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Business and life have become increasingly dependent on the Internet, web applications, and mobile phones; As a result, companies have realized that the best way to compete on the web is to prioritize building an attractive and efficient user interface (UI) that optimizes the user experience (UX); UI and UX design are two of the most common terms in web and application design.

UI design stands for “user interface” or User Interface Design; User interface design refers to the aesthetic design of all visual elements of a digital product’s user interface, and “UX” stands for User Experience, the user’s experience of the application is determined by how they interact with it.

It is common for people to use these terms interchangeably or sometimes incorrectly; If you are ever confused about UI and UX and the difference between them; In this article, we will discuss the differences between these two terms comprehensively and accurately!

What is UI design?

UI design stands for “user interface” or User Interface Design; User interface design refers to the aesthetic design of all visual elements of the user interface of a digital product; It means product presentation and interaction…

A user interface (UI) is the point at which human users interact with a computer, website, or application; The goal of an effective user interface is to make the user experience easy and intuitive, requiring minimal user effort to get the maximum desired result.

The user interface is created in layers of interaction by engaging the human senses (sight, touch, hearing, and others); They include both input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, microphone, touch screen, fingerprint scanner, electronic pen, and camera and output devices such as monitor, speaker, and printer.

Devices that interact with multiple senses are called “multimedia user interfaces.” For example, the standard user interface combines tactile input (keyboard and mouse) and visual and auditory output (monitor and speakers).

The user interface is the graphical design of an application; it includes the buttons that users click, the text that they read, images, sliders, text input fields, and everything else that the user interacts with, including page layouts, transitions, interface animations, and any is micro-interaction; Any visual element, interaction or animation should all be designed.

This is the responsibility of the user interface designers; They create the feel and look of a program’s user interface; User interface designers decide what the program will look like and choose the color scheme and shape of the buttons, the width of the lines and the necessary fonts in the text.

UI designers are graphic designers; They care about aesthetics; It’s up to them to ensure the app’s interface is attractive, visually stimulating, and thematically appropriate to match the app’s purpose or personality and that each visual element is unified aesthetically and purposefully.

UI design is often confused with UX design, also known as user experience design; While UI and UX designers work closely together, these two fields refer to separate aspects of the design process.

What is UX design?

“UX” stands for User Experience; the user’s experience of the application is determined by how they interact with it; User experience or UX has evolved as a result of UI improvements; When there is something for users to interact with, their experience, whether positive, negative, or neutral, will change how users feel about those interactions.

This broad definition can encompass every possible interaction a person can have with a product or service; some UX professionals prefer to call this area customer experience, while others have gone a step further and. This field is called experience design.

UX designers are also concerned with the user interface of an app, which is why people get confused about the difference between the two; But while UI designers are responsible for deciding what the user interface will look like, UX designers are responsible for determining how the user interface will work.

They define the interface’s structure and functionality, how it is organized and how all the parts are related to each other. In short, they design how the interface works; If it works well; The user will have a good experience; But if it’s complicated or unintuitive, a bad user experience is likely; UX designers work to avoid the latter.

There is also a certain amount of iterative analysis in UX design; UX designers create wireframe renderings of their interface interactions and receive user feedback. UX designers will integrate this into their designs; A complete and comprehensive understanding of how users interact with their applications is very important for UX designers.

Tips on UX design

• UX design should start from the top levels of the business instead of changing the skin and appearance of the product.
• UX is evolutionary and with the concept of a process that is improved by using research and experiences according to repetitions and tests. It is not possible as a sudden incident.
• User experience design is a kind of science with principles and methodology, Not an insight.
• UX is not related to the purchase and how to deal with the customer; Only limited to use.
• In user experience design, All businesses can creatively design a specific pattern for their users’ experiences in any field, and there is no new pattern.

Why is attention to UX important for SEO success?

To increase SEO on your site, you need to create the best experience on your website; Even if you are trying to improve your search engine with keyword research; If the site is slow, insecure, and messy, Google will not rank you;
Google uses many common methods to learn how visitors interact with your website, including site speed, mobile-friendliness, how you structure your content, and internal links.

When Google notices that visitors are leaving your site too soon, it uses user signals to understand how visitors experience your site; So it concludes that they cannot find what they want; Other user signals are the number of times you visit the site and the length of time users are on your site; The longer the duration and the number of visits, it means that the audience is enjoying and the content is useful for them.

As usual, before moving on to the next step, think about the purpose of your website and the pages that make it up, is the purpose of your website to attract visitors? Or is it buying services and products? Or even reading the articles and content of your site? As a designer, you have to support the goal after choosing it, and in this case, when you have a specific goal in mind, it will be very effective in prioritizing the growth and development of the site.

The impact of UX on-site SEO

The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX) is to provide the best possible experience for website visitors; It is better to have a look at the common and effective elements of SEO and UX:

Headings and titles

Headings explain to the reader what each section of the article is about and provide search engines with a logical structure and hierarchy of information, and are useful as guides for users.

Website Layout

Also, the structure of your site is important not only for users but also for your site’s roadmap for search engines; remember that many of your visitors will not enter your site through the homepage; This means that it doesn’t matter what page the searcher lands on; Your site should be easy to navigate; The orderly structure and neat and attractive appearance of the website will make Google pay attention to your site and display it on the first pages of keywords.

Although the site menu fills the entire page, the user cannot read the content that is below the navigation; This creates a very poor user experience; When people are on mobile devices, they probably don’t bother dealing with menus like this so that a clean site structure can result in sitelinks showing up in the top Google search results.

Site speed

Site speed has long been one of the ranking factors for Google search; Not only is it important to have a website that loads quickly, but your mobile experience should also be fast.

One of the aggravating factors for users is the slow loading of the site and its performance, which will cause many users to leave the site. As a result, it plays an important role in the SEO of the site.

Therefore, you must be sure that your website is completely optimized in terms of speed so that users have a good experience with your website and it causes more users to visit your website; Also, to improve this component, it is better to get a high-speed virtual server so that you don’t have such problems.

Compatibility with smartphones and tablets
Considering that mobile devices now account for more than half of website traffic, sites must be mobile-friendly; if your site is not responsive and compatible with mobile devices, You will lose the convenience of half of your audience;

Google can easily reduce the site’s user attraction criteria by conducting a mobile responsiveness test of a website.

Use user-friendly URLs
A successful approach to improving user experience should include an intuitive URL format; Conversely, ineffective URLs do not have a hierarchical structure and do not reveal the content of the page; As a result, these URLs are also less effective.

Collaboration of UI and UX designers

So a UX designer decides how the user interface will work while the UI designer decides how the user interface will look, it’s a very collaborative process, and the two design teams tend to work closely together; As the UX team is working on app flow, how all the buttons lead through your tasks, and how the interface effectively meets the user’s information needs, the UI team is working on how all these interface elements appear on the screen. Is.

Keep in mind that at some point in the design process, it has been decided to add additional options to a displayed page; This changes the way the options are organized and may require changing their shape or size.

The UX team determines the best way to lay out the buttons while the UI teams adapt their designs to the new layout; Constant communication and collaboration between UI and UX designers help ensure that the final user interface looks as good as possible while functioning effectively and intuitively.

UI design and UX design involve very different skill sets, but each is essential to the success of the other; A beautiful design can’t save an interface that’s confusing to navigate, and a great user experience can be ruined by a bad UI design that makes the app unpleasant to use.

UI and UX design must be flawlessly executed and fully aligned with pre-existing user expectations to create a great user interface and experience. When they are aligned, the results can be amazing.

What is the difference between user experience and user interface?

UX design is the process of increasing user satisfaction by improving the usability and accessibility of a product, web page, or application; On the other hand, UI design is product interface design; In other words, what the user sees when interacting with the product, from color schemes to typography, user interface designers are responsible for the look and feel of the product.

User interface design involves anticipating user preferences and creating an interface that both understands and satisfies them; UI design not only focuses on aesthetics but also maximizes the responsiveness, functionality, and accessibility of a website.

User interface and user experience are related and equally important to the execution of a project, but the specifications are different; Primarily, UI is designed around the desired look and feel of the site or app, while UX encompasses the entire process of conceptualization, development, and delivery; Furthermore, UX can be referenced about almost any product, while UI can only be related to digital products.

The main differences between UX and UI

• UX focuses on the functionality and purpose of the product, while UI revolves around the quality of the user’s interaction with the product.
• UX includes market research and identifying user needs, while UI has more artistic design components that relate to the look and feel of the user experience.
• UX focuses on overall project management from ideation to development and delivery, while UI focuses on final product design.
• User experience design begins with identifying the pain points of target users and figuring out how to meet users’ needs; This includes details such as logical flows or steps to take to achieve a
• goal; once the interface is programmed to be useful, the prototype is sent to the UI designer, where the processes are made visually appealing.

A brief history of the user interface

In the 1970s, to use a computer, you had to use a command-line interface; At that time, the graphical interfaces used commercially today; did not exist yet; users had to communicate with each other through a programming language to start and operate the computer and needed infinite lines of code to do a simple task.

In the 1980s, the first graphical user interface (GUI) was developed by computer scientists at Xerox PARC; With this innovation, users can now interact with their personal computers by sending visual commands through buttons, icons, checkboxes, and menus.

This technology change meant that anyone could use a computer without the nee and the personal computer revolution began.

In 1984, Apple released the Macintosh personal computer, which included a point-and-click mouse; The first commercially successful home computer, the Macintosh, used this type of interface.

The accessibility and prevalence of personal and office computers mean that interfaces must be designed with users in mind; If users couldn’t interact with their computers, they wouldn’t sell. Thus, the UI designer was born.

As with any growing technology, the role of a user interface designer has evolved as priorities, systems, access, and expectations demand more from devices. Virtual and even “invisible” or screenless interfaces (also called zero UI) work like sound, gesture, and light.

Today’s user interface designer has almost unlimited opportunities to work on websites, mobile apps, wearable technology, and smart home devices. As long as computers continue to be a part of everyday life, there will be a need to create interfaces that users of all ages can use: background and technical experience to be able to use it effectively.

Types of user interface

Among other types of user interfaces, the following can be mentioned:

Form-based user interface: Used to enter data into a program by providing limited choices.

Graphical user interface: a touch user interface input with a visual user interface output (keyboard and monitor)

Menu-driven user interface: A user interface that uses a list of options and choices in a website or application to navigate, Like ATMs

Touch User Interface: Touch User Interface; Today, touch input is used in most smartphones and tablets that use a touch screen.

Voice user interface: human-machine interaction using auditory commands. For example, we can refer to GPS.

Gesture-based interfaces: Users engage with 3D design spaces through body movements: for example, in virtual reality (VR) games.

Why is a user interface important?

The user interface is important to meet user expectations and support the effective functioning of your site; a well-implemented user interface facilitates effective interaction between the user and the application, program, or machine through contrasting images, clean design, and responsiveness; In designing the UI for your site, considering ease of use, visual beauty, and user expectations in terms of accessibility is of key importance; An optimal combination of compelling images and efficient responsiveness will improve your site’s conversion rates because it anticipates user needs and then meets those needs.

Specifically, the next section contains the most important general elements of a great UI:

Information Architecture: The functionality of a site is built on IA; it is important to structure and logically organize your website content to help users navigate the site with minimal effort; IA components include three main types of organizational structure: hierarchical (levels of importance), sequential (logical ordering of steps), and matrix (where the user chooses to organize the content they see).

Interactive design: ID elements aim to turn passive readers into active participants by providing examples of user input; keeping the user in mind when creating user interfaces helps improve interaction and implement specific behaviors that meet user needs; Additionally, well-designed interactive user interfaces can “learn” to anticipate and fix any problems that may arise before they negatively impact the user experience; Example: social sharing features, keys, buttons, etc.

Visual Design: The importance of the aesthetic value of your site cannot be underestimated; Effective design uses the elements of color, contrast, fonts, video, and photos to engage visitors and make them easy to read, and works with the content, not around it, to create a logical and visual flow of functionality; Example: contrast, color, white space, typography, mobile optimization, etc.

UX design disciplines

UX disciplines are a broad term that is divided into four main disciplines: interaction design (IxD), experience strategy (ExS), information architecture (IA), and user research (UR).

Experience Strategy (ExS)

UX design is not only about the end user; it also brings a lot of value to the business providing the product or service. Experience strategy is all about designing a comprehensive business strategy that addresses both the needs of the customer and the company’s needs. Takes.

Interaction Design (IxD)

Interaction design deals with how a user interacts with a system, considering all interactive elements, such as buttons, page transitions, and animations. Interaction designers seek to create visual designs that allow the user to perform tasks and actions effortlessly.

User Research (UR)

UX design is all about identifying a problem and designing a solution; this requires extensive research and feedback from existing or potential customers; During the research phase, UX designers launch surveys, conduct interviews, and usability testing, and create user personas to understand end-user needs and goals; They collect quantitative and qualitative data and use it to make appropriate design decisions.

Information Architecture (IA)

Information architecture is the organization of information and content in a meaningful and accessible way;

It is important to help the user navigate their way through a product; To determine the IA of any given product, information architects consider the relationship between different sets of content; They also pay close attention to the language used, making sure it is both compelling and consistent.

Within these four areas, there is a whole set of subfields; user experience design is much more than a case of design and wireframes; it is a multidisciplinary field that includes elements of cognitive science and psychology, computer science, communication design, functionality engineering uses, and other uses.

Why are case research key in UI and UX design?

Research is vital for both UI and UX designers, both disciplines need to gather as much good information as possible to help them create the right designs, and both follow a similar approach.

Both will research what users want; What they expect from developing applications. This research is often iterative and includes usability sessions where real users are experimenting with scaled versions of specific functions or visual designs to determine whether designers are on track. Whether they move properly or not, they will interact.

This process involves generating low-fidelity prototypes, such as wireframe renderings of interface elements, to gauge user response to the functionality being tested accurately; It can also include quick visual prototypes and A/B tests of different possible versions of the interface’s look and feel to determine which one users prefer.

In all cases, research helps guide the steps designers take as they create their contributions; However, the information that UI and UX designers are looking for is very different.

Research in UI design

User interface designers must ensure that the visual language they choose matches the class of application they are writing; They try to anticipate user expectations. If your team decides to design a tourism program, it is necessary to research how other tourism programs have developed in the past; Which one has done something special? Which one has not done something special? Many design lessons can be learned from what others have already done.

Research may show that people prefer prominent icons over prominent shapes; This is a visual brief that people are comfortable with and enjoy, and and UI designers would do well to consider that lessonthetic they choose also depends, but the basic “rules,” or the need to conform to user expectations, are something designers ignore at their peril.

It should not be said that risk is not appropriate in such work; User interface designers want their interface design to stand out and be memorable, But this must also be balanced with making sure people recognize the purpose of the elements you put on the page.

Research for UX design

UX design is specifically interested in user expectations; all of the experiences and interactions that users have with any application they’ve used in their lives have helped determine their expectations for how interfaces should work. If a UX designer is not intimately familiar with these expectations, they can inadvertently design an interface interaction that makes sense to them but violates commonly accepted conventions. It can negatively affect their experience.

Suppose a UX designer decides to do something different. In that case, they should have a very good reason because breaking a deeply ingrained expected behavior is likely to cause people to do the wrong thing repeatedly.

For example, most people are comfortable with the idea that you double-click on a file to open it and select it once, an interface behavior that has been almost as long as graphical user interfaces. Is also ongoing

UX design methods

Research

UX designers use a variety of research methods, such as surveys, observations, memoir studies, focus groups, and competitive analyzes, to develop an understanding of users and their motivations:

Personas, user scenarios, and empathy maps

All of these are common results of ethnographic research; User scenarios show the times in their lives when they use the product, and empathy maps show their feelings about the product during use.

Customer navigation maps

User journey maps are often used to show touchpoints in a scenario where the end user interacts with a digital system; customer journey maps are useful for identifying usability issues in omnichannel experiences.

Wireframes

Wireframes are physical maps of the screens that make up a product. Rendered in low fidelity, wireframes help developers establish the basic structure of an application before implementing the UI; they are also a useful tool for putting in front of end users assumptions about products before they are built. confirm

sampling

Prototyping is an essential part of UX design because it helps to visualize how users will experience the software before development. There are different types of prototyping tools, such as InVision, Adobe XD, and Principle; Prototypes can be used to test projects with end users and communicate designs with development teams.

User testing

User testing is essential to verify whether a user experiences an application as designed; Some user testing methods include A/B testing, eye tracking, heat maps, and observations and interviews.

exploratory assessment

Exploratory analysis is used to identify common usability problems of a product so that the problems can be solved, thereby improving user satisfaction and experience and increasing the chances of a digital product’s overall success.

Focused on usability, exploratory analysis is an evaluation method in which one or more design experts compare a digital product against a list of predefined design principles (commonly referred to as heuristics) and determine Which part’s product does not follow the mentioned principles.