Everything you need to know about UX/UI and why it matters
By now you have probably heard the words “UX/UI design” a thousand times and for sure have thought about finding a capable designer. But there are actually many misconceptions about these two things and a lot of people tend to confuse them. Let’s go over them and have a look at each and their meaning for your app.
Push that big red button
User interface is basically all the components that are used to interact with a device. These are buttons, visual elements, pages – everything what your app is composed of (and visual for the user).
If we take Google as an example, its UI is really simple: logo, search bar, some buttons (microphone), results page. You will be using the search bar to input your request, you can use microphone and you will see the results on the separate page. Speaking about an average mobile app, that would be all “clickable” elements: search, clickable logos, icons, all buttons, etc.
Express your feelings
Now, user experience is all about…experience. Or, in more details, it is the whole experience from the user journey, from the moment they run your app and the moment they finish using it. If we again take Google, the UX would be how fast the user gets their results and how many results there are. Say, if the search took about 20 seconds instead of 1-2, the UX would drop down even though UI would be the same.
UX includes whether the user enjoyed the app, whether they liked everything about it and found it attractive, etc. It is an impression from UI and the overall work of the app – the faster it works, the better is UX.
What you should remember about UX and UI
There are a couple of essential things you would like to learn in order to feel more confident about the question.
- UX focuses on user journey – what actions are needed to solve the problem in the most efficient way. UI is responsible for good looks and functionality.
- You can’t really tell the difference between UX and UI because they are impossible to compare. It’s like telling the difference between a cupcake and sugar. Sugar is just one ingredient to create a cupcake and cupcake contains other ingredients as well. Same goes with UI (one ingredient) and UX (overall experience).
- UX is not limited to the screen only while UI is all about visual design.
How to hire right people
UI designer is more about information and motion design and UX designer is concerned with more conceptual design aspects. When you will be looking for a designer for your app, we do not recommend you to trust people who claim they are excellent in both UX/UI. Since these two things are not the same, it is really hard to be an expert in both fields (even though they have some similarities).
At Celadon we understand this difference and we make sure we don’t mix different things together. If you want to achieve a good combination of proper UI and UX, we will take care of that.