A Beginner's Guide To Be A UX and UI Designer

We've all overheard conversations and discussions on the streets of the world's technology capitals about a good "UX" product or a website with an ominous "UI." Is it a secret language that you don't know? Do these people merely use it as slang to sound cool? Well, maybe the latter one, but not the former. You are in the right place if you want to know what UX and UI mean and how they differ. Below is a breakdown of what we will discuss in this article. Read on to find out what UX and UI mean, what UX/UI designers do, what skills and tools UI/UX designers use, what kind of UI/UX Design Course sets you apart, how much a UX/UI Designer makes, and how to become a UX or UI designer.

What are UX and UI Designs?

First of all, let us understand what UX and UI design means. UI design refers to user interface design (UI design), whereas UX stands for user experience design (UX design).

These two elements are crucial for a product and work closely together. But despite their professional relationship, both have different roles to play while considering various aspects of the product development process and the design discipline. Therefore, before considering the main differences between UX and UI, let us define each term individually.

What is User Experience (UX) Design?

UX design is about what people experience when interacting with an app or a website. The more user-friendly it is, the more traffic it draws. In other words, it is a process that builds a trustworthy relationship between a company, its products, and its customers. UX design focuses on research & development and revolves around improving all aspects of user-product interactions to fulfill users' ever-evolving needs.

The core objective of UX design is to improve users' experience and make it more effective in deriving desired results. And to achieve this, a product goes through many tests, ultimately making it more useful, valuable, and easy to please its users. UX design comprises various disciplines - visual design, interaction design, usability, etc.

What is User Interface (UI) Design?

UI design focuses on a product's visual appearance. A UI designer generally creates visually appealing designs for a product that helps attract users and ensures a pleasant experience.

It is why UI design cares more for the content than just the look and feel of a website or app. And because of that, UI design mainly consists of documents, texts, images, and videos. A good UI design emphasizes clickable buttons, tags, text entry fields, checkboxes, drop-down lists, and graphic designs. It also focuses on behaviors like what happens whenever a user clicks, enters, or drags any digital object.

Therefore, UI design requires designers with excellent technical skills and a good sense of aesthetics to meet users' demands. Hence, a creative and imaginative UI designer's main objective is to create a compelling and beautiful user interface (UI) that connects users emotionally to a product. If you have ever marveled at a website's or app's visual appeal, a UI designer went ahead of what you could imagine!

Now that you know what UI and UX are, let's understand how they differ.

What's the Difference Between UX and UI Design?

If seen in terms of functionalities and features, UI takes care of "how things appear," while UX is about "how things work" in practice while considering user experience. In other words, UX defines a process, whereas UI is a deliverable. And because of this difference in understanding, people get confused.

UX and UI designs tend to have a symbiotic relationship. As put by Rahul Varshney (co-creator of warszawskagm. pl):

"UX and UI are some of our field's most confusing and misused terms. A UI without UX is like a painter slapping paint onto canvas without thinking, while UX without UI is like the frame of a sculpture with no paper match on it. A great product experience starts with UX, followed by UI. Both are essential for the success of a product".

Hence, the difference between the two results in different roles.

And remember, UX is not your UI because Steve Jobs said so -

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works!"

Theoretically, UX design involves wireframing or prototyping, interaction design, and user testing. On the contrary, UI design involves visual design and interaction design.

Note: Both UI and UX designs require interaction design. Because interaction design makes a UI/UX designer understand users' feelings and behavior.

If you are still confused about UI/UX, look at our article Difference Between UX and UI Design – Learner's Guide.

Let's see how UI and UX designs complement each other:

• UI makes interfaces attractive, whereas UX makes interfaces easy to use. And that's what people want today! 
• UI allows emotional connections with the interacting user, while UX helps users accomplish their goals. UI design succeeds UX design. Or, say, UX design precedes UI design, i.e., first UX, then UI. 
• UI only relates to interfaces, but UX design appears throughout products, interfaces, and services.

What Do UX/UI Designers Do?

If you are curious about what UI/UX designers do, there is no better way than going through job descriptions on job search websites such as Indeed, LinkedIn, etc. There you can find UI/UX designer job descriptions, and it will make your journey more smooth, but for the sake of understanding, let's see their skills and responsibilities for each position.

Skills and Responsibilities of a UX Designer

• Content Strategy: Customer and Competitor Analysis, Product Structure, or Product Strategy
• Prototyping and Wireframing: Planning, Prototyping, Wireframing, Development, and Testing or Iteration. 
• Analytics and Execution: Tracking Goals and Integration, Analysis and Iteration, and Coordination with Developer(s) and UI Designer(s).

Therefore, a UX Designer is responsible for pre-planning and preparing the technology needed to build a product and for how users interact with the product online and offline. In addition, they also handle customer service and analytics.

Skills and Responsibilities of a UI Designer

Look and Feel of website or app: Design Research, Branding and Graphic Development, Customer Analysis, User Guides, or Storyline. Interactivity and Responsiveness: Making Designs Adaptable and Interactive to All Device Screen Sizes, Creating Animations, Implementing designs with Developers, and UI Prototyping.

UI designers create the skin and appearance of a product that ultimately forms the personality and the brand. A UI designers' job is to connect users to a product that builds trust and transfers the brand's value directly to its consumer. Hence, a good UI designer also requires collaboration with other teams like developers and UX designers.

What kind of UI/UX Design Course sets you apart?

If you are out to make a career in UI/UX design and searching for feasible ways to get it going, then taking a course (online or offline, free or paid, all will do just fine) is the best and quickest way to equip yourself with trending designing skills. But remember, it's not easy, and there is no shortcut! Everyone has their own creative and imaginative powers. So, all you have to do is set yourself apart from the crowd by working hard and learning more career-specific things because you have to fight off the competition that is there these days around every corner. Moreover, it is not about which course you take but how efficiently you learn from the enrolled course. So, be serious about your career and your life too!

How much does a UX/UI Designer make?

There is no direct answer to this most awaited question of yours because it all depends on the type of project you take on. That's why different designers have different salary levels. But for your curiosity, creative designers make the highest level, ranging from USD 60,000 to USD 120,000 US dollars. As mentioned, a UI/UX designer's salary depends on location, experience, industry, and product or project type.

Based on recent trends, the average base salary of a UI/UX designer in the United States is USD 91,500 per annum, while in India, the figure revolves around ₹ 6.9 lakhs per annum.

Ready to be a UX/UI Designer?

It's a fact people every day make choices whether to take a blue pill or the red one. Once you know it is just an illusion, you begin to rise and start seeing reality as it is! The same is true for the difference between UI/UX design. From theory to how they work closely, finding resources to learn each and as-well-as how much you can make using them, it is your decision - to be a UI designer or a UX designer. All this guide has done is - give you some insights that we hope will help you make the right decision.

The Wrap-up and Some Motivation!

Hopefully, this beginner's guide has gone some way to mitigating the long-standing confusion between UX and UI. However, the information in this article is just the tip of the iceberg. There remains a lot more for both UX and UI. Since this field is evolving with unprecedented developments all over the globe, it's worth reading up on each in-depth to get a feel and understand their differences.

If you are out to reconsider UI/UX designs for your website or app or looking for ways to get the latest designs for your mobile apps and web applications or revamp or build them, the team at Quokka Labs is just a call away!

Our UI/UX designers understand clients' needs and always strive to deliver a perfect solution within deadlines. UI/UX designs from our end will make your app attractive, engaging, and user-friendly. That's because we believe in creating quality products. What we deliver always exceeds clients' expectations. Contact us to give wings to your ideas, and get your free quote today!