User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two terms you are likely to hear a lot. In the very simplest sense, User Experience is about devising the best means of getting information from the application to the user. User Interface, on the other hand, is about devising the optimal way to present that information to the user. There is broad overlap between the two and close cooperation between them is required for both to be successful.
As the market for digital applications becomes ever more crowded, the success of a product comes to depend more and more on the effectiveness of UI and UX. We can get a better understanding of the differences between the two and of their importance to the tech sector by looking at how they operate with a slightly less technological product.
Let’s consider a favorite household item, the lamp. In the production of a lamp, UX and UI are combined by the role of the product designer. The UX of a lamp might include the various lighting settings available, if the light can be dimmed, if it comes on instantly or if it gets gradually brighter. UI might include things like what the switch looks like, where it is located, or how easy it is to find or to use.
A lamp is an almost ornamental utility, and the choice of lamp we make is mostly based on aesthetic. It is also a relatively disposable item but, most importantly for UI and UX, we can also have several lamps in our house or office at once, each with a different design. The UI and UX of a lamp will inform certain core elements of the design requirements of the lamp but much of the lamp’s appearance – its colour or the materials it is made from – can vary a great deal.
With a digital product, things are a little different. Users choose a product primarily for its utility rather than its aesthetic and, most importantly, they usually have only one instance of a product type. Even with a video game, while many people play lots of different games of a similar genre, they can only play one game at a time.
This makes UX and UI the key factors that differentiate one digital product from another. The product that carries out these functions the best is likely to be the one a user selects, the one that gets the most praise in media and the one that gets to establish industry standards.
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