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.