In the tech world you will hear the terms “UI” and “UX” quite often. For the uninitiated, that would be “user interface” and “user experience”.

Chances are though that you may have heard of these already. A lot of you will probably think “I know what that is” (what with the glorification in the media of “nerd” culture, etc.).

Well… I’m here to give you an honest perspective from a practicing UX / UI / design with years of experience. Keep in mind that this is all just my point of view (although I am right most of the time :-p).

UI: This is what most people will be familiar with, as it is the “physical” manifestation of an object (in this case a website or application). It is the interface of an object, or rather how we use it. Think of it this way… on a teapot, is the handle curved or straight, is it wood or plastic, is it a blue teapot… does it look nice with the wooden curved handle and the blue body? That’s UI.

UX: This one is a bit harder to put your finger on. It’s a bit ethereal and at times esoteric. It is the Doctor Strange of design (how’s that for a nerd reference). UX is all just theory, at least in the beginning. It becomes quite concrete as you will see, but to start out, you are just poking sticks in the dark (with an educated guess of course).

UX is more (to go back to our teapot) akin to WHY did we choose a curved handle? Is it easier to pick up and pour with a curved handle? Will the user end up spilling hot water on themselves because we put the handle right next to the spout? How does that blue make them feel when they see the teapot?

UI is important but it is more of a matter of preferences. Sure you can argue things like “a white background makes the site look light and airy”… until you take into account that white is the color of death in a lot of Asian cultures. You might like buttons with a corner radius of 8 while Sam might not like curved corners at all. I make it sound unimportant and somewhat trivial… but it is not, not at all. A good UI designer can make a fantastic difference!

UX on the other hand is measurable, or at least it should be. You will hear a lot about “user testing” but I have found it is a term thrown around with very little application in real life. That being said, the idea is that you develop a concept with things like “personas”, user studies, research, etc. The bottom line is that once it’s out in the “wild”, you see how it achieves the goal, you make adjustments, release, and test again. It follows the scientific method very closely… or it should.

In this way, the results become very measurable; and you can SEE if your changes have improved, made worse, or made no change to the results (and yes this does include the UI of your project as well).

It should be a continuous cycle, because improvements can always be made. Nothing is ever “perfect”.

Now for what UX IS NOT:
UX is not a catch-all for everything else. If you need to make sure the “message” is consistent throughout the site… and the all the printed marketing materials… and the look of your reception room, etc.; you need an art director not a UX designer. If you need to figure out what the “messaging” will be for your PPC campaigns that will drive people to your site or application; you need a marketing manager not a UX designer. If you need someone to plan out release dates and organize the everything; you need a scrum master and a lead engineer not a UX designer. If you need someone to figure out what the application does… you need a better CEO!

A great UX designer can make or break your application, but they are not there to save the company. And in my opinion, they should be doing what they do best. That should be gathering requirements, research and strategic thinking about how to make your application better; making it easier to use… making it a joy to use.

If you want Superman… go to the movies.

That all being said… it is truly a group effort. To create something really worthwhile… it will take all of the above and more. And a good UX / UI will often go above and beyond his or her requirements. A good UI / UX designer is there to help in the process!
Richard Belotte