What is the difference between UX & UI Design?
UX is equated with UI, as if the user experience is limited to creating a site with a pleasant design to access content and click on beautiful buttons . We often forget that design does not only mean “is it beautiful?”, but rather ” how does it work?” . And that’s what UX Design is all about. How does the user work , what does he want, what is his goal? In what context will he use the interface? How does he feel before, during and after using it?
So where does the confusion come from? Well, the user interface is what makes the link between the human and the machine, ct is therefore “the finished product” presented to the Internet user and which allows him to navigate easily on a website without asking him to concentrate too much. However, the notion of user experience contains much more than that.
What is UX Design?
To fully understand UX Design, you have to ask yourself the question: What is user experience ?
The relationship between emotion and memory
It is proven, the emotional feeling influences our decisions . The UX designer must care about the emotions of the user when using the product in question. Its objective is to put in place strategies to facilitate the use of the product , its simplicity, its readability, its usability, etc.
The temporality of the experience (before and after use)
It is important to know that UX concerns extend both before and after the momentary experience of using a product . We will therefore distinguish several temporal phases of UX and in particular types of experience: anticipated, momentary, episodic and cumulative . In order to collect different data on the real experience lived by the user.
Time-phases-ux
The different temporal phases of the user experience (translated and adapted from UX White Paper, 2010)
User experience according to Magnus Revang
user_experience_wheel
By means of this wheel, Magnus Revang brings together the elements that make up the notion of user experience and the design process through a series of phases and the most common deliverables that are produced at each stage of this process. It is a model that tries to explain from the inside the process of which Magnus Revang has identified 6 stages that model the user experience.
What does a UX Designer do?
design-thinking
UX (user experience) is a user-centered design process of which UI ( interface design ) is a part. UX also takes into account the content, design and architecture of the site .
To design, redesign, a site, an application or a business tool, the UX Designer relies on a methodology that can, of course, be repeated but always with the aim of improving the product .
The mission of user research is to understand the user and his context, in particular by:
interviews and workshops: a technique that consists of conducting tests with a panel of users representative of the target of the digital solution;
Observation: ethnographic studies;
shadowing : method that aims to observe the actual usage path of the target user by following him like his shadow. The goal is to understand their needs, their constraints and to analyze their behavior during their experience with a product/service;
the development of personas ;
multi-channel user journeys .
To fully understand users, we will observe their real activity, analyze the context in which they act and verify hypotheses .
The UX designer is looking for a useful, simple and effective user experience. To carry out this mission, several major steps must be followed. You will find a plethora of resources on the web that address this topic. If the way of dealing with the subject is different from one article to another, the main steps are always quite
And concretely, what does the UI Designer do?
The UI Designer designs the visible part of the interface . He is in charge of the general design, the ergonomics of the navigation, the readability of the routes and the quality of the content. The UI designer makes sure to meet the aesthetic expectations of the client by creating or respecting a pleasant graphic universe. It adds intuitive, practical elements that are consistent with the charter. It is also brought to think of the interaction to make the site more alive .
With the evolution of technologies which increasingly tend to facilitate and enrich the user experience, the UI business involves the use of ever more innovative graphic processes .
The stages of graphic design
The creative process goes first and foremost through a research phase . Constant monitoring is very important: it allows you to stay up to date on current trends .
But let’s get back to the heart of the creative process. The UI Designer begins by creating one or more moodboards (trend boards) which he then presents to the client to ensure that the creative project best meets his expectations.
After validation, the UI designer tackles the layout of the site based on wireframes , established upstream by the UX designer.
With his keen eye, he harmonizes many elements : typography, colors and visuals, to name but a few.
Important point: he is more and more led to think about interaction on models, with the help of software like Adobe XD or Sketch .