User experience (UE) and user interface (UI) are industry terms used interchangeably and sometimes even together in job advertising as UX/UI design. However, while they both focus on creating how a new product looks and functions, the two abbreviations have quite different meanings. With this in mind, business leaders may consider whether the role can be amalgamated effectively or if the two jobs should be kept separate when recruiting a tech design team.

 

What is UX

UX design is all about putting the user of a product or service first. The ultimate goal is to establish what will create a good user experience for a target audience, focusing on how easy it is for a consumer to interact with a product or service throughout the lifecycle of the interaction.

UX design tends to be used to refer to digital products. Still, it can be applied to physical products, too, and is primarily concerned with identifying pain points in a customer journey and finding structural design solutions which solve the problem.

User Experience designers spend much of their time analysing customer behaviour, e.g. why a user doesn’t click a call to action (CTA) button. They also research competitor activity to see if other products contain features which customers prefer to use, as well as look for gaps in the market where any existing product or service is not meeting user needs. UX designers then use this research to inform initial design in the shape of wireframing and prototyping, which are used to test and plan for product development.

UX also factors in business objectives to ensure that the solutions designers put forward satisfy both user experience and company goals, vision and values.

 

What is UI

Unlike its UX counterpart, which can apply to physical or digital design, UI refers to digital design only and concentrates on the visual layout of a product. The main aim of user interface design is to make the user experience as aesthetically pleasing as possible to provide the user with a more enjoyable interaction through attractive and engaging graphic features.

UI designers strive to create appealing interfaces to enhance the clarity of UX features for users and encourage consumers to use CTAs. This can be achieved through colour, fonts, button styles, graphics, animation, multi-device responsiveness and any other visual elements which differentiate and brand a website or app.

Where UX design defines how an interface will function and how users interact, UI design determines the look and feel.

 

Should UX/UI roles be amalgamated?

Clearly, there is a lot of overlap and collaboration between the two roles. Still, research suggests that in order to increase the chance of a project’s success, UX and UI designers should be hired separately, as the roles require different thinking processes and strengths.

UX design is generally considered a more scientific job, whereas UI is more of an art form requiring visual creativity. Designers who follow each path are likely to bring very different skills to the team, and therefore, combining the role into one job is likely to compromise the quality of output for one element or the other as each designer is likely to have strengths which lie more in either the artistic or scientific field.  

Therefore, it can be advisable to employ dedicated UX and UI designers to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses to create more successful products and services.

 

If you are looking for a top tech team to support your digital transformation needs for anything from a small short-term project to a large scale long-term managed contract, get in touch with Dukebridge today and find out how our hybrid consulting services can quickly and effectively fulfil your staffing needs.

 

Dukebridge services:

We equip our clients to overcome the challenges of meeting business, operational and technology objectives by helping them to build, scale and deploy skilled teams at speed and cost-effectively.

We achieve this by providing highly responsive programme/project resources skilled in analysis, project management and project execution, whose effectiveness is sustained by our Service Delivery Function. This includes a centralised PMO function that helps achieve project/engagement success by embedding accountability and governance from day one.

Perhaps considered yet another corporate buzzword, ‘digital transformation’, or ‘DX’ as it is also known, might be thought of by some as an agenda item for future planning. However, the reality is that major organisations are going through the transformation process now. For a company to stay competitive, firms still using analogue processes are likely to need to get on board with DX sooner rather than later to avoid lagging behind their competitors.

 

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is not just about moving corporate information to a digital platform. True DX is a top-to-bottom strategy of incorporating digital technology into every aspect of an organisation’s operational process, products, solutions, and customer interactions with the goal of increasing value through innovation, invention, improved customer experience and efficiency.

The process replaces analogue legacy systems throughout a company that are generally no longer fit for purpose in the digital age, often requiring time consuming, manual procedures or employing outdated software disconnected from other parts of the business, restricting opportunities for information sharing and automation.

 

The benefits of transforming

Technology is helping businesses to find new and more efficient ways to work, and one of the key advantages of DX is how it can help companies to streamline their operational processes. In fact according to a recent report by transformation experts PTC, 40% of management executives believe that operational efficiency is the greatest benefit which digital transformation provides.

In addition, research suggests that businesses that have successfully completed the digital transformation process are better placed to respond to customer needs and predict future demand and behaviours. DX can give organisations a competitive edge, accelerate innovation and create a more skilled workforce.

These improvements in efficiency, innovation and customer experience are also likely to directly impact revenue growth, with a Mckinsey report stating that B2B companies who have undergone a digital transformation process spend around 10% less budget while achieving 10-15% growth.

So, while it may seem like a daunting prospect to reinvent how an entire company is run, perhaps replacing processes that have been used successfully for many years, there is a clear business case to make the change for both futureproofing and retaining market share in the present.

 

How to transform your business

There are many aspects to digitally transforming your business and many new change transformation roles created in recent years to fulfil many DX-related tasks.

Some examples of digital transformation include IT upgrades such as moving storage to a cloud environment or improving online interfaces to make them more interactive or intuitive, being remote-ready to meet the needs of your workforce and customers, reskilling employees to use new software and systems, introducing automation to enhance customer service, and using AI to provide real-time insights to enhance sales efficiency and marketing effectiveness and generative AI to support innovation.

Some companies find it helpful to employ interim Statement of Work teams to provide immediate access to professionals with the software skills and experience they need to implement digital transformation quickly and effectively, giving existing staff time to upskill in readiness to take over day-to-day management of new systems once they are in place. Many companies also utilise an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which is DX software that helps to run the entire core process of a business to support automation and procedures in finance, HR, manufacturing, supply chain, services and procurement, ensuring that all parts of the business have access to information on a shared platform.

New job roles always appear in change transformation, both contract roles to help design and implement new systems and permanent roles to manage digital platforms and train others. There are opportunities across a range of sectors with openings for tech and marketing professionals who are digitally proficient as well as a heavy focus on project management and consulting experts to oversee the transformation process, as highlighted by industry specialists, ElevateIQ, in their article on the top 10 Digital Transformation Roles for 2023, which cites 6 of the top 10 job roles as a range of transformation related consultants and PMs.

So, it seems that digital transformation is certainly something which business leaders should be working on if they haven’t already started the process for their organisation and, with change transformation experts on hand to assist with the smooth transition, perhaps it’s time for all companies to make the change for a digitally enhanced future.

 

If you are looking for a top tech team to support your digital transformation needs for anything from a small short-term project to a large scale long-term managed contract, get in touch with Dukebridge today and find out how our hybrid consulting services can quickly and effectively fulfil your staffing needs.

 

Dukebridge services:

We equip our clients to overcome the challenges of meeting business, operational and technology objectives by helping them to build, scale and deploy skilled teams at speed and cost-effectively.

We achieve this by providing highly responsive programme/project resources skilled in analysis, project management and project execution, whose effectiveness is sustained by our Service Delivery Function. This includes a centralised PMO function that helps achieve project/engagement success by embedding accountability and governance from day one.