What UI/UX design means to me
By: Tolulope O.
Tags: UX Design, Ui Ux Design, UI Design

When I first began dabbling in user-focused design, the difference between User interface (UI) and User experience (UX) wasn’t clear to me. I wondered what the difference was between operating an app and experiencing the app. Why differentiate the two?

As time passes, I am starting to understand why these two design fields are different, necessary and not interchangeable.

So, let’s get into it. If you are a beginner like me, you are probably asking ‘what is UI/UX design?’

Simply put, user interface design focuses on the aesthetic of the product while user experience design focuses on the ease of use of the product.

If you are a UI designer, it is your job to figure out what looks good, how to communicate the personality of the brand using text, shapes and colours based on information gotten from the UX designer etc.

If you are a UX designer, it is your job to find out how your (potential) users think, what would make your products easier for them to use, why they aren’t using a feature of the application the way it was intended and how you can make it suit them better etc.

Let’s ground this with real life examples of products with good UI designs that missed the mark, due to few flaws with overall user experience.

Example one: Twitter’s voice notes

The day Twitter released its voice note feature, my timeline was filled with people testing it out and having fun. One of the designers on the team spoke about their thought process behind making the colour of the audio background match the tweeter’s display picture to make the listener feel as though they were present with them* (This is also similar to what Spotify does with song covers on their app and why I love them so much).

Now, this design, as you can see above, looks very nice and simple to use so we can tick the good UI checkbox. However, the next day, I saw a tweet from someone asking Twitter to include captions/alt text for users with hearing disabilities and my mind was blown. I had spent the previous night enjoying this feature but did not think of the experience for other users because it did not affect me directly (or so I thought).

Then, I saw someone else tweet about how the majority of people on Twitter use it in situations where they don’t necessarily want to play sounds e.g on a bus, at an annoying family gathering, laying next to their sleeping partner etc. So, this is an example where research done by a UX designer would have greatly improved the product.

Example two: Behance’s search feature**

So, Behance is pretty easy to use. I like that when I click on a design, I can easily see the designer’s other works, add them to my moodboard and see some of the things that inspire them. Good stuff!

The problem begins when I decide to search and filter the results I want. I tend to search using the same preference; UI/UX and Nigeria.***

If you notice in the image above, when you click on location, there is no option to type in what you are looking for. You need to scroll every time. This becomes annoying for users who tend to always use the same filter settings but no matter the number of times they use Behance in a day, always need to set it up. Imagine someone who needs to view stuff from Nigeria, UK or even worse Zimbabwe? Whew!

Another flaw in the user experience is the inability to see search/view history. Come on Behance, I might like a designer’s work and forget to add them to my moodboard before logging off. Heck, I might not even need them for inspiration or want to follow them at the moment but need to revisit their page months later. Shouldn’t there be a way to do this? Great user experience design would have realised this by now.

In conclusion, as I learn what it means to make designs that look good and also answer the needs of users, one lesson sticks out, the difference between the two roles is integral to the execution of a helpful product.

*I couldn’t find the voice tweet anymore so I might not have paraphrased correctly.

**It might be worth mentioning that I use the android mobile app so I don’t know if this happens on the website. Also, my opinion is based on how I use it.

***This is because I’m in Nigeria and I am usually curious about what people around me are doing.