Considering a career in tech?
UX and UI are two terms that you’ve probably heard being used interchangeably in the digital space. Both UX and UI design are fast growing, in-demand areas of tech that are booming with opportunity. And while they might sound similar, they’re entirely different concepts.
We put together a helpful guide to help you understand the difference between both design types and figure out which one might be the right career path for you!
What is UX and UI Design?
UX stands for User Experience: This area of tech involves how users interact with websites and applications. It takes a human first approach to product design and aims to improve the experience a user has when they visit a website or use an app. UX design hits on many aspects including navigation, usability, accessibility, and design. From the way content is organized to how users interact with a product, UX designers focus on creating products that are easy to use and understand.
UI Stands for User Interface: A user interface includes the parts of a website or application that users will interact with such as menus, buttons, forms, and pop-ups. A UI designer is focused on the visual presentation of information and they usually have branding, visual, and graphic design skills that help them create interfaces that look and feel good. The main focus of a UI designer is to create appealing, easy-to-use, and interactive digital products.
The Role of a UX Designer
A UX designer thinks about how an experience makes a user feel and how easy it is for them to accomplish the task in mind. An example is creating a seamless and easy online checkout process for customers. This is similar to one of the project options that students explore in our UX Design course, where they work to understand the self-checkout process and how they could improve it.
UX designers focus on the journey that the user takes and work to create a product that will support this journey. The user experience of a digital product can affect so many things from conversions rates to how your SEO performs.
UX Designer Responsibilities
- Conducting research on user behaviour
- Determining user personas
- Creating prototypes
- Conducting user testing
- Designing user wireframes and flows
- Developing the information architecture of a website or application
Why Companies Invest in UX Design
- Improve the customer experience - UX design aims to create an experience that guides and encourages users to complete certain actions, such as purchasing an item, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a document.
- Improve SEO ranking - Websites and apps that are accessible across devices are ranked higher in search engine results, which is why UX plays an important role in growth strategies for businesses.
- Reduce bounce rates - There’s nothing worse than a website that’s hard to navigate! The integration of UX design can help you create strong websites with clear navigation paths, so users are more likely to stay on your site instead of dropping off quickly.
- Increase sales - For an ecommerce business, UX design can help you build responsive and customer-oriented websites. This could easily reduce cart abandonments and increase conversion rates!
To find out more, check out our post from Nabil Arif on Why You Should Learn UX Design.
The Role of a UI Designer
A UI designer bridges the gap between a user and a digital product. They particularly focus on the aspects of a website or app that a user will see and interact with (like menus, buttons, and animations), while also focusing on how these elements visually look and feel.
UI designers aim to create websites and apps that are easy, enjoyable, and useful! They want a customer to leave the website or app satisfied and with a positive feeling about the company.
UI Designer Responsibilities
- Creating responsive designs for websites and apps
- Designing interface elements such as buttons, icons, sliders, and animations
- Deciding on typography and colour palettes
- Establishing a style guide to ensure consistency throughout a website or application
- Developing the visual patterns and layout of individual screens to create an intuitive user experience
Why Companies Invest in UI Design
- Develop a brand identity - Good design is essential for any business and a website’s UI supports this through consistent choices of colour, typefaces, page layouts, and button styles.
- Accessibility and responsiveness- UI designers make sure that a website or application delivers a consistent experience across various devices, such as desktops, tablets, and mobile phones, so that users can interact with the content from any device.
- Increase customer engagement - Good UI design helps a brand build a positive and memorable experience for its users, which ultimately leads to brand loyalty and repeat visits.
How UX and UI Work Together
UX design focuses on all of the elements that contribute to how a user feels about a digital product and brand -- beyond just the visual elements. UI design is all about how a product’s interface looks and functions with a focus on creating visually appealing websites and apps.
In practice, a UX designer will usually begin by mapping out the bones of a user journey, and a UI designer will focus on all the visual and interactive elements that support this journey.
UI is considered a specific subset of the broader UX design field but a great product experience relies heavily on both, as the roles support one another and work together to build cohesive digital products that enhance the experience of a user when they interact with your digital product.
UX vs. UI Design: Which Career Path Is Right for You?
While UX and UI design go hand-in-hand, it’s not necessary for you to be a pro in both. Both are completely different roles and most companies will hire a different person to fulfill each job description, though at smaller companies, the roles could sometimes be combined. Below are some of the skills and salaries of each job role:
Should I become a UX designer?
If you want to be a UX designer you should be interested in understanding human behaviour, enjoy problem-solving and critical thinking, and be comfortable with user testing and analysis. Also, getting familiarized with common UX tools like Figma and InVision will help you figure out if this is the career path for you.
In terms of salary, UX designers on average earn $63,317 a year in Canada and this can increase to $77,871 after ten years of experience.
Should I become a UI designer?
A UI designer is a visual thinker with creative, critical thinking, and design skills. A UI career is a perfect fit for someone who has a background in graphic or web design because it’ll give you a great foundation to level up in UI design. And since UI designers work closely with developers and other designers, you should be able to collaborate well with other team members to execute on projects. You should also be comfortable with understanding and iterating on wireframes and prototypes since that’s a large technical aspect of a UI designer’s role.
The average annual salary for a UI designer is around $57,766 with the potential to grow into more senior positions that can earn an average of $72,945.
Looking to learn UX Design?
Our beginner-friendly UX Design course will teach you this in-demand skill! Check out our course package below to see what you'll learn and build: