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Writer's pictureSaurabh Kumar

UI vs UX Design: Difference between UI and UX Design?

Updated: Mar 28


Difference between UI and UX - Design Clan

As UI UX design is one of the trends, you must wonder what the real deal is with this concept. Many questions must have arrived in your mind. To end your curiosity, this article is all for you. Both UI and UX are similarly used terms but have different purposes, so understanding each term is necessary. 


First, let's know What is UI and UX design





Definition of UX and UI design:

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UX design

UX design refers to the process by which a user interconnects with a product or service. Its main focus is on the interconnection of the user with every product and service. All UX Design are intended to make these products and services easy to use and interesting.


UX Designer's emphasizes on everything be it brand name, user-friendliness, or design, and their main focus is to provide the best experience to users. 



UX Design Image - Design Clan


The main focus is at user’s interaction with products and services and how the user is interconnected with products looking at advertising or anything else. Did the brand make any impact on the users? Now how is the experience of the user? These questions are essential for UX design.


UI/UX designers should be well-connected with a product or service that we should look at from a designer's point of view. The interaction could be anything like problem-solving, entertaining, or informative and the objective should be well achieved.


The focus of UX design is to give users an easy and the best experience ever. Be it easy that's all UI UX design looks for. You must have related UI/UX design to be digital but it mainly emphasizes its user’s interconnection with a company and its products. 


All UX designers need to do give a handy experience to a user.


Designing for a user is not all that easy. First designers should know what users are looking for, who they are, what are their needs, and what are their problems and come up with accurate answers.


With so much feedback the UI/UX designer is good enough to get rid of the user’s problems and give him the best product that he is craving and which will work for ages.


The next thing for the UX designer to do is to track every step of the user’s connection with the product. The user should be well satisfied. The designer should understand the user well to satisfy him at every level.


UI design:

UI design is all about the engagement and interconnection of the user with any product. The UI design includes images, texts, sliders, etc. UI/UX designers look for animation included in products or services that give users the best possible results and appropriate experience.


Mobile UI Design Image - Design Clan
Credited: Generated by Microsoft Copilot

UI is a user-friendly approach that creates the look of a digital product. All the look of a website or user’s connection application is in the hands of a UI/UX designer. There is a graphical layout that should be easy enough and attractive to the users.


UI/UX designers emphasize display connections that enable users to interconnect with a product. The design is all about animations, buttons, and typography. 


The user interface includes voice-controlled interfaces and Voice user interfaces.


Voice-controlled interfaces include Alexa and all.


Voice user interfaces are all about taking up the user experience and helping users to give appropriate information or do certain tasks easily and quickly.

UI UX design satisfies a user enabling them to do a task easily at the same time allowing UI designers to create a product interface.



Difference between UX and UI design


UI vs UX (Design Clan)
Credited: Generated by Microsoft Copilot

Both the terms UI and UX designs are used with each other but are two different ones. Both rely importance on users however there are basic differences between the two. UX is all about feeling. Let's have a look at all its differences.


User vs Elements: UI/UX design gives full importance to the user and comes up with an answer to all the user’s problems. UI on the other hand lays importance on the physical elements of the product. It looks on its look and its function.


Conceptual vs Visual and Technical: A UX designer mainly focuses on the design of the product and gives full importance to the user and his experience with the product. UX design is all conceptual. UI/UX designers do research and bring ideas to life. They do tests also.


On the other hand, UI design focuses on a product's optical and practical elements. Designers create connections between the user and the products. Users can now get their tasks done easily and quite efficiently.


UI UX Designers can share their Job responsibilities and unbelievable skills.


Experience vs Individuality: UI/UX design gives importance to the experience of the individual with the product or service whereas UI focuses on how people are interacting with a product or service.


Experience vs Looks: UX design mainly focuses on the experience of the users, what is the feel of the product but UI involves how the product looks. It gives importance to the optical and mutual experience which will lead to a healthy user experience. 


Good prototyping vs high-level designs: UI/UX designers give main importance to prototyping which will increase the user flow of a website or service whereas UI increases user engagement by focusing only on the product's design.


Advanced level vs Individual pages: UX designers focus on products or services at a different level making sure the flow of a site is good enough whereas UI works on individual pages ensuring that they are well-functioning.


What do UX designers do:


UX Designer working at Microsoft
Credited: Generated by Microsoft Copilot

Strategize content: All UX designer looks to do is to strategize content. The content should be well-planned, created, and executed well and must include images on a page. Nowadays companies give more importance to content which will eventually lead them to a good design and give the best user experience.


The designer must keep in mind about the competitors as well. They should understand the customers well and accordingly do appropriate research for the design. They must have good planning and strategy for the product.


Emphasizing Prototyping:  Testing is an important thing for both UI and UX designers. Many product designs go through repeated testing before they are declared to be final products. The UI UX designers should have good knowledge about the testing process which will be a good advantage for them.


UX designers should do the following:

  • They should do AB testing for the best design.

  • Wireframing should be done for a good-looking design.

  • They must also do prototyping for better design.


Coordinating with other teams for the best results: UX designers coordinate with other team members to make good products and services. Their purpose is to plan and strategize for the best products and also check if the product is giving its best results. All UI UX designers look to do is strategize for future products, check the final product designs, and see if the product is giving its best results.


UX design is all about:

  • Strategizing about the design.

  • Checking and being up to date with the design.

  • Having appropriate aim for the design.


Doing Research of the Users: The UX design is dependent on the quality of the research. Quality research will help the designer to analyze any problem and work accordingly. A UI/UX designer focuses on surveys, does tests for the designs, Coordinates with groups, and does regular research. The research should be done as per the company's requirements. 


The UX designer should come up with quality research to have a positive effect on the product.


The UX designer should do the following:

  • Concentrate on design instruments.

  • Coordinate with groups.

  • Find results from surveys.



 

UI/UX Design Course at Design Clan


What UI designers does:


UI Designer working on Desktop YouTube UI
Generated by Microsoft Copilot

UI designers focus particularly on a product or service interaction. They will be looking to create fonts and other elements and see if the pages are visually good enough and are going well as per the objective of the product. UI/UX designers are all for the look of the products and services and to see if they are functioning well. 


Making and having a great brand look: UI design gives the best look to a brand which is good from a modern business point of view and is convenient. UI designers create products that look very consistent and give a comprehensive brand name.


UI designers should do:

  • They should give a great look and create a guide accordingly.

  • Carry well-executed design standards.

  • They should be consistent enough regarding the brand’s look for a product or service.


Optical Design: UI designers create and maximize elements of a digital body which includes UI UX design and colour and others which leads to a good interconnection.


UI designers looking to do:

  • Sketching the buttons and other elements.

  • Keeping an eye on the coloring and elements of the website.

  • Looking for the right fonts and typesetting.


Mutual Design: UI designers create and execute the common elements of a website. They follow a process that prefers animation and other elements. 


UI designer does the following:

  • They make animations for a page.

  • Creating elements which include videos and photos.

  • Analyzing the result of the content as how the user connects with it.


Flexible Design: New innovative products are everywhere such as laptops, desktops, and mobile phones. Appropriate content will be the one which can be viewed on all these devices. This plays an important part in web designing as well. Everything should be viewable on such devices.


UI designers now should be able to:

  • Make suitable websites.

  • Make flexible elements.

  • Have guides for a great design look.



Roles and Responsibilities of Multiple Special Design Disciplines.


Multidisciplinary working at Digital Product - Design Clan
Generated by Microsoft Copilot

Design is a broad and multidisciplinary field that encompasses various aspects of creating and improving digital products, such as functionality, usability, aesthetics, accessibility, etc. Designers from different disciplines work together to deliver the best possible user experience for the users, while also meeting the business goals and technical requirements of the product.



Role of UX Designer:


Mobile App UX Design
Generated by Microsoft Copilot

UX designer gives importance to the user’s experience with a product. What they look to do is to make the products easy to use, fun, and well-functioning. UI/UX design is everywhere whether it's digital or nondigital products.


The responsibilities of a UX designer are: 

  • To research the user’s experience and see any aims, requirements, and feedback on the user’s interconnection with the product.

  • To include target consumers and accordingly do quality planning.

  • To see how a consumer interconnects with a product and accordingly plan journey maps.

  • To create wireframes and prototypes to give the product the best look.

  • To perform testing to facilitate taking design decisions and to spot problems if any arise.

  • Coordinate with UI UX designers and others.


Role of UI designer:


UI Designer working on UI Designs
Generated by Microsoft Designer

The role of UI designer is all graphical. They mainly focus on mobile apps and websites with which the user interconnects. UI is quite different from UX. UI is only related to digital products, not any products or services. A UI/UX designer is responsible for creating apps and easy-to-use and impactful websites. 


The responsibilities of UI designers are:

  • To arrange page layouts.

  • To look for colors and fonts

  • To create many elements such as buttons, menus, and others.

  • To bring wireframes to highlight the look of the design.

  • Coordinate with developers and other UI UX designers to deliver the best product of the design.


Now, We know that both UI and UX design play important roles in web development and both are related to each other. Being a candidate for both design types, professionals can have a smooth design process, resulting in a better final product.


With so much ability, you can easily get hired for a different job role. UI/UX design is popular all over the world. As time passes by the size of the design team is increasing in UX design. As UX and UI are in demand, Professionals can take full advantage of them. 


Interaction Designer:

An Interaction Designer ensures that a product gives the best results when a user is interconnecting with them. A designer ensures that the product is functioning well. They should know what are the requirements of the user and accordingly create software, websites, and products like smart devices.


Interaction Designers perform similarly to UX and UI designers.UX is the interconnection between a user and product relating to user experience where as UI gives importance to how the user is interconnecting with the products.


Skills a Become an Interaction Designer:


Plan a Design: The interaction designer should give importance to the requirements and aims of the users and accordingly make a plan. Now they work on the plan, find a good approach, and implement it.


Develop Wireframes: Wireframes are about how a user interconnects within a great approach. Interaction designers may plan them or coordinate with other UI UX design team members who are responsible for the project.


Test: The next skill is about prototyping. Interaction designers can take full advantage of the prototypes to test different concepts and see how a website performs as a final product.


Industry trends: The Interaction designer should be well-updated with current industry trends and variations. With this, they can spot user behavior and find how the variations impact the user’s requirements and aims.


Technical: Interaction designers must use computers to the best and know how to use a variety of software. They can use tools such as HTML or CSS.


Data: Interaction designers should be well-versed to collect and use data. They have to make the best use of data about users' requirements and experience to make sure that they create products as per the user’s requirements and satisfy them.


Innovation: Creativity is necessary for Interaction designers to have meaningful user interfaces. They can take full advantage if they have better knowledge of digital and print design principles. Interaction designers can come up with the best answers to difficult problems. They can anticipate also.


The best answer to problems: The Interaction designer can spot the problems and find accurate answers for them. Through it, they can come up with the best and most improved products. What is the cause of the problem and what will be the accurate solutions is also what they look for.


Role of Interaction Designers:

  • Plan and have the best designs.

  • Execute best design characteristics.

  • Do testing to have the best design.

  • To spot a product's interconnection.

  • To keep an eye on digital functions.

  • Do user research for the best results.

  • To provide the best standards.

  • Coordinate with other designers.


Information Architecture

Information Architecture is to place information in an order that can be found easily and quickly. The aim is to place content in a better way. A good website will always make information easy for visitors. It focuses on the information on the homepage of the website, where are the product’s information and how users deal with it.


Information Architecture is structuring something whether it's a website or a mobile app.


Why Information Architecture is Important:


The user experience is dependent on Information Architecture. It is the solution to complex information for users. 


Good Information Architecture will make the user’s job easy and good. It will always enable you to get what you are looking for and reach your requirements.


For Information Architecture two factors to keep in mind:


Context is the environment where a user interconnects with content. It's about how and when a user is connecting with content.


Structure Content is about what are the user’s needs, requirements, behaviors, and what they are looking for. You must know about the UI/UX Design, how the content is proving to them, and whether are they making the best use of the content. 


Effects of Information Architecture on Business: 


Its effects are:

  • Taking the lead.

  • Improving the performance of employees.

  • Hiring employees.

  • Giving the best customer service.


Information Architecture and UI UX Design help you to get on the right track at the right time. It looks like a great fit for digital products as well.


With Information Architecture you can make decisions with ease. Users will get what they are looking to find. You will get the best framework.


Visual Designer:

Visual Designers emphasize layouts and creative elements of a company’s digital part. They give importance to typography and graphic design like coloring and help the brand to get the best look. Visual designers give the best brand style anywhere whether it's in social media or mobile devices. 


These designers look at the brands across the digital era. They create graphic and web designs to make formats of a company’s website or mobile apps. They coordinate with other UI/UX designers to make optical brand names for an organization.


What do Visual designers do:

Visual designers look after the visuals and format of the digital products for a company. They will work according to the project of the industry. They are seen doing wireframes and coordinating with other professionals to get rid of any UI/UX design problems. 


Responsibilities:

  • Get the best look for a brand’s website or apps.

  • Follow some brand instructions to get the best design formats and digital assets to match the reputation of the brand’s style.

  • Make simulations for digital assets.

  • Should concentrate on designing logos.

  • Should make good presentations for projects.

  • Working for different projects keeping in mind deadlines.


Other responsibilities:

  • Look after digital assets.

  • Look for images and videos.

  • Collaborate with a brand.


Skills of a Visual Designer:

  • The designer should be well-versed in design.

  • They should know well about web design and website convenience.

  • They must know coding.

  • They should know how to explain design concepts.


 Other Skills:

  • They should have knowledge about video and photo editing.

  • Need to coordinate with UI/UX designers

  • Must know about graphics

  • They should communicate well.

  • They must have problem-solving skills.

  • The designer should be able to make decisions and follow brand instructions.

  • They should be presentable.

  • They should perform numerous tasks and follow deadlines.


Tools they Use:

Photoshop, Canva, Adobe, Sketch.


Product Designer:

Product designers are responsible for the ideas and creating digital products. They coordinate with UI UX Design professionals to bring final products. They are responsible for digital products. These UI/UX designers make any changes if required and bring the final products.


What are Product Designers responsible for:


Product designers coordinate with engineers and other professionals to create prototypes and wireframes of products and make changes to a product if required. They also do AB testing and take feedback from the users to come up with the best final product using UI UX Design.


Responsibilities:

  • Product designers must make simulations, wireframes, and prototypes.

  • Should develop design needs.

  • Should come up with journey maps

  • Must coordinate with engineers and other professionals to bring final products.

  • Should use AB testing and get feedback from the users.

  • They should also test if the product is functioning well.

  • They should also check out new products and tools.


Skills needed to be a product designer:

  • Product designers should have good knowledge of UI and UX Design

  • They should collaborate with CAD.

  • They should proceed with projects with the best outlook

  • They must know what are the business requirements and take full advantage of them for a final product

  • Take feedback from users and other designers.


Other Skills:

  • They should be well-versed in typography and graphic design.

  • These designers know about UX.

  • They must be good enough to design.

  • They have to communicate and present well.

  • The Product designers should arrange and perform well on time

  • They must be a good team player and coordinate well.


Tools used by product designers:

Miro, Maze, Marvel, and Sketch.


Usability Engineering:

Usability engineering is about taking the convenience of interactive systems to a different level. It makes theories that are related to computer science and psychology. It spots problems that took place with the usage of such systems. Designs are tested during the development process with users.


So before finalizing the product, the UI/UX Designer should look at the efficiency, memorability, and error freeness. 


All usability engineer looks to do is to spot problems. They do the paperwork to determine how well a user is performing and how to deliver. The engineer’s main function is to make questionnaires, interview-based studies, and design tests. Their main job is to design.


They will work as per the industry standards. They should be well-versed in Statistical analysis and interpretation. 


The UI UX Designer or engineer must do accurate tests and come up with the best results for the user experience design team. 


Engineers must have completed a UI UX Design course and have experience before going into the corporate world. Their work is research-based and they should work well enough to achieve their aims. Their background should be good enough to evaluate the credibility of the sources.  


Accessibility Engineer:

Web Accessibility engineers work in web technology. They ensure that web technology is released and permissible by eliminating the hindrances that might not allow users to have equal permission for assistive technologies. 


Skills required for a Web Accessibility Engineer:

  • Should have good hands with accessibility tools.

  • Must be familiar with web pages and mobile apps.

  • Should know about assistive technologies such as screen readers and read-aloud tools.

  • Must know about mobile screen readers.

  • Coming up with problems about accessibility and providing the right solution for it.

  • Come up with voluntary documents.

  • Give the right solution for accessibility problems.

  • They must know about document remediation.

  • Must proceed with the best feedback.

  • Should be knowledgeable enough to know about prototyping and come up with technical solutions.

  • Must be well aware of content accessibility guidelines.

  • Must answer the topic-related questions.

  • Teach new employees about accessibility standards


UX Writer:

A UX writer comes up with great content and text for a better web experience and products enabling users to direct the product. The writer emphasizes menus and error messages. They help and guide new users through a small piece of writing. Through the content, a UI/UX designer looks to connect the brand’s name with the writing to make the users understand who are from different areas to maximize their experience with the product.


UX writer needs to connect with the target audience and make design, layout, and fonts to achieve the requirements of the intended audience. The functions of UI/UX Design writers are to test their work, do user research, and coordinate with teams to create a useful copy. They use tools like Figma and Sketch.


Skills for a UX writer:


Good Writing: A UX writer should be grammatically correct. They should use the right spelling and the readability and sentence structure should be really good. The tone of writing should be appealing as well. They should give good and clear writing to users when using a product. You can get amazing job opportunities also with good UX writing and completing a UI UX Design course.


Research: UX writers can do AB testing and user testing to get the best product.


Program related to Digital Design: Some UX writers use visual design toolkits. Use Figma and Sketch which will allow you to create materials for your portfolio.


Microcopy: UX writer often creates microcopy. A microcopy is a small text that enables users through digital interfaces. For a sound microcopy, the writer must do good research and have good user UI UX design characteristics. UX writers must understand user requirements and create messages at the right time. 


Good Wireframing: UX designers should know how to test and function in an application. Wireframes show how a connection works. Prototypes on the other hand enable designers to test a product and let designers see if a system is functioning well.


Thorough Research about Users: UX designers should know what are the requirements of a user for a product. User research is done in different ways like interviews. They should come up with the best tools for the best products.


Design should be done Visually: UX and UI designers will go for visual design. They have their full use to create a website. UX goes for prototypes. Both UI UX designs and usability are handy for designers.


Copy: Copywriting is important for most products. Good copywriting is better for a user and UI UX designers.


A good copy is important from a visual design’s point of view and makes the product easy to use. The tone of the copy gives the brand a real name making it an important part of the design.


Information: It's about structuring content in websites or mobile apps. It's about making sure the content is effective. The users must know what is their location and what they will get from the service. 


Tools used by UI UX designers:

Sketch: You will find it in macOS. It is an app which is good for websites and mobile applications. UI/UX Designers design a product and give it to teams and developers and the tool helps coordination among them. The tool is used everywhere for web design and development.


Adobe Illustrator: It is mainly a design program and is related to Adobe Creative Suite. It is mainly for Windows and macOS.


It is one of the best tools for web graphics and is popular all across the industry. You can create graphics without changing their size with the best results proving it to be a great tool. Make logos with ease for websites. It might be a little difficult for beginners.


Adobe Photoshop: It is a popular tool for graphic design and is mainly for Windows and Mac. This tool is great for creating images and making any changes. It has a great reputation in the market for its status in the industry.


With Photoshop you can edit anything. It provides a lot of resources for those who are willing to learn Photoshop. Tutorials are there for help on the website but the tool is not the best for beginners. 


Adobe XD:  It is a design tool that is mainly responsible for wireframes and prototypes. This is available on iOS, Windows, and Mac. UX designers can create any type of prototypes and interfaces from websites to others. The designs are about animations and interconnection working repeatedly on designs and coordinating with others.


InVision:  Another tool that helps to make prototypes. Most companies use the tool which includes Spotify and Amazon that helps designers a great deal to those who work in huge companies. It is mainly based on clouds and is useful for operating systems.


The tool includes designing and converting them to prototypes. Designers can make prototypes with effective animations.


Proto.io: It is a great app that helps to make application prototypes. The system is drag-and-drop which applies to any device with a web browser. Designers can make numerous standard elements and keep their designs in the cloud for better coordination.


UI/UX Designers can create high-quality prototypes and designs. Once you are familiar with the tool, you will be able to create website and application prototypes.


UXPin: It mainly prototypes, designs, and wireframes. It creates applications and web interfaces. 


It functions on all devices works through prototypes and wireframes and takes design to finalize real products. With collaborative tools, users can show prototypes and designs. HBO and Microsoft use the tool. It is good for beginners.


Figma:  It is a free online tool. It is good for wireframing and graphic design. It is useful for computers that are equipped with a web browser. 


It is good for small teams and individuals. It offers free collaborative tools. Many designers can work together for a given project. It is user-friendly and helps beginners to learn with its tutorials. 


It also has a paid version which designers often use in numerous industries. 


Tools for UI UX Design:


Marvel:  With Marvel, you can make prototypes, wireframes, design and make digital products. It is user-friendly and good for beginners. 


It connects with the browser well. It works well with simple and fast design and does the job of prototyping and wireframing. It combines with other tools to help you in your work.


Some of its features are:

  • It offers drag-and-drop wireframe templates for a good design.

  • It includes images and icons for your great ideas.

  • You can use other tools to get designs.

  • Prototyping with interactions.

  • There is a testing function that is built inside to get results about your ideas and work accordingly if any change is required.

  • It is another design tool to convert the design into code.


Zeplin:  It is cloud software that helps UI designers coordinate with developers. It gives a good workspace to promote your design and provide codes for a smooth development process.


UI/UX designers coordinate with developers. Developers are responsible for coding your designs into websites.


With Zeplin in your help, you will just need to promote your design in the platform and spot the platform you are designing for.


Some features of Zeplin are

  • It is a fast software that shows user journeys and helps in design.

  • This offers style guides to help you customize your design in coloring and text styles.

  • It combines with Figma and Adobe XD.

  • This includes HTML and CSS.


Origami Studio:  This tool is all free. Facebook introduced it. It is related to prototyping. It helps to build interaction.


For macOS users, it's all for free. It is not suitable for beginners but good for advanced users.


Some of its features are

  • It is a drag-and-drop software where you can customize the text and images that you have taken from Figma or Sketch.

  • You can include animation in your prototype.

  • Include layers to your prototype and interact with the layers.

  • Spot a layer and work on its properties.

  • You can view and interact with your prototype

  • Inclusion of patches and their description.


UIzard:

You can make digital products even if you don’t have advanced design knowledge. It includes good prototyping, low-quality wireframing, design, and coordination. If you are an expert in PowerPoint and Google Slides, you can easily use Uizard.


Some of its features are

  • Drag-and-drop elements and templates to enable you to make web and mobile designs

  • It has different options for wireframes to help you get your project done and get the best user experience out of your product

  • It allows you to get hand-drawn wireframes from other tools. Uizard will convert your wireframe into digital screens.


Mockplus: This tool is related to prototyping. It allows designers to create interactive designs for the web or mobile. Beginners should prototype and make an app and web design as the tools do not include coding. 


It has a drag-and-drop interface, designed components, icons, and animations. It is well-featured so that design teams can coordinate with each other and make things quickly. You can use it on any computer with the Internet. Designers can have numerous ideas and can put forward different concepts.


Its features are

  • It releases lots of ready-made components and a UI library to enable to making of an app and web design

  • This gives a drag-and-drop feature to include components and animations.

  • It helps in the coordination of team members at any point in time and at any place.

  • Helping the active stakeholders to remain updated and relate the project with the cloud.

  • Combined with tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD, and Figma.

  • Allows you to check your prototypes and test your ideas.


 

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