The Difference Between UI and UX: A-to-Z Guide for Beginners!

In today’s article, I am going to tell you about The Difference Between UI and UX, so if you want to know about it, then keep reading this article. Because I am going to give you complete information about it, so let’s start.

Many times, in the design world, users usually get confused between the terms UI and UX. These are separate terms. The user interface (UI) defines the user’s attachment to computer systems such as software and applications. On the other hand, UX emphasizes users’ experience with a brand or product.

For instance, UI has more to do with the external features(tools) of a device or system, like display, buttons, drag and drop, scrolling, sound, and all those tools which are available to you. whereas UX covers the whole user experience from beginning to end. Though the two are quite connected, it’s nothing to get confused about.

If you have a doubt, understand this: When you talk about a user’s overall experience, then the UI has a role to play in it because it’s a part of your computer system. But it isn’t the whole thing, as mere tools can’t define your overall experience. Speed, smoothness, etc have a role to play which comes under UX.

You can understand this with the help of a game. Suppose a car racing game: when you play it, the graphics, free movement, and its interface all come under UI, which is a part of the user’s overall experience, i.e., UX, which also includes the smoothness with which the game runs, lagging and all, including the UI part.

Now it seems to be pretty clear with the instances and you need to understand the difference between the two if you’re going to work with them.

To overcome the confusion which people usually face while working or learning about them, we are here with a full guide that will definitely clear everything. We compared every bit of both to make them more differentiable. Let’s get started:

The Difference Between UI and UX:

1. Full Forms

UI: User Interface
UX: User Experience

2. Definition

User Interface: When you compare UI and UX, the user interface is more scientific as it evaluates the relationship between the user and the computer systems. It depends on predicting the desires of users and accordingly designing unique inputs to offer the user all that he/she is in need of. According to a report, UI is part of UX. It also focuses on visual designing and interaction designing rather it’s all about building the interfaces only to enhance the user’s overall experience. UI does it with the help of icons, buttons, displays, color, visual design, and a lot more. They try to facilitate the interconnection of a system with its user at the utmost.

Instances of UI include Dribble Card Design, Dropbox responsive color system, Pinterest waterfall effect, and rally’s dynamism. All these are great examples of UI that enhances users’ experience with the system to a great extent so that they can use it freely.

User experience defines the whole experience of a user from the time of their first interaction, whether with a product or a system. UX products can be used with ease and provide a good experience. The sentiments of users with a product are related to UX, as it doesn’t imply only practical experiences but the overall experience the user had from beginning to end. To gain good feedback for the overall experience of a user, you need to understand their needs and where they’re facing issues. This is what UX commits to enhancing. For instance, consider a game: If it runs smoothly from beginning to end of the play, if all goes well, then you succeed in UX. Not for one time, each user should experience the same thing.
User research tools helps you to enhance the overall experience of a user, the elements included are visual design, analytics, accessibility, user research, project management, content strategy, and all those which are part of the User Interface. To give its customers a good experience, UX needs to keep in mind the desires of users. An example of UX: Suppose a shopping portal. If the buying experience is complex and time-consuming, then your UX is considered to be bad. If it’s simple and hassle-free, then your UI is alright.

For enhancing the overall experience of a user, the elements included are visual design, analytics, accessibility, user research, project management, content strategy, and all those which are part of the User Interface. To give its customers a good experience, UX needs to keep in mind the desires of users. An example of UX: Suppose a shopping portal. If the buying experience is complex and time-consuming, then your UX is considered to be bad. If it’s simple and hassle-free, then your UI is alright.

3. UI and UX Designer

A user interface is illustrative of an application, website, or any system with which a user interacts. UI designers’ work is to make these layouts and all other visual elements easy to use and accessible. It should provide a great experience for its users.

Whenever you’re accessing an application or a website, its easy-to-use interface allows you to navigate freely and do whatever you want. This is what user interface designers do. They create the elements and layout in such a way that it enhances your experience to the utmost.

Creating a user-friendly interface is an important part, but not the end. The UI is far beyond this. Suppose you’re using an app. It should be user-friendly so that you can use it without any visual guide. All the operations should be clear to you, even the location where you’re without any support to use it. UI designers use visual guides to instruct a user throughout navigation.

The conclusion above is that the interface should be easily accessible and users should be able to operate it irrespective of their vast knowledge of computing. This may also include an easily readable font.

The main role of a user experience designer is to improve the interaction between the system/product and the user, i.e., people.

Basically, user experience is nothing but the interconnection between the product and the user. For instance, navigating an application, using a physical product or a new service could include things like face cream or your first time at a 5-star restaurant. All these were interactions where the user or people had some experience.

Be it any kind of interaction, all are covered under UX. You can relate to some questions about the product you used last time, like whether it was easy to use, your first thought on seeing it, how it felt, and all that experience that you had with the product. UX designers aspire to make every aspect of a product or service easy, efficient, cheerful, and all that which is best for users.

Even though UI and UX are separate activities, they are often performed by the same person or the same team. You may have come across people with “product designer”, “UI&UX designer” or “interaction designer” as their job titles. Those are essentially the same. The same applies to design agencies. You may find “ux agencies“, “product design studios”, “UI&UX firms” or whatnot. Again, such companies typically do both UX and UI.

4. Terms used in UI and UX

1. User Interface

There are a lot of features in the user interface and the services they provide through the tools. All these have a particular name. If you’re well-versed in UI, you may have come across some or all of these. Here are a few terms in UI which are used widely :

User interface: The user’s interaction with the product/service/system (app/web).
Typography: It is the writing style and appearance of any written thing, as well as the ability to make written things readable and appealing to everyone.
Color theory: principles or guides for the mixing of different colors to provide visual effects that give a great appearance to things when applied.
Prototype: Basically, it is a sample of any product or service made in order to gather user feedback.
Wireframes: A wireframe is a layout that displays the functional elements of an interface.
Breadcrumbs: They are the list of links that represent current pages and parent pages, displaying all the way back to the homepage.
Accessibility: It describes whether a product or a service can be used by all people or not, regardless of their circumstances.
Affordance: A property of an element that allows users to have a complete understanding of how they can interact with it.

2. User Experience

There are a lot of terms used in UX to define the overall experience of a user. Here are a few of them :

A/B testing: A test is performed to check which edition of a product is more successful.
Accessibility: This ensures whether the product/service designed is useful to everyone or not.
Card sorting: it is a technique that involves the involvement of users’ feedback to arrange the information into logical groups. You can easily take advantage of this technique using a card sorting tool.
End User: The end user is the final person who uses the service or product. Note that it’s not necessary that the end user be the one who always purchases the product or services.
Human-computer interaction (HCI): It is a study or core concept that includes a thorough understanding of computer sciences as well as humanities, business, and other fields of expertise.
Information Architecture: The algorithm of any piece of information designed to provide a complete understanding is referred to as information architecture.
Mockup: A Mockup is basically a visual model (final look) of your final project. It can be a website or an application.
Persona: It is a fictional character of potential customers to have a better understanding of the business and personal requirements of users.
Prototype: A Prototype is a product or service sample to gather user feedback.
User flow: A flowchart that depicts each path the user takes while using a product or service.
Wireframes: A wireframe is a layout or visualization that demonstrates all the interface elements that are going to be on each specific page.

5. Tasks and Responsibilities

1. User Interface

The role of a user interface designer is not an easy task. It takes a lot to design a single digital product. Many times they have to change the whole look if it is not up to the mark. But designing is not a mere task of UI designers. Here is the gist of some of the important tasks:

Layout visualization and design. They ensure proper spacing of each element to give a good appearance.
To enhance and modernize an already existing design,
Ensure that the designs have responsiveness, i.e., are easily adaptable to any device or screen size.
Visualize each element like buttons, icons, text fields, sliders, etc., and how to place them to make them look interactive.
Make a perfect choice of color palettes, fonts, etc. to make it user-friendly.
To regularly develop a style guide for different brands.
Creation of wireframes or hi-fi layouts, which depict how an interface will look with visual elements.
Be in touch with developers to ensure that the features added and the design meet their expectations.
The visualization of the result allows for design and usability changes.

The foremost part of a UI designer is that they work as a team. It’s not that he can rule the development; he has to be in pace with the frontend, backend, and other team members; otherwise, it would create a ruckus and ruin the project. A final design will be that which is most suitable for all, and in the future, no issue will occur to any team member.

2. User Experience

A UX designer has the most responsibility as he/she is blamed or appreciated for the overall experience of a user. Here are some of the important tasks which a UX designer looks at :

To have a complete understanding of the user’s needs and accordingly make changes while keeping their brand value in alignment.
Vast research on users’ needs, goals, and suggestions to enhance the experiment These all include tools such as A/B testing, surveys, and others.
To build personas based on the research, which will allow them to know about the important elements and aspects of their service/product.
Building the designs, which include the creation of site maps, wireframes, and prototypes will give a complete idea of what the final product will look like.
With the prototype, conduct a user-based test and gather their feedback to make the necessary amendments if any.
Finalize the product or services and hand it over to the client or company after thoroughly reviewing each piece.

6. Skills for UI and UX

1. User Interface

To make a product or service better, all of the creativity of a UI designer must be implemented. For this, various skills are required, like designing, technical, and others. Here are a few of them :
Empathy: This involves the creation of a product that is user-friendly and easy to use. Once you are well versed with the end user’s needs, you can easily make good designs.
Collaboration: Any product is developed through teamwork. You have to work in close interaction with the researchers and team to build a designed prototype using the wireframes and information architecture. Moreover, you’ll work with front-end developers to transform the designs into functional code.
Design and prototyping tools: The tools used for designing the product/services will depend on the company you’re working for, your own ideas, and the product itself, of course. Some popular UI designs include Sketch, Firma, InVision, Axure, Adobe XD, etc.
Color theory: In this, you have to make decisions on colors and color palettes. It doesn’t just reflect looks but has an impact on brand identity too.
Typography: the style in which text is written, covers almost 90% of the internet. It has a big role to play in UI, making it good or bad.
Design patterns: this provides solutions to common design errors. Knowledge of these examples will save you a lot of time. You can use that time to focus on specific user problems.

2. User Experience

UX designers have a lot of skills, like technical and workplace skills, to provide a successful final product in the market or enhance the existing one. A lot of these abilities one can easily gain from different fields, so regardless of whether you’re new to UX configuration, you’ll probably have some. Focussing on these particular skills can build a great opportunity for your career.

Firstly, you should be able to communicate properly to give a good impression to the client or the management.
A skill of empathy is necessary as it’s the only thing that will enable you to think from a user’s point of view and can make you understand their needs better.
Collaborative skills enable you to do teamwork, which is quite necessary for a UX designer. Other ways of thinking will help you a lot to enhance yourself and develop a more creative mind.
The first thing in a technical skill that matters is research, survey, and monitoring. All this will help you to make the right decisions.
Information architecture can help you a lot when gathering important and crucial information.
Wireframing allows you to visualize a design and accordingly apply it to make the final product the best and enhance it.
For any kind of product testing, i.e., to identify errors or issues with the product, prototyping is essential.

Though not necessary for UX designers, yeah, basic coding and visual design can help a lot to understand how the basic designs get involved in making a larger product throughout the development process.

7. UI UX as a career

1. User Interface

If you’re enthusiastic about design and have an interest in product development and website design work, then a career in UI could be a solid match. Working in this field will offer you a chance to work in an interactive environment to develop solutions for real-world problems.

UI provides its students with a career that combines practicality and creativity. Innovative thinking will help you to keep your mind engaged and allow you to think differently, which is enjoyable many times. As far as I might be concerned, being in a profession where you can be innovative and get paid for that is great.

2. User Experience

The UX design profession is an interesting and growing field, so you could experience various jobs related to UX, which may include UX designer, product designer, interaction designer, and many more.

If you’re working in a small firm, then you may have a more common role with a lot of responsibility at each step. Whereas if you’re in a big firm, you can focus on a specific role, be it a UX designer, UX research, interaction design, or many others.

When you start gaining experience, you’ll have the chance to enhance your specific role to the utmost. You may choose to move to a manager role, which can include a project manager, product manager, and others.

8. UI and UX designer salary

UI (User Interface): According to the researchers and the statistics, there is no fixed salary for a user interface designer. But yeah, the median package of designers with similar tasks ranged between $75,000 and $80,000. According to another study, the majority of UI designers earn between $85,000 and $8600 per year.

UX (User Experience): A survey says that the median salary of a UX designer ranges between $11,000 and $15,0000 per annum. When you consider the annual salary, job satisfaction, and the number of job openings available, UX designer is a good profession. It is important to note that the range of median salary varies greatly; it is entirely dependent on the company you work for, its location, size, and other factors.

9. What kind of job will UI and UX have?

UI (User Interface): The role of a UI will be long-lasting. It’s been a long time since the apps, software, websites, etc. started their development. UI has been among the top ten jobs that have had faster growth in recent years, and it is believed it will continue to do so. Keeping this in mind, you have to work hard. Firstly, teamwork is important as a UI designer. You’ll get a lot of benefits too, and a reputation as well. The salary will be acceptable if you are in a big firm, which can impress you.

UX (User Experience): Playing the role of a UX designer means using creativity and all the skills in different aspects, which is impressive to users. Your work time will vary from project to project and its needs, whether urgently or over a long period of time, are provided. But this will definitely help you grow more and more, both in your career and as an innovative thinker.

10. A Pathway for UI and UX Designers

1. User Interface

Learn UI design skills

To have a career in UI, you need to have the perfect skills that are required. For these skills, you have to get a degree, in which you’ll learn all this. Some degree programs are in human-computer interaction and human-computer learning. There are some degrees that are similar to UI design; they are degrees in web design, graphic arts, web design, etc.

Apart from this, you can also prefer to take a course for UI or attend several boot camps which specialize in UI. Firstly, search for basic UI design work so that you can learn to implement basic things with ease.

To develop a creative mind, start thinking about your surroundings. Be it anything, and look for what changes you can make to give them a better outlook. This will help you to enhance your UI skills and will definitely yield good results.

Gain experience

Don’t sit idle once you have started learning; it won’t be great. Learning is a great thing, but it’s found to be useful only when you know how to implement it. Working on different hands-on projects for free, internships can be a great option for gaining experience. Whatever you can do to enhance your mind’s creativity, do that.

Don’t wait until you are hired; enhance yourself for the time you aren’t hired. You can start working on various websites designed by your friends, family, and well-known ones. Whenever you’re using an application or website, think of how you can improve it to make it great.

If you’re pursuing a degree, then you can look for on-campus interviews. Work for the different designs; it’ll give you a clear understanding of everything. While gaining experience, learn all the software common to UI jobs, as it’ll help you during your teamwork. Otherwise, you’ll be staring at his face like a moron whenever he says something or instructs you.

This is a great time to work with Figma. It’ll help with the visualization procedure and will set you up with the ambiance in which you’ll be working in your future. It’s important to note that the software you’re using isn’t as important as how you’re using it and what you’ve learned from it.

Build your portfolio

This is something important and matters a lot whenever you’re applying for a job. What you have learned thus far, as well as your previous work, will provide your interviewer with a clear picture of your capabilities. Most of the time, people think that to have a portfolio you need to own a website, but it’s not. You have other options to look for. There are many platforms that provide the same in high quality, such as Behance, Dribble, Coroflot, and others, where you can easily gather all. Whenever you learn something or complete a new project, don’t forget to add it to your portfolio.

Expand your network

The more you expand your network, the more you’ll get good opportunities. Look for job opportunities via public openings, but create a good network and expand it often. It can provide you with wonderful offerings. Start interacting with different UI design professionals and build a good relationship with them. When you work outside the job, make it the best. It can bring great recommendations. You never know which of your work opens the doors for bigger projects.

2. User Experience

It is a widely popular and growing field, but there is no path to becoming a UX designer. You’ll cover the path to becoming a UX designer when you outsmart everyone in all skills. Graphic design, architecture, industrial design, software development, and knowledge of all UI works and how to do them are examples of these.

However, following the below steps can lead you towards UX :

If you don’t have any prior experience it doesn’t matter. You can start afresh if you are new. Obtain a certificate in that field. Look for a program that can provide you with both learning and experience, together with all the UX design tools, their working, and their role in companies, etc.

Get your skills applied to real-world things. Interacting with all people has the skills you require as a UX designer. Work all the way until you’re hired. You can work with non-profit organizations, family members, and well-known ones. Try to enhance something that didn’t give a good experience to users early on. Design it in your way to enhance it and make it user-friendly.

Practice your UX design skills to enhance them a lot. It’ll prepare you to challenge any existing product or service.

Design a portfolio that organizes all your work. It should reflect every aspect of your skills and all the projects you have worked on to date. Update it promptly. The more it enhances, the more you’ll be worthy as a UX designer.

11. Comparison

1. UI (User Interface)

UI refers to the elementary components that allow users to interact with the product.
It emphasizes more on the outlook of products using colors, images, typography, and others.
UI’s main aim is to make products suitable for different screen sizes, i.e., responsive. It also ensures that the product is aesthetic and appears to be more usable.

2. UX (User Experience)

UX defines or signifies users’ sentiments; it is their overall experience while interacting with the product.
It emphasizes the user-friendly nature of the product.
UX’s main aim is to impress its users with a product that is easy to use and works in an organized way.

And if you want to know about the Difference Between UI and UX in more detail, then you can watch the video above. And can get complete information on this subject.

Conclusion:)

First of all thanks for browsing till the end. In this article, I have tried to cover each and every bit of UI and UX whether it’s about their definition, their role as a designer, terms used, job preferences, pathways, and a lot more. All this will give you a clear understanding of UI and UX designing and how they differ from others in various ways.

Hope all these aspects of UI and UX will enlighten you with all the key differences between User Interface and User experience.

Read also:)

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