UI vs UX: What is the difference?

Oftentimes we hear the words UI/UX used together interchangeably in reference to one thing, a single entity. However, the two are not the same.

What is UX? 

UX stands for User Experience, as in the overall experience a user has with something whether it may be a product or service. It encompasses the entire journey from start to end and seeks to define emotions the user will experience at each touchpoint i.e. curious, frustrated, intrigued, etc. User experience design puts a strong emphasis on usability, assessing how easy or difficult it may be to complete specific tasks to achieve the end goal and determining methods for improving the ease-of-use. Therefore, although it is most commonly seen applied to apps and websites, UX can also be applied to how we would unbox a new product or the journey of assembling new furniture. UX seeks to find and predict pain points to enhance the overall experience by leveraging and building on different features of the design such as efficiency, memorability, likelihood of error and discoverability. Working with Jambaree, not only do we ensure a better experience with a physically fast website using Gatsby as our backend, but our highly skilled application of UX ensures a seamless content flow of information so that the end user can find what their looking for with ease and want to return again very soon.

What is UI?

UI stands for User Interface and is focused on the ocular look and feel of the interface being designed. UI designers focus on the visual design of each element and overall aesthetic of the application including buttons, fonts, images, colour palettes, etc. to ensure the overall design is cohesive, directional, and follows a hierarchy of information to aid the user along their journey. UI design ensures that the interface is as intuitive as possible so that users know where they can click or tap and where they should not with visual indicators and responses to help guide them towards their end goal.

While UX can be applied to everything one would encounter, UI is more of a digital term, (originated from the digital world) as it defines the point of interaction between the user and an interface. Interfaces are most commonly seen as anything with a screen therefore UI can be applied to anything with built-in touch screens such as apps, coffee machines, cars, or websites like we do here at Jambaree. We don’t only make super fast websites. Our skilled UI designers are trained in the art of visual harmony, encapsulating and extending your brand identity throughout the website to aid the flow of information creating continuity and direction.

How does UX work with UI?

So as we can see, UI and UX work together as UX defines the requirements and best approach to take to get the user to the end goal of their journey while UI supplies the necessary visuals to signal the right direction and convey the desired feelings the company wishes to convey through the overall aesthetic and visuals.

UX designers conduct market research and user testing to ensure the functionality of a product is working as intended. UI designers keep up to date with the latest design trends and graphic patterns as consumers’ tastes and preferences change over time.

Working together, UX Designers will use various tools such as empathy maps, personas, user stories and journeys to design the wireframes which then get handed off to the UI designers to be mocked up with the necessary visuals and brand elements to bring the interface to completion. Testing is done throughout the entire process for both UI and UX to ensure usability and a positive response to design elements to ensure success upon launch.

If you are thinking of setting up a new website or looking to refresh an existing one, we can help! From attentive user experience and visual design detail to flawless code and high-speed integration, ask us today how Jambaree can support you on your journey to building the perfect website tailored to your audience.

Summary:

In summary, we would like to conclude with a popular meme that circles the internet every so often but serves as a helpful reminder as to which is UI and which is UX as the two often get confused.

Two Ketchup bottles.

We are all familiar with the classic glass ketchup bottle vs squeeze bottles and while both of these have UX and UI applied to them, we will zero in on what is being emphasized in each. With the glass bottle, we are drawn to the allure of the aesthetics and visual design that come from a sleek, glass bottle, yet we all know too well how hard we have to shake it to get the ketchup out. Whereas on the other hand, we have the classic squeeze bottle that gets the ketchup onto our plate with ease, making for a better user experience although perhaps not as pretty. Although this is an oversimplification of UI vs UX, it serves a purpose in helping with remembering which is which.