UX  vs. UI Design:What's The Difference?A Beginner's Guide

UX vs. UI Design:What's The Difference?A Beginner's Guide

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5 min read

Are you interested in a career in UX and UI design but confused about the difference between the two roles? So what's the difference between UX design and UI design?

  • UI means the user interface with everything relevant to visuals, for example, typography, colours, font sizes, and other styles.

  • UX regards to user experience. It means something behind that visual stuff, what the logic is behind it And what the flow is.

  • UX and UI designers use different tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe After Effects or even Photoshop are tools for UI designers to use; For UX designers, Miro, FigJam and SurveyMonkey or Qualitrics are very common tools to use.

  • Speaking of the ways of work, UI designers are more relevant to visuals, but for UX designers, it's more relevant to the design thinking method or the Double Diamond method.

  • Essential skills for UX and UI designers may not be the same: UI design is more relevant to graphic design, and UX design is more relevant to research, understanding business and the logic behind the user flows.

What is the definition of UX and UI design?

If we want to know what is UX and UI just by checking their definitions, UI means the user interface and everything relevant to visuals, all the experience that you will see is UI That's a really simple definition.

UX regards to user experience. It means something behind that visual stuff, what the logic is behind it And what the flow is. Probably we'll be here to take an actual example. We can look Here is my website bear. academy.

If you look at the homepage, you will see the hero image at the Top menu with all the different options and also with a button and then different sections below.

So those are the things relevant to UI so it's all the things about visuals, for example, typography, colours, font sizes, and other styles.

If you are a UI designer, you need to define those things in detail. The engineers will be able to work with your deliverables. And if you are a UX designer, what you need to decide is how customers will find your website, like, where did they get the starting point? And what could be the general experience when they browse your website? And after they consume some content, what could be the next action? And what is your call to action?

You hope the customer will go. For example, if they tap a button, what will happen and why do they want to tap that button? So those are the things you need to decide that experience behind it, like a holistic experience and that part of the UX designer's job to define those things.

What tools do UX and UI designers use?

Speaking of the tools for these 2 roles. For UI designers, there are more UI design tools, relevant tools such as Figma or in the old days, Sketch or even Photoshop. And those are the tools for UI designers to use. If you want to implement some interactions, you might want to create some animations or GIFs GIFs. So that will involve, for example, Adobe AfterEffects or other tools.

And for UX designers, those tools are more general. Like if you want to do research, you probably will use Miro and FigJam for affinity mapping or the ideas and findings. And you might use some research survey tools such as SurveyMonkey or Qualitrics to organize some service or even want to interview your customers, and your users, you're using Zoom or Google Meet for reaching out to people and talk to them.

After that, you probably will use Figma to create a wireframe or prototype and tests your design with customers for feedback. So those are the tools.

What skills do UX and UI designers need?

What skills do you need to get hired as a UX designer or UI designer?

UI design is more relevant to graphic design, and UX design is more relevant to research, understanding business and the logic behind the user flows.

Speaking of the ways of work, it's also a little bit different.

UI designers are more relevant to visuals, so anything relevant to visuals, such as the proximity balance of the element, and alignment. Those are the things that are relevant to graphic design is still make sense for UI design.

But for UX designers, things like how you can validate a concept and test it and then improve it through different iterations. It's more relevant to the design thinking method or the Double Diamond method.

How do I know if UX/UI design is right for me?

Can someone be a good UI/UX designer if they are not an artist? Do you need to be a graphic designer to be a UX designer? Actually, if you work at a job before working your job, there might be some connections that you can build from your previous job to the new job.

And if you are doing some creative work, such as video editing, web design, or graphic design, or even if you think you are and natural born artist. That could be quite a fit that you can start to do some UI design stuff. And UI designer could be your thing.

If you have relevant experience in research, psychology, human behaviours, marketing, or education, so those are the things, those are the soft skills. And if you have soft skills, like people skills, that is also quite useful for A UX designer role.

So if you have those experiences you might get some advantages, if you go to the UX designer role, hope it makes sense. And if want to know more, please stay tuned for more blogs upcoming on the bear. academy