If you’re like most people, you probably don’t think about user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) until something goes wrong. But good UX/UI is critical to the success of any website or app. Creating an engaging, user-friendly interface can make all the difference in whether users are able to find what they need and actually use your product.
What is UX/UI?
UX is a broad term that encompasses all aspects of the user’s experience with a product, from first glance to the last click. UX designers take into consideration everything from the look and feel of a page or app, to its ease of use and efficiency.
UI refers to how those elements function together as a cohesive unit. UI designers focus on bringing UX design ideas to life by making the interactive elements of a product match the overall style and branding.
Together, UX/UI designers are responsible for creating enjoyable products that people will use willingly and frequently. Their work can make or break how users interact with your website or app, so it’s important to understand what they do behind the scenes.
What does a UX/UI designer do?
UX designers are responsible for the overall experience of using a product. They conduct research to understand what users need and want, then map out how they can meet those needs. Next, they design wireframes for each page or screen of the product to flesh out the structure of information and determine where things will go. Then they map out the information hierarchy and use that to create a style guide that establishes the visual design of the product.
Finally, UX designers work with UI designers and engineers to bring their ideas into a real-world form by creating mockups of each page or screen in Photoshop or another software program.
UX/UI: The Past, Present, and Future
Now that you have an idea about what UX/UI means, we will take a glimpse into the past, present, and future of user experience and user interface design.
UX and UI: The Past
Early Beginnings: Desktop Applications (the 1980s)
The terms UX and UI were not coined until later on in the design process, but the concept of user experience and user interface design definitely existed before that. In the 1980s, personal computers were gaining widespread popularity among households, sparking a revolution that would revolutionize how people interact with technology as we know it today. In those days, many companies created their own proprietary desktop applications to increase profits since the software was expensive to produce at this time. The software had two types of interfaces: command line or graphical user interface (GUI). A command-line interface used typed text commands for actions instead of a visual representation of objects. A graphical user interface, on the other hand, used visual cues to take actions using a mouse or touch screen.
Evolution: Web Applications (the 1990s)
In the 1990s, the web was gaining popularity and companies started to design their own website for marketing purposes. Again, there were two main types of interfaces: command line or GUI. In this case, though, both had a third additional type of interface called the hyperlink. Hyperlinks allow users to navigate from page to page without typing in long URLs by clicking objects that are visible within the website’s layout through an image or text link. The idea was simple but it allowed websites to be more interactive and engaging with their audiences because they could go about doing other tasks while waiting for a page to load.
Evolution: Mobile Applications (the 2000s)
Somewhere in the early 2000s, mobiles started to become popular among consumers due to their convenience and portability. By 2009, Apple released its very first iPhone which brought mobile applications onto the scene. The development of mobile apps was so new at this time that it defined the standards of user experience and user interface design as we know it today.
UX/UI: Present Day
Today, you can find UX/UI designers working on everything from websites and desktop applications to tablet interfaces and wearable devices like smartwatches. Many companies now hire full-time UX/UI designers or contract freelancers for projects due to the increasing demand for a good user experience. Since it is an emerging field, many UX/UI designers are self-taught instead of receiving professional design training in school.
UX and UI: The Future
The future of UX and UI will involve new technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Both of these immersive technologies allow users to interact with digital objects or content through wearable devices or mobile phones by projecting 3D images into the real world around them. In this case, 3D images are displayed using a virtual reality headset like Oculus Rift or a smartphone with augmented reality capabilities through lenses on the device.
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