Nowadays the brands focus is, and must be, the user. For that reason, concepts like UX and UI (User Experience and User Interface) are much more developed and there are more companies adopting this strategy. However, people use to confuse UX and UI. Even the most experienced designers may have doubts about the exact definition of each term.
What’s the difference between UX and UI?
UX – User Experience
UX, or user experience, is the study of users’ behaviour, whose goal is providing them a good experience when using the products, navigating on the website, etc. This is the emotional part, that is to say, how friendly is the interaction (user friendly). UX covers all the contact moments between the user and the company, since the moment he entered the website until the purchase and use of the product/service.
UI – User Interface
User interface is the interface design work, that is to say, everything which enables a certain action. UI is responsible for the visual part of the project, in other words, where the user interacts, for example, with a website, application or social network. In other words, UI is everything visually noticeable for the user, making him reaching a positive interaction: it may be a call to action or a menu.
The UX Designer guides the user to what he wants easily and quickly. The designer may recommend a specific action, clarify the links which direct to other pages, use contrasts to highlight a certain action, etc. Basically, the UX Designer uses Information Architecture to project the visual design.
In conclusion, UX and UI are related areas, with some differences. While UX Design focus on the user experience as a whole, UI focus only on the interface. UI Design makes UX results more visual, in other words, realizes the project to improve user experience.