So, UX vs. UI huh?
Sorry to say but you’ve already been bamboozled by the title! There is no such thing as UX apart from UI because every UI produces a UX. And every UX design exists through a UI. While they are distinct from one another in that you can hire services for one and not the other, like it or not, they remain inextricably connected.
Let’s look at user experience design and user interface design a little closer.
User experience (UX) design encompasses all the emotive aspects of an end-user’s interaction with a product. It’s design that intentionally crafts how users should be affected through the use of a product. One aim of UX design is to connect the user’s agenda to the business’ goals.
User interface (UI) design is the purposeful arrangement of elements within a graphical user interface (GUI) — it’s everything that a user interacts with. When done in connection with UX design; one aim of UI design is to connect the user’s actions to the business’ goals.
UX/UI design together can be summed up as “Understanding what the user wants to do and presenting them with the tools to do it.”
**A quick note: Ethical UX/UI design does not utilize tactics that manipulate human behavior. Ethical UX/UI design respects the person and enables them to take self-determined actions based on truthful information. Ethical UX/UI design operates on the understanding that business success relies on trust-building and value to the human.
What’s this article about then?
Now that we know what makes UX and UI design distinct, yet dependent on one another, we can look at how they are put into practice within the product development process.
Let’s investigate some ways the user experience can be intentionally designed and what some UX deliverables are. Then we’ll look at how UX deliverables are utilized by the UI designer to accomplish the planned experience and facilitate product success. By understanding the interplay between UX and UI design, and their practical application, you’ll be more informed when making your own product design planning and fulfillment decisions.
“Just make it super quick to order… and require them to fill out a survey.”
I used to get the biggest laughs listening to my youngest daughter fight with Siri. Fielding questions from a six-year-old is not Siri’s forte. Within 30 seconds the ‘dialog’ would devolve into my daughter yelling and Siri ‘apologizing’ in response. In fairness, my daughter didn’t know Siri was a robot. And Siri didn’t know my daughter was six. The two just didn’t relate. The same principles of acknowledgement and relatability apply to all user/product experiences. If you want your product to succeed you must first fully understand the people on whom your product will rely.
Experience design includes these key activities and deliverables
Research. Without it you’re mostly guessing and assuming. Research to discover your highest-value user types and then rank them. Do the same with their agendas. Research your industry, trends and competition. Uncover and fill in your blind spots. In the end you should have a prioritized list of users and their agendas to craft targeted experiences around. You can use this knowledge within the context of the market research you’ve done to further refine the experience design.
Know the business goals! This is an important step which is often oversimplified. ‘Attain world domination’ is not a business goal. Establish clearly defined and distinct goals that are achievable relative to the business’ resources/timeframes/ability to deliver. These should also be prioritized.
Then compile the research into a working document that lists your findings. From your findings, extrapolate key understandings and insights from each of your research topics: these should be nuggets of truth that will focus and guide product development.
In short, the document defines who the key users are and the things they want to do, your product’s position relative to these users and the objectives and means for enabling users to accomplish their agendas. This document should be done within view of all stakeholders as it will serve as the experience design source of truth during interface design and other aspects of product development.
“I want our site to look sleek! You know, like Apple!”
I searched for ‘running shoes’ on zappos.com and it returned over 2.2K results. There are over 1.4K different slippers and over 2.1K snow boots. It’s obvious that shoes are designed differently to fulfill a specific purpose.
Like shoes, digital products are designed to be specific to their purpose. But the real benefit is realized through intimate understanding. ‘Make them comfortable’ could apply to running shoes and slippers but can you imagine running a half-marathon in slippers?
Your product should be designed to meet the highly specific needs of your target audience in relation to the business goals. The UX design guidance can help you know that as long as it’s explicit.
Interface design includes these key activities and deliverables
Before we go into this, let me say that there is a difference between a UI designer and a frontend designer. The best way I can explain the distinction is to think of a UI designer as an interior architect who plans the arrangement, placement and order of a home’s interior features.
And the frontend designer can be thought of as the interior decorator who chooses the palette, patterns, textures and embellishments to apply to those features. Having said that, many times both of these responsibilities are embodied within the UI designer role and that’s how we’ll proceed.
Now that the UI designer has the benefit of the UX designer’s working document (research), and they understand it fully, it’s their turn to research. Yes, it’s important to do UI design research too. And infini-scrolling through dribbble.com to see what’s ‘cool’ doesn’t count.
Dig in and find out what aesthetic your target users respond to, what digital products they’re familiar with and what might feel ‘right’ to them. How can these things be resolved within the product brand? How can they be applied to meet the product goals? This research can take the form of mood boards, sketches or style libraries and patterns among other things.
UI designs should start lo-fi. It’s important that the amount of time spent on UI design matches the stage of development. While it’s tempting to scamper away to the design cave and create your masterpiece in solitude that’s not the way it works. Start by producing low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes.
Get respective stakeholders’ and cross-functional team members’ input. Make sure the UI can actually be built the way being proposed! Perform user tests. The goal is to iterate so that the designs come to fruition with high levels of acceptance from several points along the way. The end result is a developed product design that comes with high assurances and likely success.
Be proud, but not too proud
Congratulations, UX/UI design has been implemented within your product development workflow. Now it’s time to measure aspects of its success! Remember the key metrics you were trying to solve for or improve? How do they compare now? Were there any other unanticipated outcomes — positive or negative? What can be improved next? The idea here is to adopt an iterative mentality and to not become too attached to your work or the technology. A discovery mindset will help your eyes stay open to new paths for success.
If you’re a UX/UI designer reading this, there is a paradox that the better the UX is the less it is noticed. People expect things to work — and work the way they expect! It’s both a baseline and a high bar. When a user sets about to accomplish a task within your product and they can complete it quickly, successfully and without frustration they simply move on with their day. Never in all my years as a UX/UI designer have I received a Christmas card thanking me for making someone’s life easier.
What have we learned?
There is no UX apart from UI and vice versa. Attempting one to the exclusion of the other can diminish all product aspects. But when UX and UI design are connected, and done in concert with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, product success can be planned, executed, measured and iterated upon. Companies and teams that utilize UX/UI design come to understand its importance and realize its benefits to product and business success.