User interface versus User experience. Was there ever a battle to begin with? Couldn’t UI and UX just co-exist without any fuss?
Let’s get into the concept behind UI and UX.
UI: Let’s break it down
First of all, what is UI? For those of you thinking University of Ibadan, congratulations, you’re very wrong. UI means User Interface.
The user interface isn’t just the point of human-computer interaction and communication in a device or how the user and a computer system interact. It also involves the relationship between consumers and everything you might use, whether online or offline. Every physical thing created that can be felt is described as an interface. The moment and process of you using them is described as a “User interface”.
I’d like to focus on human-computer interaction today. There are different ways humans interact with computers in our present day, be it via Mobile applications, Web applications, Websites, Smartwatches, etc.
What then is UX?
UX, on the other hand, stands for User experience.
This pinpoints how good or bad you feel after using a user interface. Therefore, without a user interface, there can’t be a user experience. UX rides on empathy, emotion, and appeal to consumers. Consumers have to feel fulfilled after using a user interface.
If UX doesn’t exist without UI, how can there be a battle then? What supremacy are we talking about if UX is just a preceding effect? Should we even be discussing this?
Yes!
There is a relationship between UI and UX (like a father-son relationship). When designers roll out products for people, they are expected to consider human thinking during their thought process. Every decision made during the design process has to be “consumer-oriented”.
The are several various factors to be considered when designing;
FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN DESIGNING
Color
Color in UI/UX is important because it gives life to one’s design. A design in black and white looks pale… I know what you are thinking; black and white are colors, right?
However, when designing a product, ensure to pick colors that are relevant to the product and also calm and compelling for the consumers.
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Typography
Ever used Microsoft Word and seen options such as font size, font type, etc? That is typography. Typography involves the arrangement of letters to convert specific messages and also draw out emotions from the user.
Good typography must be clear, visually appealing, and legible.
Alignment
Alignment cannot be overlooked either in UI or UX. It is important in either discipline. It involves the organization of elements to improve reading and the interaction of users with the design.
A product or design with bad or zero alignments can erupt negative feelings from users.
Inclusion
In the world today, there are different classes of people, classified based on gender, beliefs, political opinions, medical conditions, religion, nationality, age group, finances, etc.
To create or design a product, one must put into consideration the majority of these classes. In fact, consider all. You do not want to leave out a section, thereby offending a minority. I’m sure you’ve heard of free speech.
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Reliability
How does reliability cut into design? Some designs are unable to satisfy the needs of consumers. This renders them unreliable, as this is the entirety of UX.
Can consumers rely on your product to solve issues that they have?
Conversion
Online-based products need prompts like login, sign up, buy, order now, activate or deactivate, etc, for users to take action. It is essential to lead consumers throughout your design. They should be prompts or buttons that lead from here to there easily.
A product with a high conversion rate is understandable to consumers and reliable.
There are several more to be added but we are not discussing the needed brouhaha of UI/UX. The battle for supremacy occurs when designers are required to think about consumers when designing. Designers want to design the best-looking interfaces that will best other interfaces out there without considering the feelings of others.
This has led to a conundrum on how to create parity between these two core elements. More designers feel they do their best work when UX watches over their shoulders. This begs the question, should we separate UI and UX?
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UI designer and UX designer
It is not uncommon to see such separate job descriptions in our world today. It wasn’t always like that though. We used to have UI/UX designers performing both roles; however, it had to be split.
Some people are better designers when they do not have to worry about the consumers’ wants, while some designers are more in touch with emotions and love designing products that ensure the satisfaction of customers’ wants. Their designs are usually less complicated, easy, leading, thoughtful, and most importantly inclusive.
There is a market for creativity and the core UI designers can occupy that place. We must note that various companies and brands would rather hire a core UX designer than a UI designer. This is to ensure more sales of their product and a long-lasting impression on them.
So, does this mean that UX wins the battle of supremacy? I’d say, Yes. But just slightly
UX edges UI when it pertains to the base reason for their existence, which is “user orientation”. A UX designer would last the test of time and would be a valuable asset to brands out there. A pure UI designer would have a hard time breaking through the market.
When you decide to learn a skill, it is advised to pay keen attention to user experience.
UI vs UX: Conclusion
As I said before, there is no UX without UI. However, consumers would appreciate a good UX and bad UI more than a good UI and bad UX in the long run. I am a certified UI/UX designer so I can give my two cents on this issue.
In my few years of designing, I have been able to deduce that a faulty UX with a fantastic UI will eventually make a very little leap in the mind of users.
Verdict: UX wins.
