UI and UX Overlap
UX has picked up in popularity over the last couple of years, seemingly becoming completely over-saturated. However, many don’t use it correctly. It’s become an umbrella term that people think also includes UI. In fact, some people believe that UX is UI, which certainly isn’t the case. Yes, UX has a couple of different sub-categories under it that can overlap, but they are two separate tasks / have other responsibilities. That’s not even including how UI is not under the UX umbrella. It is closely related, and some small companies/start-ups, or the rare full-stack developer version of UX and UI, might do both.
The Differences Between UI vs UX
If you asked multiple people, all with the title UX Designer, what their main job is, you would find they have some different answers. Especially depending on where exactly they come from; start-ups compared to Fortune 500 companies. You would find some will say they’re:
- Responsible for gathering data for the purpose of comparing competitors.
- They also use that data to see where they can improve.
- What kind of features do their competitors have as opposed to what their company has; This also means what features should they add to give them an advantage and have users stay with them or come to them.
Although this role would more so be called a UX Researcher, most people still use UX Designer for it. Others may say they:
- Create wireframes and high-fidelity mock-ups.
- They also create user flows to give the users the best and easiest experience when using the product.
- They would use their knowledge of best practices to combine something innovative to give a new experience while maintaining interacting familiarity. It’s never good when the user gets frustrated and has difficulty using your product.
Then you’ll see that quite a few say they do both, and some say they handle both the UX and the UI! These last two are more common in smaller companies that can only afford one UX Designers for dedicated areas within UX. Despite these different answers, you can see that UX is still not UI; even if they’re creating wireframes, it’s not from a visual standpoint but only from the interaction point of view. A UI Designer will be responsible for all the stylistic choices, such as:
- The graphics. What would be good here, and where should they go?
- The style of any interaction points, such as buttons (Rounded? Oval?)
- They will also have input on the layout of the product.
- The style guide helps keep all the visual decisions in line.
And so on! UI is the user’s visual experience, while UX is more of the user’s interaction experience. While a UI Designer’s main focus isn’t the user’s experience in terms of interaction,they don’t just disregard the user’s experience in terms of interactivity. They may decide a layout is too cluttered for the users, or that where to click isn’t clear enough. It’s still good for them to keep in mind of course, or else what is the point if the product is beautiful but a pain to use?
This is why both are important, but also just as important to know the difference between them; so you can make the best choice on who you need for the job, or what title you should have.
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