Understanding UI/UX Design.

Emmanuel Madu IP
4 min readJun 27, 2021

UI design and UX are the closely related concepts in world today but they differ in functionality. UX and UI are both fundamental elements of design. But, people often confuse the two, sometimes using the terms interchangeably. But first let’s talk about design in general;

Design is more than just making things look aesthetically
pleasing, design is strategic. As the world changes and
evolves, every day, new products and services are created
that require the assistance of design.

Also, It is the conceptualization and creation of new things: ideas, interactions, information, objects, typefaces, books, posters, products, places, signs, systems, services, furniture, websites, and more.

Now, Let’s get to know who designers are and services they offer!

Designer; Designers imagine and make. They also research and think. Skilled in one or more specialties of the discipline, designers use their abilities in collaboration with others. Designers want to make ideas real and to make a difference, while; UX and UI designers combine analytical and creative skills to develop designs that are usable and deliver a great user experience.

What is UI/UX design?

The “UI” in UI design stands for “user interface.”
while “UX” stands for “user experience.”

User Interface (UI) Design is the design of visual and interactive interfaces that allows people to navigate through or modify the content. It is concerned with the graphical layout of the product and any visual elements, such as typography or color schemes and any more.

User Experience (UX) Design is the process of improving user satisfaction through usefulness, usability, accessibility, desirability and the overall experience. They determine the structure of the interface and the functionality. How it’s organized and how all the parts relate to one another.

Most importantly, user experience, refers to the overall experience a user has with a product. It encompasses a myriad of disciplines, including but not limited to user interface design, usability, functionality, and engineering.

UI UX Design: How UI and UX Design Come Together?

While before the digital revolution of today, UX was not a necessarily a digital tech. But today it mostly is, with new technologies changing the future of online business right in front of our eyes.

In modern applications, user interface design and user experience design are inseparable. UX guides the UI design principles and in turn UI stimulates a good UX in the user’s mind. Yet, UI alone isn’t enough. Without a fantastic experience overall, users are soon to be disillusioned with the product.

So a UX designer decides how the user interface works while the UI designer decides how the user interface looks. This is a very collaborative process, and the two design teams tend to work closely together. As the UX team is working out the flow of the app, how all of the buttons navigate you through your tasks, and how the interface efficiently serves up the information user’s need, the UI team is working on how all of these interface elements will appear on screen.

UI vs. UX: Two Very Different Disciplines that Work in Harmony

UI design and UX design involve very different skill sets, but they are integral to each other’s success. A beautiful design can’t save an interface that’s clunky and confusing to navigate, and a brilliant, perfectly-appropriate user experience can be sunk by bad visual interface design that makes using the app unpleasant. Both UI and UX designs need to be flawlessly executed and perfectly aligned with pre-existing user expectations to create an excellent user interface/experience. And when those stars align the results can be astounding.

Conclusion

Research is vital for both UI and UX designers. It’s important for both disciplines to gather as much good information as possible to assist them in crafting appropriate designs, and both follow a similar approach.

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Emmanuel Madu IP

Aspiring Software Engineer | Trying to New Things Learn Everyday | Improving On My Current Skill Level | Sharing My Knowledge With Other People