design

It’s Saturday night and you are in the mood to relax. The door-bell chimes and dinner is delivered to your door-step. Ordering food has never been this easy before; thanks to your favorite food delivery app! But have you thought about what goes on behind that smartphone screen that makes you so comfortable using your food ordering app (or any other app, for that matter)? 

User Experience (UX)

User experience is the feeling that customers get while using a product, in this case, the app. It also includes the impression that the users carry about the company (the food delivery business) and its services (the range of options in the app and delivery). It is not just limited to the visual appeal of the product. It also ensures that the users’ requirements are satisfied all the while engaging their attention and providing a positive and memorable experience.

User Interface (UI)

UI deals with the layout of buttons on each of the screens or windows that users engage with. It is responsible for the visual appeal of the product. While UX concerns itself with the whole, UI focuses on the part. 

UI Design versus UX Design

UX designers need to know the value proposition of the product in order to design the logical flow of the product offering. They have to be aware of the customer and market requirements and ensure that the product experience encapsulates the same. Despite its applicability to all market segments, UX design is majorly used in digital fields.

UX design would also require a thorough understanding of the potential competition to the product. Designers have to be involved in all stages of product development, right from concept design to prototyping, development, testing, and delivery. UX designers create the skeleton upon which UI designers sew on the individual sections to develop the product into what the user sees. 

UI designers come into the picture after the flow of the product is defined by the UX designers. Their role is focused on the visual feel and layout of the product. UI designers are responsible for the design of each page of the website or app. It is their duty to make the final product look beautiful. 

A simple analogy would be that of a children’s storybook. A UX designer is the storyteller and a UI designer is an illustrator. UI designers ensure that there is a consistent visual language across all screens so that there are no hiccups in the journey the UX designers have designed for the user.

Today, we see that the line between the two design profiles is becoming blurred. However, to maintain clarity, it is best if these two tracks are handled as two separate entities that go hand-in-hand with each other. A perfect marriage of UX and UI designs are crucial to the success of a product. There should be no mismatch between the two, both in terms of quality and message conveyed. The focus should be on giving the users the best value for their time.

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