UX!=UI
Many of us do not know the difference between UX and UI design. The two designers have completely contrasting responsibilities, which are explained in the following sections. The two designers need to coordinate closely in order to formulate a user-friendly design.
It is advisable to have two different people for these roles since the responsibilities and skillsets vary hugely.
UX DESIGNER (User Experience Designer)
- UX designers primarily deal with how the product feels.
- UX designers explore several different approaches to solve user problems since a design problem has no single solution.
- The overall responsibility of a UX designer is to ensure that the product flows smoothly from one step to the other. One way that a UX designer does this is by conducting live user tests to observe user behavior. By identifying the blocks and hurdles, they refine the design to create the optimum user experience.
UI DESIGNER (User Interface Designer)
- Unlike UX designers, user interface designers are primarily concerned about how the product is laid out.
- They handle the design of each screen or page with which a user interacts and ensure that the UI communicates perfectly with the users.
- UI designers are also responsible for creating a style guide and ensuring that a consistent design (fonts and graphic elements such as buttons and text boxes) is applied across the product.
- Maintaining consistency in visual elements and defining behavior fall under the roles of a UI designer.
VISUAL DESIGNER
Some firms define one extra role for design, other than UI and UX, called Visual design.
- Visual designers work out the small details that others overlook.
- Visual designers are not concerned with how screens link to each other, or how someone interacts with the product. Instead, their focus is on creating beautiful icons, controls, and visual elements and making use of suitable typography.
