User interface design and user experience design are two different styles that are used in web design. Both designs are useful and notable when it comes to brand recognition and emphasizing a product or service to consumers. Additionally, these are also influential when it comes to conversions.
But with trends rising and falling, the question regarding their differences and importance blooms on the horizon. Which of the two can improve conversions more? Which would be the best web design to achieve maximum efficiency?
Is the user interface limited to user experience? Is the user experience more difficult to comprehend compared to the user interface? To settle the debate between UX vs UI web design, we have jotted down everything you need to know!
UX vs UI: What’s the Difference?
Web design involves a wide variety of features and functions that combine to create an interactive experience for its users. In order for a website to look appealing and be navigation-friendly, companies invest in web design. It also helps brands achieve their goals by clicking calls to action or providing answers to FAQs to make the user experience more seamless.
Many people believe that the two most vital parts of web design are user experience design and user interface design. While they might sound alike, and they are reliant on one another, these two designs are different sides of web design.
UX web design refers to the design approach that focuses on producing a smooth experience for users as they browse through interactions, web pages, and applications. UI web design, on the other hand, is the interface design you see online. This refers to the buttons, interactive signs, and scrolling elements.
The main difference between the two is that UX focuses on the whole user experience and how it impacts the overall design of a website, while UI web design looks at particular elements of an interface and how they help users navigate through the page.
What Does a UX Do?
User experience web design, or UX design, involves backstage research and user-friendly tests that support the user experience. The term “user experience” was first used in 1990 by Don Norman, a cognitive scientist who is also the co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group Design Consultancy. Based on his definition, the concept of user experience “involves all aspects of the end-users engagement with a company and its products and services”.
UX design can be recognized as good when it utilizes aspects of psychology, market research, and technology. But beyond this, it should also regularly keep track of user behavior in order to generate changes to respond to usage patterns. This helps a company influence users to take action towards their offers.
UX designers are known as shapeshifters because they have to adapt to changes in order to meet success metrics and achieve their end-goal sales figures. Once they provide a seamless, top-notch user experience, they have succeeded in the goal of UX design.
To know if UX design is satisfying, it must have:
- Clarity and simplicity
- Functionality
- Audience recognition
- Scannability
Overall, a UX design must be useful, easy to find, accessible, and desirable. Before this is reached, user experience designers must conduct user and user group research, generate user personas, design the flows and wireframes, and product prototypes among many others.
What Does a UI Do?
User interface web designers focus on creating aesthetically pleasing, stylistic elements that would influence users’ decisions towards a certain product or service. By creating a smooth design interface, they generate an experience that captures the audience.
Common UI design elements include input elements, output elements, and helper elements. Input elements manage different user inputs that help users navigate through a web page or app. These include dropdown menus, buttons, checkboxes, and more.
Meanwhile, output elements respond to and provide results from the user inputs. These come in the form of pop-ups, alerts, or error messages. Lastly, helper elements are created to aid and inform users as they browse through the website. These include notifications, tips, icons, and progress bars.
How UX and UI Affect Conversions
Honestly, there is no easy way to say who wins when it comes to the battle of UI and UX. Both have different outstanding qualities and one cannot work without the other.
Without good UI design, the user experience becomes boring. On the other hand, if the UI design lacks a seamless flow of a user experience, it misses out on its purpose. But which is more important for conversions?
This depends on the type of conversion a company or brand is trying to attain and if these conversions directly affect UX or UI design. As an example, a website’s interface isn’t truly maximized unless a user visits it. This is why UX design, with assistance from marketing and advertising, stars the show. From this, UX design creates an experience that heightens website traffic.
Bottomline: Which is More Important?
Knowing all this, it’s important to understand that both UX and UI design are important. What matters is making the users happy in order to gain better conversion rates. The goal should be to succeed by having a user-friendly website that is efficient and seamless in its functionality.
