The terms UX and UI designs are widely used all across the software development industry. As both terms are used interchangeably, people often assume that they mean the same. This is not the case at all. UX and UI are entirely different terms with different meanings. To throw light at this significant aspect, let us dig deep into their concepts.
UX is an abbreviation for User Experience. The user experience of the app is all about how smooth the app runs. Furthermore, it determines the ease with which the app navigation is done. To achieve all of this, the developers strive to build the most excellent structure of the interface and enhanced functionalities. How it’s organized and how all the parts relate to one another.
How do the UX designers work?
UX designers work by first making a wireframe. A wireframe is used to demonstrate the layout of an application. It determines the interface elements that will exist in the app. After getting it tested and obtaining user feedback, the wireframe is then integrated with the app design after iterative testing. This procedure helps in building an app with flawless user experience, apart from this all. A UX designer is also responsible for devising the marketing strategies that include customer and competitor analysis. The designer coordinates with the developers to blow life into envisaged app ideas.
User Interface or UI
Appearance has a critical role to play in any product’s success in the digital market. No matter how enhanced functionalities an app has if it does not look appealing, it ultimately is destined to fail. In this scenario, a user interface design holds great significance. The user interface deals with how the end product looks. It decides the extent to which the app design is effective in giving exceptional user experience. The excellent user interface of apps allures the masses to use the app. It includes the documents, text, images, videos, buttons, graphic designs and tags, etc. Since all of these elements constitute significant roles in the working of apps, UI designers must be experienced and should be able to create compelling designs that glue users to the app.
How do the UI designers work
The UI designers are responsible for looking after the graphic development of the application. Along with this, they seek ways to enhance the interactivity of the app by building engaging designs. Furthermore, the UI designers develop user guides in terms of descriptive videos and manuals for the application so that it is easy to use. As UX designers, UI designers also work with application developers to bring about responsive yet attractive applications.
Differences between UI and UX
1. Focus
While UI designers focus on the front-end, striving to make the app look attractive, the UX designers deal with the backend. These designers aim to achieve a robust back end powered by a robust database and responsive server. Then, UI and UX designers focus on different types of prototypes. UI designers invest a great deal of money and time in building high fidelity prototypes. However, UX designers focus on the logic rather than prototypes.
2. Colors
Since UX designers are to interact with the backend, they use only three colors that are black white, and gray. On the other hand, UI designers aim to fill hues in their prototypes to escalate the attraction of the apps. To explain this difference more clearly, let us use an example. In the designing of a taskbar, UX designers will leave instructions on how the taskbar should look once an action is done. UI designers, in contrast, spend loads of time in the designing of the toolbar to make it user engaging.
3. The tools
As UI and UX perform different functions, the tools used are also different. For UI designers, tools are immensely important. Hence, tools like Flinto, Sketch, and InVision are three of the most popular tools deployed by UI designers. In contrast, the UX designers work with wireframes and prototypes. Hence, they use the tools Moqups, Wireframe, Pencil, Balsamiq, and Powermockup for the purpose.
