UX and UI: a short guide

What is in a name? What we call user experience, under any other name, can be just as hard to grasp. Most professions develop their own jargon to simplify communication: abbreviations, phrases, idioms. Often you need a dictionary just to understand what one part of the company is trying to say to another. As when we talk about the difference between UI (user interface) and UX (user experience). Even if you know what the abbreviations stand for, it can be hard to see exactly what the difference is. So let us start by defining exactly what the words mean. Read our short guide.

So what is UX? In one sentence: the whole customer journey from start to finish, and every aspect of the customer experience. But if we could sum everything up in one sentence there would be no need for lawyers. Language is difficult, and a lot is left unsaid in that sentence, so let us try to unpack it.

First of all, although both terms are closely tied to digital surfaces and solutions, the customer journey can involve physical touchpoints and objects. Yes, if the job ad asks for a UX designer it is probably about work on websites, applications and other digital surfaces. But a good UX designer understands that the customer journey can continue out from the phone and into reality. Say I am hungry and want to order food from an app. I go through the solution, find what I want, order and pay. But the customer journey is not over until I actually have the food in my hands. The fact that I have to visit the restaurant and pick it up is part of that total experience.

So UX is not programming, linguistic mastery or aesthetic design, even though those are important elements of good UX. Good UX is a cognitive science, meaning techniques and theory focused on how customers think, feel and process information.

Let us try again to define UI in one sentence. The user interface is the interaction that lets a user interact with software. That seems simple enough. Colours and design to help the user process information, and that sounds fairly familiar. So let us dive deeper again.

With UI it is easy to think about colours, shapes and functions. Concepts that reach far beyond the digital sphere UI belongs to. And it is true that much of the psychology and theory from more physical media is still important for good UI. But when we talk about UI, the focus is specifically on digital surfaces.

UI then becomes all this creative knowledge, seen through the lens of digital theory. A narrower focus on how colour compositions change when used on a digital surface. On the possibilities that exist when sound, images and movement can be combined in ways not possible with television. And most importantly of all: how the functions of the design can best communicate to the user what they can do and how they can reach their goals.

Good UX makes the customer journey simple and comfortable from start to finish, while good UI helps the customer not get lost along the way. Good design is not enough to stop drop-off if a user has to go through many pages to complete the conversion, and without good UI the user can end up going through the same page again and again without finding the way forward.

If you need an analogy for the difference, think of UI as a map and UX as the terrain. Good UI helps you navigate the terrain and gives you the overview you need to plan the best route to what you want. Good UX makes sure the road is easy to walk, without unnecessary detours.

UX and UI are closely tied together, and both carry an important responsibility for making a web solution as good as it can be. They build solutions from different angles and require different mindsets for the very best effect.

So the next time a campaign does not bring in the expected results, think carefully about whether the problem is that the customer does not understand the interface, or whether they have had a negative experience with the process. Different problems, different solutions. But one end result: good experiences.

Get in touch if you are interested in seeing what we can do for you in your design processes.

Written by

Dani-André Forstrønen