UX and UI Design are often incorrectly assumed to be the same thing. While there are similarities between the two, the roles of a UI Designer and UX Designer require very different skills and experience.
We've created a handy infographic to help you understand the difference between the two roles, the skills and tools needed for each and the salaries you should expect to pay at junior, midweight and senior levels.
The Role of a UI Designer
UI stands for ‘user interface' and refers to the graphical layout of an application. The UI Designer is responsible for the look and feel of all visual, interactive or animated elements. This can be buttons, text, images, navigation, screen layout, transitions, etc. They ensure the application's interface is attractive and functional, and adheres to brand guidelines.
The Role of a UX Designer
UX is ‘user experience' and denotes how a user will think about and interact with an application. UX Designers tend to work proactively and reactively to research user needs and match them with business goals to create usable, intuitive interfaces. They are concerned with functionality and usability, as well as the psychology of the people interacting with a solution. They ensure the application operates in a way that is clear, simple and functional.
How do they work together?
The UX Designer will provide the input to the UI Designer's work. They align the user needs, business needs and technical requirements and it's their job to fully understand the user in order to design how the application will be engaged with. The UI Designer is responsible for the detailed design of the interface, making sure that the information structure and the flow of interaction meet the UX goals. It should be a fully collaborative process, requiring constant communication between the two roles, business owners and stakeholders and also the development team in order to iterate on designs.
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