UI and UX design are two of the most often used word in web and application design. Working in such field, we seldom overheard conversations discussing things like UI and UX and some of us have not even heard of those two terms.

By the end of this article, you will have a thorough comprehension of what UI and UX design are, and how they are related to each other. Let’s dive in!

What is UI Design?

The “UI” in UI design stands for “user interface.” The user interface is the graphical layout of an application. It consists of the buttons users click on, the text they read, the images, sliders, text entry fields, and all the rest of the items the user interacts with.

This includes screen layout, transitions, interface animations and every single micro-interaction. Any sort of visual element, interaction, or animation must all be designed.

UI designers are the ones who design UI. In other words, UI designers are graphic designers. They need to make sure that the interface is visually attractive and the theme matches the personality of the web/app.

What is UX Design?

“UX” stands for “user experience”. This means, the interaction with the interface that has been created by UI designers determines the user experience. In a nutshell, UI designers decide how the user interface will look like meanwhile UX designers determine how the user interface operates.

UX designers determine the structure of the interface and the functionality. In short, they design how the interface works. If it works well, the user will have a good experience.

UI + UX = ?

So, a user interface designer decides how the user interface looks like while a user experience designer decides how the user interface works. This is a very collaborative process, and the two teams tend to work closely together.

As the UX team works out the flow of the app and how all of the buttons navigate you through your tasks, at the same time, the UI team works on how all of these interface elements will appear on screen.

Constant communication and collaboration between these two designer teams help to ensure that the final user interface looks as attractive as it can, while it operates efficiently and intuitively.

UI and UX in Practice

UI design and UX design involve very different skill sets, but they are vital to each other’s success. If either one of them is poor, the user senses an inferior product. Which means, both UI and UX need to more than just great individually. It’s only when they blend together perfectly does either of the two, and by extension the product, become great.