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UI vs UX: what is UX design?
UX design stands for “User Experience Design”, and as the name suggests, it focuses on a user’s experience with a product, app, or website. UX deals with user journeys and how the app or website is populated; you need UI and UX design and should invest in both of them.
Why is UI design important?
UI design will impact what users think of your product, app or website, meaning that you need to include it in your early design elements. Here’s a quick rundown of why you need to focus on UI design:
- First impressions: Users will decide within a few seconds what they think of your product or service, based on the interface design. A well-designed user interface is much likelier to boost engagement and traffic, whereas poorly-designed products and pages will raise red flags.
- Usability: UI design is important for app usability; you need to make it easy for users to achieve their goals or they may sign up with a competitor. When creating an intuitive interface, you should avoid making the product complicated.
- Engagement: If you want to keep customers coming back to your product, app, or website, you need good UI design; nobody wants something that’s hard to navigate.
What does UI design involve?
UI design covers several elements, and you need to know these so you can understand what to focus on. Some of the core elements that UI design includes are:
- Layout: Visual hierarchies and arranging content based on priority.
- Typography: You need to think about the fonts you use in your UI design. Users must be able to read them without problems, but you should also think about aesthetics.
- Color Schemes: Think about which colors will trigger an emotion and make sure that they match your brand. You should consider complementing colors, such as purple and orange.
- Buttons and Icons: Create clickable buttons with a clear call to action. Clarify other elements, such as icons and logos, and ensure that they follow a logical format.
- Responsiveness: Your interface must adapt to different screen sizes, as users will interact with it on their smartphones, desktops, and tablets. Start by optimizing for smaller screens and then focusing on desktop.
What does a strong UI design look like?
Strong UI designs have similar elements that you should assess before making your own strategy. Your UI design needs the following aspects:
- Clarity: Users should instantly know why each element exists on your page. Use clear menu items, icons, etc.
- Consistency: Use visuals, fonts, menus, etc. that conform with one another.
- Familiarity: Users should know that your product is *yours*. The interface should be unique, but it’s also worth following similar design principles as elsewhere in your industry.
- Efficiency: You need to make sure that users can quickly find the information they’re looking for.
- Forgiving: People make mistakes, and you need to make it easy for your users to reverse errors (e.g. adding too many items to a shopping cart).
What are some examples of good UI design?
Some examples of UI design that you should look at include:
- Notion: Notion shows pages on the left-hand side and also uses icons notes, pinning pages, etc.
- Skyscanner: Uses contrasting colors (blue, navy, and white) and puts its flight and hotel search at the top of the page. The rest of the page has spaced-out elements that go in order of information priority.
- Figma: Uses drag-and-drop elements and white space, with menus appearing on the left-hand side.
- Asana: Contrasting colors and circle icons for notifications, along with a menu on the left-hand side.
Conclusion
You need to invest in UI design from the start when creating an app, product, or website. You should think about how you want to lay out different elements on your page, starting with smaller screens. Elements to consider include fonts, colors, and icons – but you should also think about illustrations and buttons.
It’s also important to couple UI design with UX design. The two are different, so you should consider hiring different designers for these two jobs. Look at examples of companies already doing UI design and think about how to integrate the main aspects in your own project.
