UX Design
The original definition of UX referred to physical and digital products. Nowadays, UX design mainly relates to digital products. So, user experience design is a process that involves cultivating a good relationship between a company, the company’s software products /services, and the company’s clients/customers.The relationship is based on how a user feels when using the company’s products.UX has to do with feelings, emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and human psychology.Specifically, good UX depends on the following points:
- How does a person feel when using the product?
- How accessible is it for the person to navigate the product? Can everyone use it?
- How usable is the product? Does it work as intended?
- How easy is it for the person to navigate and find the necessary information?
- How well-planned and intuitive are the steps a user needs to take to accomplish a task?
- How logical is the sequence of actions a user needs to perform to accomplish their goal with ease?
- Does it make it easy for them to achieve their initial goal?
- How well structured is the content available? Does it follow a logical hierarchy?
- How useful is the product?
- How valuable is the product?
- Does it serve a purpose?
All of the above are part of what makes good UX design and contribute to the value the software offers.
UI Design
The user interface (UI) is the point of human-computer interaction and communication in a device. This can include display screens, keyboards, Mouse and the appearance of a desktop. It is also the way through which a user interacts with an application or a websiteThe growing dependence of many businesses on web applications and mobile applications has led many companies to place increased priority on UI in an effort to improve the user’s overall experience.
Types of user interfaces
The various types of user interfaces include:
- graphical user interface (GUI)
- command line interface (CLI)
- menu-driven user interface
- touch user interface
- voice user interface (VUI)
- form-based user interface
- natural language user interface
Examples of user interfaces
Some examples of user interfaces include:
- computer mouse
- remote control
- virtual reality
- ATMs
- speedometer
- the old iPod click wheel
Difference between UX and UI
UX design is how things work and how useful they are. UX design focuses on the whole experience and the journey a user takes when using a product from start to finish. It involves the overall experience a user has when trying to solve a problem.
UX requires knowledge of psychology, cognitive science, human behavior, identifying the user’s pain points, and solving their problems.
UI design is how things look. UI design is a subset of UX design and is a more specialized field. It focuses only on the visual aspects that a user interacts with and creates inclusive, accessible, pleasant, and aesthetically pleasing digital interfaces.
UI design also focuses on creating a brand aesthetic that leads to an emotional connection with users/customers.
Both UX and UI design are equally important in creating useful, usable, and modern digital products and services and meeting the needs of their users.