What a UX/UI designer does
First things first: UX and UI design are two different elements of a single consumer experience. UX refers to the user experience, which focuses on how something works and how people interact with it. UI, or user interface, focuses on the look and layout.
Think of UX as the way a car drives, shifts gears or protects you in an accident and UI as the color and design of that car, says Matthew Cogswell, senior art director and UX/UI designer at modop, a digital advertising and marketing agency in Los Angeles.
A UX designer ensures a product makes sense to the user by creating a path that logically flows from one step to the next. A UI designer ensures each page visually communicates that path.
As a UX architect/UI designer at iCiDIGITAL in Chicago, Devin Harold does both. Harold spends some days fully wireframing a system, he says, and others bringing it to life with an appealing color palette, a sense of depth and a bit of interaction.
Designers also research targeted users to develop a clear understanding of their needs, define interaction models, design wireframes, build prototypes and work on brand color. And they conduct user testing and review metrics and focus-group reactions so they’re able to make the necessary tweaks to enhance the product.
