In the article What is a user interface or UI, we explored the concept of user interface design and the needs that can make you a professional user interface designer. But a good UI designer will not go anywhere without knowledge of UX and CX. So we decided to talk about UX and CX in this article and then examine the difference between UI and UX and CX.
When working in design, development, business, and digital marketing, we hear many terms used to describe the experience of working with a product and how it relates to users or customers. The most widely used of these concepts are user interface, user experience, and customer experience. These three are often used interchangeably and can have different meanings for different people. However, we tried to explain a common view of them that is more common among designers today.
What is a UI?
The user interface (UI) is a set of principles for graphic design to design sites and applications. With quality and beauty, taking into account the needs of users.
Many designers may find the interface a challenge to present a beautiful and impressive design and summarize it in beauty, but as we said, the needs of the users come first. If users prefer simplicity, having an app with a sophisticated, colorful, and glazed design can fail. All page components, such as photos, text, buttons, and even colors and everything in your design must be fully aligned with user design principles.
Given the advancement of technology and the widespread use of sites and smartphones, it seems necessary to pay attention to a user-friendly design to keep the audience satisfied. Improving human-computer interaction is a milestone that UI designers are working on. So that users can easily work with software systems and system problems do not interfere with their work. In summary, the work of UI designers is:
- Relying on the principles of user experience or UX (which we will talk more about in the next section) and recognizing the user’s needs, design a path for the site or application that the user can easily use the system.
- Then implement and design the elements of these pages with the necessary tools and languages.
For example, when you want to search for content on the Internet, you go to Google, and what does Google show you? A blank page without any additional elements that have a search box. This is exactly what you need.
To better understand the differences between UI, UX, and CX, the following diagram shows the user interface, user experience, and customer experience and outlines the relationships between them:
What is UX?
The term UX was first coined in the 1990s. User Experience is, in a way, the overall process of producing a product. And the UI can be a subset of it. In short, the user experience. In addition to meeting users’ needs, it emphasizes the convenience of systems. So that the user strongly prefers to replace the current system with other software.
User experience is a roadmap that helps design a software product according to the user’s wishes. UX focuses on designing the product’s environment, services, and processes. And aims to provide solutions and increase user satisfaction. In the user experience, the most important step is to recognize the user’s needs. And the design coordination with these needs should be such that the user reaches his goal and enjoys working with the system.
On the other hand, mutual satisfaction and loyalty of the user will be a winner for product owners and companies. In addition to recognizing the brand and identity of an organization. A UX designer recognizes the audience and tries to find a way to attract the audience and advance the organization’s goals.
Finally, You should note that one user experience can be used with multiple user interfaces, and one user interface can have multiple user experiences with one brand. A complete set of these is called the customer experience, which we will learn more about later.
What is CX?
The highest and broadest concept among these three is the Customer Experience, of which UX is a subset. The customer experience includes everything related to the customer, Such as the brand, advertising, service, sales, products, etc.
The goal of the customer experience is to establish a strong relationship between the customer and the brand itself. And provide a comprehensive and positive experience to customers. To better understand this concept, it is enough to imagine you are with the customer: at each stage. How the customer thinks about the brand and how many factors affect his experience. And how an effective interaction occurs. For example, if we consider buying from a supermarket in person, in-person or online. And add emails and advertisements related to marketing. And other services such as insurance, all of these shape the customer experience.
Differences between UI and UX
In the continuation of the article. We will examine the difference between UI, UX, and CX, first the difference between UI and UX. And then the difference between UX and CX.
UI and UX are very closely related and are completely interdependent. The user experience without UI has nothing to display and offer to users, and the user interface can not be used without UX. The difference between the two can be examined in various aspects:
Differences in research
There is user research in almost the entire process. This process requires complete interaction with the user, and after the initial recognition of the audience. The initial design of the software is implemented. At this stage, before completing the UI, the research team tries to collect the results of practical tests to eliminate the shortcomings. You may be familiar with Marvel software.
Using this software, you can implement the initial designs of UX design with a prototype (Prototype) and provide it to different people and ask them to complete the process such as registration and their comments while working with it. To announce. This step, called Usability Testing, greatly impacts design optimization and can speed up implementation.
The research phase in the UI section also includes a review of similar software. It would help if you examined software produced in the field, and their strengths and weaknesses should be identified. This can be considered technical advice in implementing UI design and preventing duplicate mistakes.
Differences in concept
UX determines how the user should interact with a piece of software. In comparison, the UI focuses on how this connection, or the user interface, is displayed. UX designers specify which elements and buttons the page design includes, while the UI team works on these elements’ appearance and graphic quality.
UI is more closely related to graphics, but UX is more concerned with the technical analysis of the system. The two teams need constant interaction because the developer of an application’s interface cannot design a product functionally without a clear policy to be determined by the UX team. On the other hand, in UX, you should consider UI implementation considerations.
The user experience phase takes precedence over the user interface design in the final implementation phase. Because the UX team, during the market research operations and with full knowledge of the company’s goals and the type of audience and other factors, designs and implements the initial design. After approval, the initial design is designed and experimentally (Sketch) to check and test it to prevent mistakes and shortcomings. After the last changes, the UI design process begins.
Differences in decision making
UX thinks about the company’s goals and the audience’s needs and directs the process so that the two groups achieve what they want and uses the UI to show this path to the user in the form of buttons, text, or anything else.
He may have thought of new and varied designs for an app UI, while UX research shows that users can not interact with new styles and still prefer old styles. Creativity and innovation, if left unchecked, can lead to the failure of a project. Therefore, any change in users’ tastes must have a strong reason.
Differences between UX and CX
The differences between UX and CX can be summarized as follows:
- One of the main differences is that the focus of the UX is on the end-user, that is, the person using the product or service. While CX focuses on the customer. Most customers also use the product or service but may buy it from someone else.
- The concept of CX is more prevalent in cases with a marketing background, and UX is used in cases such as design or psychology.
- CX often focuses on increasing revenue through advertising, improving customer service, and building a stronger brand. On the other hand, UX trends to be aware of these and only use them.
- CX focuses on the whole experience, including all channels related to the brand, while UX is dedicated to a specific application or website.
- CX is traditionally commonly used in service-related industries such as hospitality and retail. Ideas such as service mapping and customer loyalty schemes are implemented, while UX refers to digital products.
- In CX, many people are surveyed to determine what products or services they are thinking about, while in UX, there is more emphasis on attracting smaller groups of people.
Similarities between UI, UX, and CX
So far in this article, we have examined the differences between UI, UX, and CX, and the following are the similarities between the three.
Although UX and UI are a subset of CX and the brand’s customer experience, all three concepts are equally important. If people do not understand the product, it is very unlikely that they will become customers. On the other hand, a great product can be released, but it has terrible customer service and easily loses loyal customers. A great and efficient customer experience can only happen if it succeeds in all three concepts.
You should also note that although there are differences between CX and UX, these two concepts are closely related and are getting closer to each other day by day; Because technology is becoming more and more part of our daily lives. We are entering a world where people expect an integrated experience through websites, apps, and physical stores, while the Internet of Things is becoming an integral part of everyday life. Therefore, these concepts are closer to each other and should not be considered alone. Each of these concepts seeks to provide better experiences and value; While eventually leading to increased profits.
Some important tips in the field of UI, UX, and CX
In this final section, we quote from Burka:
Do not make anything unless it is both necessary and useful, But if it is both necessary and useful, do not hesitate to make it beautiful. ”
The following is an overview of important recommendations in this area:
- The most important thing is to meet the needs of the customer and the user.
- Focus on the design before starting implementation
- Simplicity and clarity must be balanced.
- Make sure everything is clear and understandable.
- Build trust
- Create experiences that you want to share with your friends.
- Do not pay too much attention to detail; The goal is simplicity.
- Users come to your website with a specific purpose, do not run away from them.
- The more complexity you can reduce, the more efficient you will be and the more you can convey your message.
Conclusion:
As can be deduced from the above, the UI is only part of the user experience process and depends entirely on the decisions and experiences of this stage. UX is very powerful, and in many cases, with a reliable UX process and a mediocre UI, you can get great results when the opposite is not true. We also learned that CX has a comprehensive set of customer-product relationship concepts. UI, UX, and CX are important parts of web design. If you have any questions about this article, please let us know.
We will discuss the difference between UI, UX, and CX in the UI course. By participating in this course, you will become a user interface designer in 6 months, who is ready to hire, receive a project and implement the application and site user interface.