It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to create a perfectly designed product. Even the most mundane things are carefully thought of and innovated to create the perfect design.
People often associate the word design with the aesthetic appeal of the product. But that is just one aspect of a good design. Another aspect is having a good and intuitive design that can provide the user with a good experience. These two aspects are more commonly known as the UX and UI of a product design.
Your product can be a breakthrough in your industry, but it will not be as profitable without a good design. For it to be a great product that people will buy, you need to be aware of design flaws and anticipate how your customers will be using your product. This is where user experience comes in.
User experience, or UX for short, is defined by the experience of your users while using your products. Particularly, your product’s ease of use is the most important aspect of a good UX experience.
Worst-case scenario having a bad UX design can cause a loss of customers. Having a negative experience while using your product forces them to use another product that is much easier to use.
The user interface, on the other hand, is the visual and interactive elements of your product.
To have a good user interface or UI, the design should be able to guide your users on how to navigate the product correctly, without needing external help. Having a design that is easy to use, even for people who have not read the manual, is an important aspect of a successful product.
A lot of people are easily confused between the two. That is because these two concepts often work together in creating an overall good design.
However, the key difference is the goal of UX and UI. While UX focuses on the experience of the user, UI, on the other hand, focuses on the overall look and function of the product.
As an example, let’s take a simple jacket as our product. Improving UI means focusing on the colors, design, and other factors that make the product appealing. Meanwhile, to develop a good UX, you have to take into consideration the usability of the product. Does it keep the wearer warm? Will the user have difficulty zipping the jacket up?
Aside from that, UX is closely associated with technology. Having cutting-edge technology can greatly improve your product’s UX design. Going back to our jacket example above, you can take a step further and have technology integrated into your product. The jacket can have printed heaters added to it. Printed heaters wearables are a great example because it makes the user warm up faster, the consumer will still be able to move how they want, and they can throw the jacket in the washer just like regular clothing.
UI is still a huge factor. Buyers will often look at the product first and see if they like the design before buying it. That’s why many companies create different styles of the same product to entice a wider range of users to buy it.
The short answer is neither. Both of them work together to create a product that will sell. However, the longer answer is much more complicated than that.
To know the answer to which is more important, you need to focus on your intended customer. Take the automotive industry as an example. If your target audience is for cars driven by average joe, you need to make sure the user interfaces inside the car will be easily understandable. On the other hand, construction vehicles are filled with cutting edge technology that often requires training for the user to have the best experience while operating the machinery.
However, this does not mean that you can completely forget about one aspect. You have to understand that UX and UI often go hand in hand in making your overall design much better. They also improve each other, which is important when creating a design.
For example, if the UI design of your product can clearly guide your user on how to use it, then you do not have to put as many safety components in your UX design to improve your user’s experience and limit frustration when using your product.
While many people often interchange these two aspects of a good product design, you need to be able to focus on both of them and improve them to create the perfect product. By making sure that your customers will find it useful and enjoyable to use your product, your business will be more profitable and grow much quicker.