UX Design vs UI Design - What's The Difference? (2024)

Summary

This video by Dee, a seasoned UX and UI designer, clarifies the distinction between user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. It illustrates the roles through the lens of Spotify, explaining how UX designers focus on user behavior and experience, while UI designers concentrate on the visual representation of features. The video also explores the tasks of each role, their overlap, and offers insights to help viewers choose the career path that suits them best.

Takeaways

• 😀 UX and UI design are often confused but have distinct roles and responsibilities.
• 🔍 UX (User Experience) design focuses on the overall experience, including how users feel and interact with a product.
• 🎨 UI (User Interface) design is about the aesthetics and visual representation of the product's features, ensuring ease of use.
• 📱 An example of UX vs. UI is a mobile app where UX decides the features and functionality, and UI designs the visual layout and elements.
• 🤔 The difference between UX and UI is that UX encompasses the environment and user's feelings, while UI is the tangible interaction point.
• 🎶 Spotify is used as an example where UX designers would explore new ways to listen to music, and UI designers would visually represent these ideas.
• 🔬 UX designers start with research, understanding users, and concept development to solve user problems and improve experiences.
• 🖌️ UI designers take the concepts from UX and create clear visual representations to guide the user on how to interact with the product.
• 👥 Both UX and UI designers work closely on projects, but their responsibilities are distinct, with UX focusing on the experience and UI on the visuals.
• 🛠️ The overlap between UX and UI occurs in the transition from conceptual work to the detailed visual design, where some tasks might be shared.
• 🛑 UI designers are responsible for elements like typography, colors, layout, and icons, which help users understand and navigate the interface.
• 🧐 Choosing between UX and UI as a career path depends on personal interests, work style, and whether one prefers collaborative or solitary tasks.

Q & A

What is the main difference between UX and UI design as explained in the video?

The main difference is that UX design focuses on the overall experience, including how users feel and interact with a product, while UI design is about the aesthetic experience, focusing on how things look and are laid out for ease of use.

What is the role of a UX designer in designing a mobile app?

A UX designer helps decide what features to include in the app, how they work, and how users feel while using them, aiming to improve the user's experience and make the app functional and enjoyable.

What tasks would a UI designer undertake when working on a mobile app?

A UI designer would focus on the visual aspects of the app, such as layout, spacing, information presentation on each screen, and button placement to ensure that the app is easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing.

Can you provide an example to illustrate the difference between UX and UI design?

The video uses Spotify as an example. A UX designer would work on understanding new ways for people to listen to music, while a UI designer would visually represent those new ways, ensuring they are easy for users to understand and interact with.

What does the term 'interface' refer to in the context of UI design?

In UI design, 'interface' refers to the tangible elements with which users interact to achieve a specific task, such as buttons on a remote control or a microwave's dial.

How does the video describe the process of a UX designer's work?

The video describes a UX designer's work as starting with research, understanding people, concepting, and workshop activities to solve user problems and improve the user experience.

What is the UI designer's role in the context of the Spotify example provided?

In the Spotify example, the UI designer's role is to take the concepts developed by UX designers and create a clear visual representation of those features, ensuring users can easily understand and use the app.

How does the video suggest determining which career path, UX or UI, might be best suited for an individual?

The video suggests considering personal interests, personality, and preferred working style, as well as the differences in responsibilities and tasks between UX and UI roles.

What are some of the specific tasks that a UI designer is responsible for, as mentioned in the video?

Specific tasks of a UI designer include typography, lettering, color selection, style and branding, spacing between items, establishing hierarchy, and the placement of icons and images to convey meaning to the user.

How does the video differentiate between the collaborative nature of UX design and the more independent tasks of UI design?

The video explains that UX design involves more teamwork, workshops, and collaborative activities, while UI design has more tasks that are the individual designer's responsibility, allowing for more independent thinking and detailed work.

What additional resources does the video offer for those interested in pursuing a career in UX or UI design?

The video mentions that Career Foundry offers two free short courses in both UX and UI design, with links provided for interested viewers to sign up.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding UX and UI Design Differences

This paragraph introduces the video's purpose, which is to clarify the distinctions between UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) design. The speaker, Dee, a seasoned designer with 12 years of experience, aims to help viewers discern between the two fields and determine which might suit them best. The explanation begins with defining UX as designing the overall experience, focusing on features, functionality, and user emotions, while UI is about the aesthetics and visual layout. The example of a mobile app illustrates the roles of both designers in its creation, with UX focusing on the app's features and usability, and UI concentrating on the visual elements and layout for ease of use.

05:05

🎨 The Role of UI Design in Visual Representation

The second paragraph delves deeper into the specific responsibilities of UI designers, using the Spotify app as an example. It explains how UI designers take the conceptual work done by UX designers and translate it into clear, visually appealing interfaces. The UI designer's tasks include choosing typography, colors, and layout to ensure the app is not only aesthetically pleasing but also user-friendly. The paragraph highlights the importance of visual cues, such as highlighting the currently playing song and the placement of controls, to guide user interaction. It also touches on the overlap between UX and UI roles, where both might engage in conceptualization and wireframing, but ultimately, the UI designer is responsible for the final visual presentation of the product.

Keywords

💡UX Design

UX Design, short for User Experience Design, is a process that focuses on designing the overall experience a user has with a product or service. It involves understanding the users' needs, preferences, and behaviors to create a product that is both functional and enjoyable to use. In the video, Dee explains that a UX designer would help decide what features to include in a mobile app and how they work, emphasizing the importance of the user's feelings and reactions while using the product.

💡UI Design

UI Design, or User Interface Design, is concerned with the visual and interactive aspects of a product. It's about making the product aesthetically pleasing and ensuring that users can easily navigate and interact with it. The script mentions that a UI designer would think about how things look and how much space there is between elements, aiming to make the interface intuitive and visually appealing.

💡Mobile App

A mobile app is a software application designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In the context of the video, Dee uses a mobile app as a tangible example to illustrate the roles of UX and UI designers. The UX designer would focus on the app's features and functionality, while the UI designer would work on its visual representation and layout.

💡Concepting

Concepting in design is the process of generating and developing ideas or concepts that address a specific problem or user need. The video script mentions that UX designers engage in concepting and workshopping to try out different ideas and improve the user experience.

💡Workshops

Workshops in the design context are collaborative sessions where designers, stakeholders, and sometimes users come together to brainstorm, discuss, and refine ideas. The script highlights that UX designers often facilitate workshops to gather insights and develop concepts for improving user experiences.

💡User Research

User research is the practice of understanding users' needs, behaviors, and motivations to inform design decisions. The video emphasizes that UX designers start with research to understand people and their interactions with a product or service.

💡Visual Representation

Visual representation in design refers to how ideas and concepts are depicted visually, allowing users to understand and interact with them. The script explains that UI designers are responsible for creating the visual representation of concepts, ensuring that the interface is clear and easy to use.

💡Spotify

Spotify is used as an example in the video to illustrate the practical application of UX and UI design principles. The video discusses how UX designers would focus on understanding music listening needs and how UI designers would visually represent those needs in the Spotify app.

💡Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible and appealing. In the context of UI design, as mentioned in the script, typography is one of the elements that UI designers consider to create a visually appealing and functional interface.

💡Hierarchy

Hierarchy in design refers to the arrangement of elements in a way that establishes a clear order of importance. The script explains that UI designers use hierarchy to give prominence to certain elements over others, making the interface easier to navigate and understand.

💡Career Path

A career path refers to the trajectory of job positions, experiences, and skills one acquires over the course of their professional life. The video aims to help viewers decide which career path—UX or UI design—might be best suited to them based on their interests, skills, and the nature of the work involved.

Highlights

The video aims to clarify the differences between UX and UI design.

Dee, with over 12 years of experience, shares insights on the roles of UX and UI designers.

UX design focuses on the overall experience, while UI design is about the aesthetic experience.

A tangible example of UX and UI roles is provided using a mobile app.

The difference between experience and interface is explained through the environment and tangible interactions.

Spotify is used as an example to illustrate the distinct tasks of UX and UI designers.

UX designers are involved in research and concept development to solve user problems.

UI designers create visual representations from UX concepts to guide user interaction.

The roles of UX and UI designers often overlap, especially in the transition from concept to visual design.

UI design responsibilities include typography, color schemes, and visual hierarchy.

Personal interests and working styles can help determine whether UX or UI design is a better fit.

UX design involves more collaboration and big-picture thinking, while UI design involves detailed visual work.

The video offers advice on choosing a career path based on personal preferences and work styles.

Career Foundry provides free short courses in UX and UI design for those interested in the professions.

The video concludes with an invitation for comments and questions about UX and UI design careers.

Transcripts

Hey in this video we're going to look at exactly  what the differences are between UX and UI design  

by the end of this video you'll see exactly which  kind of tasks and activities a UX designer and a  

UI designer actually undertake and you'll be able  to decide which one might be best suited to you

My name is Dee and i've been a UX and UI designer  for over 12 years i've worked all around the world  

in tons of different industries for big and small  companies and i'd like to share some insights with  

you about what the real differences are between  UX and UI design because these two roles are  

often confused because they sound very similar but  there are huge differences before we get started  

let me know in the comments which career paths you  might prefer UX or UI and why now let's dive in

so first it's important to define these two  terms UX design or user experience design is  

about designing the whole experience and ui design  or user interface design is about the aesthetic  

experience to give this a tangible example  think about a mobile app that you use every day  

a UX designer has helped decide what features what  things would be in that product and how they work  

and how you feel while you're using them a ui  designer would have also taken part in designing  

that mobile app but they would have thinking  about how things look as you're using them  

how much space there is between things how they're  laid out how much information is on each screen  

and where to put things so it's easy for you to  click on so it still sounds a little complicated  

right both UX and UI designers are designing what  we're using but let's try and break this down to  

make it a little bit clearer user experience  and user interface and experience involves  

a lot of different things how you feel where you  are what your motivations are in the moment you're  

doing them what happens when you do something what  is the reaction there's a lot of things involved  

in how you experience anything now let's look at  the word interface an interface is a particular  

thing that you make one or more interactions with  think of a remote control with buttons on it think  

of the microwave where you have to turn the dial  or press the button to do something that is one  

thing that you are interfacing with to achieve  something so this is the real difference between  

user experience and user interface and experience  is it has involved so many things and experience  

involves the environment how you feel what you  want and all the different ways you can do it  

and an interface is that one tangible thing that  you interact with to get something particular done  

let's get a bit more tangible with hopefully a  product that most people use every day Spotify  

if you use Spotify as a music service you'll be  able to picture exactly what i'm talking about  

if Spotify was just getting started today and  they wanted to hire people they would want to hire  

UX designers to help understand new ways for  people to listen to music and they would hire  

UI designers to visually represent those new  ways of listening in a way that was easy for  

people to use so the difference between the UX  designers and UI designers that might work at  

Spotify you can imagine they work really  closely together but the UX designers are  

understanding people's behavior understanding  music listening needs coming up with concepts for  

new ways of addressing those needs and giving them  new ways to make their music listening experience  

easier they're designing the experience of  listening to music with Spotify and the UI  

designers are still taking all of that information  and this is where there's some overlap but they're  

purely focused on the visual representation of  those features those new tools those news ideas  

laying them out and visually representing them  so that people can see how to use what they've

created. So let's look a little bit more about  the exact tasks that a UX and a UI designer does  

where they're really different and where they  overlap so a UX designer starts with research  

understanding people understanding customers does  some concepting, workshopping to try different  

ideas come up with different concepts to try and  solve the user problems to try and find ways to  

improve the user's experience the UI designer  takes on from there and creates the clear visual  

representation of all of these things all of  these concepts and these ideas that need to be  

visually laid out so a user can see what they need  to do so let's take a look at a real example to  

more clearly illustrate what we're talking about  if we look back at Spotify as the example and we  

think about hmm what parts would the UX designer  have done and what parts would the UI designer  

have done when working on the Spotify app we take  a look at the screen where we've got a playlist  

of songs playing and the UX designer would have  been part of deciding how playlists work and what  

people want out of playlists how many songs should  be in a playlist how do we get more music into the  

playlist the UI designer's responsibility would  be to take all of that and make it very obvious  

exactly what those how those things work so  for example on this view we're looking at here  

we can see very clearly that this song is the one  that's playing because the UI designer has decided  

to highlight the name of the song in green and put  it at the top of the playlist and also see at the  

bottom in small writing you've got the play bar  where you can see that the pause button is showing  

and that tells us that it's currently playing  because we can hit the pause button to pause it  

so these are the kinds of things where the UI  designer needs to know how to clearly visually  

represent to the user what is happening and  what they can do and what they can do next  

so UX and UI designers often work on the same  projects and often at the same time but they're  

really responsible for very different things UX  designer responsible for the overall experience  

understanding the users and helping give concepts  and ways of improving the experience for users  

and the UI designer is responsible for visually  representing all of these concepts and ideas in a  

way the user knows exactly how to use them so the  places where we see the work of the UX designer  

and the UI designer really overlapping is where  there's the connection between the conceptual  

and the visual work so a UI designer sometimes in  some jobs might do a bit of conceptual wireframing  

before they get into the really concrete visual  work and a UX designer in some jobs in some  

companies might be given the task of taking their  concepts and and wireframes and mock-ups into a  

more finished visual state and that's why there is  this confusion with jobs uh often jobs are called  

UX / UI designer because some companies want you  to do bits of both but to clearly understand the  

difference so that you can choose the profession  and the career direction that's right for you  

it's really important to understand that  there are very different responsibilities  

within these two roles so you might do bits of  both but you can really decide which one fits  

you best so you can decide the career path that  you'll be happier on so looking at this example  

from Spotify now we can really clearly list the  kinds of things that a UI designer actually does  

it's the typography the lettering the colors the  general style and branding the space in between  

items the boldness and strength of of some items  over others to give them importance and hierarchy  

the number of things that we decide to put on  the screen to make it easier to understand what's  

there it's the icons the and the images that are  carefully placed to give meaning to what the user  

is doing all of these things are the job of the UI  designer and what about you how can you tell which  

career path would be right for you and it comes  down to a lot more than what i've just described  

it's about personal interest personality the  way you like to work the way you like to think  

and i've got a few other tips that might help  you decide which career path is best for you

comparing and contrasting UX and UI  design there are some real differences in  

the ways that you will work the  ways that you will spend your time  

as a UX designer you'll definitely work with  people a lot you'll work with users and colleagues  

and run workshops and participate in collaborative  activities but in UI design you'll have more tasks  

that are just your responsibility and you'll get  to sit and think and work on your own a bit more  

in UX design you look a lot more at the big  picture the big insights the overall view  

and you really get to unravel the mysteries and  the beginning of problems and you in your eye  

design you really get to see things through to  the end and put the final finishing touches on  

everything with UX design there's a lot of  listening and observation and patience which  

can be really rewarding and with UI design there's  a lot more deep focus on the detailed visual work  

so i hope you found that useful and you have  some clearer direction over whether UX design or  

UI design is right for you please let me know in  the comments below which career path you think is  

right for you and if you have any questions about  any of the topics we've talked about please let us  

know and we will answer you as soon as we can if  you enjoyed this video please give it a like and  

subscribe to the career foundry channel for more  UX and UI videos just like this every week and if  

you hit the bell you'll be notified every time  a new video is released if you're interested in  

either of these professions career foundry have  two great free short courses in each of these  

areas and you can use the links below to sign up  thank you so much for watching see you next time  

what the colors are how the buttons feel  to look at how the buttons feel to look at  

disconnecting the conceptual to  the visual oh that was a good one  

write it down write it down right hearts  in between this fly just went like that

can you see it the blinks to  below can't you just like fix it