Understanding the role of UI and UX on your website

"The primary goal of any business is to increase its sales and increase the growth of the business. UX/UI Design plays an essential role in achieving this goal. The UX/UI Design of the application improves the user experience and customer satisfaction that ultimately helps increase the number of users of the specific application." - Thinkwik

What is UI?

UI (or user interface) refers to the design layout and how items are arranged and displayed. UI is the visual component dealing with site aesthetics and how audiences will react to each design element.

Some of the best practices for UI design include:

• Prioritizing the user

• Making navigation intuitive and clear

• Differentiating actions and progress visually

• Reducing distractions

• Emphasizing accessibility

What is UX?

UX (or user experience) refers to the way that visitors interact with your website. A website that is optimized for UX typically results in a clear, engaging customer journey that doesn’t require additional guidance.

“Good and bad user experience design is determined by how easy or difficult it is to interact with each element or aspect of a product or service.” - Webflow

Peter Morville, a designer and information architect, developed the user experience honeycomb that details the 7 elements that factor into strong UX design.

The 7 elements are:

• Useful

• Usable

• Valuable

• Desirable

• Findable

• Credible

• Accessible

The main difference

UI creates a foundation for your website by aligning an aesthetic with specific content. UX takes this foundation and ensures that viewers will easily be able to navigate through your site.

Jason Ogle, a designer at CACI International, defines the difference saying, “UI is the bridge that gets us where we want to go, UX is the feeling we get when we arrive.”

How they work together on your website

UI and UX work hand in hand. Strong UI falls flat without good UX design, and good UX is most successful when a solid foundation is created by UI. When UI and UX are in harmony, the user experience is optimized on all ends.

Both UI and UX require a deep understanding of your target audience. When you have a defined market, you can create a UI and UX strategy that caters to that audience.

A site with strong UI/UX helps to:

• Create a cohesive brand feel

• Translate your brand message

• Build audience understanding

• Increase overall user satisfaction