You want your website to be engaging when you build it. Some people will tell you to focus on user experience (UX) design while others will say user interface design is more important.

What is UX/UI?

What is the difference between UX design and UI design?

Continue reading to find out more about UX vs. UI design, and which one is best for you!

What’s the difference between UX and UI design?

UX design and UI design differ in their focus. UX design is focused on the user’s interaction with the site or app, and how these interactions contribute to the buyer’s journey.

UI design, on the other hand, focuses more on the design and development of a website or an app. To launch a successful product, most design and development projects will rely both on UX and UI design.

UX vs. UI design: Definitions

Let’s first look at the definitions of UX and UI design before we get into the differences.

• User experience design A design approach that emphasizes delivering a technically sound user experience on your website. UX design focuses on providing a user-friendly and functional experience.

• User interface design The goal of UI design is to create a visually pleasing user experience. UI design is about adding visual elements to enhance the user experience.

UX vs. UI design: Differences

After we have discussed the differences between UX and UI design, let us now examine the difference between user interface design and user experience design.

To compare the two types of design, we will focus on three areas:

• Approach
• Focus
• Makeup

Continue reading to learn the differences between UX design and UI design.

Approach

The approach is what you should be focusing on when comparing UX vs. UI designs. Two different approaches can be used to create your website: user interface design and user experience design.

UX design is about the user experience. UX designers are focused on how users experience your website when they shop for products or learn more about your services.

The user experience is centered on the structure of your website and how it functions for visitors.

UX is like the inside workings of a car. Engineers who create cars aim to make them practical and simple for drivers. They don’t care about how the car looks but how it works.

UI design is a visual approach to creating a positive user environment.

UI designers pay attention to how visuals on your website impact user experience. These visuals can include typography and colors.

If we return to the car example, UI design is purely visual elements such as the placement of buttons in the car or the design of the seats. UI focuses primarily on visually appealing elements that are made functional for users.

Focus

Let’s now look at the main focus of each type. The main difference between UX design and UI design lies in the way they approach web design.

User experience design focuses on the technical aspects and usability of your website. UX design is about how visitors experience your website when they visit it.

It focuses on making processes easy to understand and minimizing frustration.

UX design is a focus on the concept and how to create a positive interaction between users or companies.

User interface design focuses on the visual aspects and functionality of your website. UI is about the appearance of your website and the user experience when they interact with it. The UI aspect of your website’s website focuses on graphic design and creating tangible elements that offer a positive experience.

Let’s take Dollar Shave Club as an example.

Dollar Shave Club invites you to take a quiz to receive your personalized grooming plan.

This quiz’s UX section focuses on making the experience seamless. Users click the answer that best answers their question and then click the arrow for the next question. Because they know how to proceed, it creates an easy experience for visitors.

The UI aspect of things focuses on creating well-placed boxes, similar design elements, and a design that is easy to read. This includes adding an outline to indicate that someone hovers over a box. A checkmark appears when the user selects that option.

You can see that the UX design focuses on making it easy and functional for users to use the quiz. While the UI side makes it easy to view the quiz to answer the questions.

Makeup

You’ll see the differences between UX design and UI design. A great UX design can be very different from a great UI.

The four components of great UX design are:

• Clarity. UX design is focused on making the user experience easy and clear. Your site should be easy to navigate and use for users without confusing.

• Consistency: A good UX design should be consistent. Users should know what to expect when they visit your site. A consistent user experience is created by having navigation at the top of every page.

• Familiarity: Good UX design creates a familiar experience for your audience. For example, navigation placed at the top of the page instead of at the bottom creates familiar experiences for your audience.

• EfficiencyUX design focuses on creating an efficient user experience so that your audience can access information quickly. UX design focuses on making users’ experiences as simple and quick as possible. 

These four components make up a great UI design.

• User-friendly: A great UI design is focused on providing a pleasant user experience. It is about creating a visually pleasing experience that encourages users to interact with your website.

• Usable: An essential component of UI design is Usability. The visual elements must be placed in a way that visitors can easily use them. For a site to be visually appealing and user-friendly, it is important to have the right spacing and size.
  
• Reliable: Another important component of user interface design, is reliability. Reliable sites are those that load correctly and appear as they should.

• Functional The last component of UI design, is functionality. Functional sites allow users to click links and navigate on your site easily.

UX vs. UI Design: Which should I choose?

You may now be pondering which design is right for you, having seen UX vs UI design. Do you choose UI or UX?

Focus on both. UX and UI design focus on providing the best user experience possible for visitors to your site.

UX focuses on the technical side while UI focuses on the visual side. Both can be combined to improve the experience of visitors.

UX/UI can be compared to a wedding cake. The cake is UX, and the icing is the UI. The couple will not be able to enjoy a cake without icing. They will be unhappy if the cake is made from cardboard boxes with icing.

You need both UI and UX to make people happy and provide the experience they desire.

While there are differences between UX/UI and UI, they both work together to deliver the best user experience possible for your audience.

Do you need help with UX/UI design?

You may feel overwhelmed now that you understand that it is not a debate about UX vs UI design. Instead, it is about creating a strategy that uses both. Kobe Digital is a network of marketing professionals in Miami who can help you with UI or UX design.

We are experts in creating websites that provide a great user experience. We are proud to have developed websites like yours with our award-winning design group. You can be sure we will deliver the web design services in Miami that you love.

Are you ready to create a website that makes visitors happy? Call us to speak with a strategist regarding our UX design services